Sam Kincaid 01 - The Commission

suggested he might be having problems. Milo’s mail and visitation logs corroborated their statements.
    Kate and I agreed to contact each other later in the morning. I headed up the mountain and arrived home a little before one. I checked the message board in the kitchen. Aunt June had written a message, the gist of which was that Miss Sara expected me to fix her French toast and bacon for breakfast and then take her to school. The tone of the message suggested the request was nonnegotiable.
    As is my habit whenever I arrive home late at night, I quietly entered Sara’s bedroom to check on her. The bed had obviously been slept in, but no Sara. After a brief moment of panic, I hurried into my bedroom and found her curled up under the covers. I crawled in and was out in seconds.
    ***
    I admirably performed my duties as breakfast chef and school chauffeur. I then headed down the mountain for an eight o’clock meeting with Sloan. When he heard what I was about to tell him concerning who might be involved in Sorensen’s murder, it would likely be the start of a very bad day for both of us. When I arrived, tardy as usual, Sloan was already huddled with Brad Ford discussing the details of this morning’s press release announcing the murder of Sorensen. At the request of the Sheriff’s Department, nothing would be said about a possible connection between Sorensen’s death and that of Watts and Vogue.
    I explained it to Sloan exactly the way I previously had for Detectives Webb and Gill. He didn’t speak until after I finished, but the look on his face had changed from mild curiosity to one of stunned disbelief. His normally ruddy facial complexion had given way to a pale, colorless shade of gray. The pained expression on his face made him look like he had just taken a hard punch to the solar plexus.
    He paused for what seemed like an unusually long period before speaking.
    “Tell me something, Sam. What makes you so sure our own employees are involved? If you and Lieutenant McConnell had developed solid evidence linking department employees to these murders, you’d be out arresting people and we wouldn’t be having this conversation.”
    “You’re right. And we’re still not sure it is our employees. At the moment, we haven’t been able to identify any specific suspects, much less have the evidence necessary to make arrests.
    “I first began considering employee involvement when our investigation failed to yield any of the likely suspects. After we eliminated John Merchant and members of Vogue’s family as potential suspects, I felt certain Levi’s murder was connected in some way to his employment on the Board of Pardons. And when Slick Watts came along, the pieces all seemed to fit. We had an ex-con with a long criminal history and the perfect motive to want to see Vogue dead. We had more than enough evidence to take to a jury. About the only thing missing was the murder weapon and a confession, which I’m convinced we’d have gotten if somebody hadn’t killed him before we found him.”
    “And you think Watts was killed by somebody from the department to keep him quiet?”
    “Not immediately. The final straw had to be the medical examiner’s conclusion that Watts didn’t commit suicide. Once we realized someone had gone to a lot of trouble to make his murder look like a suicide, my thinking shifted away from offenders toward department employees.”
    “It still seems like a helluva stretch. And this surveillance you mentioned on Bill Allred—you think he’s somehow involved?” asked Sloan.
    “Can’t say for sure. But he lied to me when I asked him about his personal friendship with Levi. He really tried to distance himself from the relationship. And now to have him identified as the mysterious third party involved in the group sex with Vogue and Sue Ann. What should we conclude from that?”
    “Maybe he lied about his friendship with Vogue because he feared the investigation might unearth the kinky sex. If that information found its way to the governor, his career on the board would be over,” said Sloan. “Moral turpitude and all that good stuff.”
    “Could be.”
    After a long pause, Sloan spoke slowly in a tone reflecting both disappointment and resignation. “Okay. Here’s what needs to happen. Do you trust your own staff?”
    “Implicitly.”
    “Set everything else aside and put them all to work on this. Be sure they understand how important confidentiality is. Nobody talks to