Cop Said “You Two Aren't Welcome Here” To Twins — Both Were Federal Agents Investigating Him
Chapter 10
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Webb nodded, looking down at his hands. "I've been riding with him for two years. Every Friday night, I sit in the car while he goes into the bars. He comes out with the envelopes, counts them in the car, then writes it all down.""In a book?" Jayda said."A little black notebook, about this big." Webb held his hands apart, the size of a paperback. "Every bar, every date, every amount. And then, at the end of each week, a line at the bottom—two letters.""What letters?""GP." Webb looked up. "And next to it, a number: always 40%."Kendra and Jayda were very quiet."Gordon Pratt," Kendra said."I never saw Pratt take any money," Webb said quickly. "I'm just telling you what's in the book: GP, 40%, every single week.""Where does he keep it?" Jayda asked."In a metal lockbox under the back seat of his pickup truck. He never leaves it anywhere else.""Tyler," Kendra said gently, "would you put this in writing? A sworn statement?"Webb shook his head fast. "No, no, not yet. I've got a baby girl—she's four months old. My wife works for the county in Pratt's building. If he finds out..." He stopped. "I just needed somebody to know. That's all. I'm sorry."He got out of the car, walked fast to his sedan, and drove away.Jayda let out a long breath. "40%.""Five bars, $500 a week, 11 years," Kendra said. "That's more than a million dollars. And 40% of it went up to the man who decides who gets charged with a crime in this county."They drove back toward Main Street just as the sun was going down. Kendra's phone buzzed—a text from Lucy:He's back.Kendra turned the corner onto Main Street. Across from Delaney's Tavern, where Lucy was just hanging the Open sign in the window, a Cold Creek police cruiser was parked at the curb. Kyle Dempsey sat behind the wheel in full uniform—desk duty had lasted exactly six hours. He saw their car pass, lifted two fingers off the steering wheel in a lazy little wave, and smiled."Pratt made one phone call," Jayda said."One phone call," Kendra agreed.Delaney's Tavern opened its doors again at 6:00 on Wednesday night. Word had gotten around; by 7:00, every table was full. People who hadn't been to Delaney's in years came in just to buy a beer and shake Hank's hand. Lucy was running back and forth from the kitchen with plates of burgers, and for the first time all week, she was laughing.Kendra and Jayda sat at the end of the bar with their sodas; they had both told Hank they would be there every night until this was over.At 8:30, the front door opened. Dempsey walked in with two other officers behind him, a clipboard under his arm; Tyler Webb was not with him.The room went quiet again—but this time, it was a different kind of quiet: people did not look down at their plates; they looked straight at him. A few of them took out their phones.Dempsey did not even glance at the twins. He walked straight to the middle of the room and held up the clipboard. "Fire inspection," he announced. "We've had a complaint about blocked exits and overcrowding. This building is over capacity. Everybody out, right now. This bar is closed."