“I have a primary contact with the council. You spoke to her.”
“Émilie.”
“Yes. She’s the reason I’m in Rockton. She’s dealing with health issues, though, so I’ve been in contact with two others who occasionally give me orders. My order yesterday was to dope Roy. I was told he was the killer.”
“Based on what? I know his real crimes, and they aren’t violent.”
“The council has been investigating, and they discovered he’s wanted on a federal warrant.”
I start to say he’s not but stop myself and let her finish.
She continues, “They directed me to a cache, where I’d find a substance to place him in an altered mental state.”
“Which it did. It also could have gotten Mindy raped or killed. Maybe both.”
Petra’s cheek twitches. “I know, and that was not what I was told it would do. It was to suppress his central nervous system. Lower his defenses. Like involuntary intoxication. Place him in a state where he’d be far more likely to confess.”
“In vino veritas?”
“Yes. An easy way to place him in a state of increased suggestibility, while keeping him alert enough to be questioned.”
“That sounds like something out of a spy movie. You actually believed them?”
“I’ve used similar substances before. Not in Rockton but— Anyway, yes, I believed them, and while it was not supposed to make him violent, no one can predict the way a person will react. I was supposed to monitor him and then lead him into a situation where he’d be questioned.”
“Except you weren’t monitoring him.”
“I was. Then I was called to help in the general store, unloading the supplies Eric brought, and I made the mistake of deciding I could leave my post for a few minutes. Roy usually doesn’t drink until after dinner, and if I refused to help with the unloading, that would be suspicious. What happened to Mindy is on me. An inexcusable error in judgment. I was also furious with the council, for their error in judgment. That’s all I thought it was. In their zeal to stop a killer, they miscalculated his reaction to the drugs. Then I overheard Eric and Will talking about Roy.”
“Convenient. Also uncharacteristically indiscreet of them.”
She nods. “All right, I’ll rephrase that. I was eavesdropping on a private conversation between Eric and Will. Eric said you’d done some digging on Roy, and there was no possibility of a federal warrant. You believed he was being set up and that the doping was tied to that.”
“Which is when you realized Roy wasn’t the only one being set up.”
“The council didn’t want me to take the fall. They wouldn’t.”
I snort.
She shakes her head. “Trust me. I have leverage like you wouldn’t believe.”
“Oh, I’m sure you believe you do.”
She starts to answer and then stops with another shake of her head. “That’s not important. The point is that I was only set up in the sense that I was given orders under false pretenses. That’s why I’m here. Something is going on with the council.”
I laugh. I can’t help it. I laugh, and when I can finally stop, I say, “Something has been going on with the council for a very, very long time.”
“I’m only just seeing that. You can laugh at my naiveté. But you haven’t exactly shared your suspicions with me, and until now, I’ve only seen the council making hard choices, like with Oliver Brady. I’m accustomed to that.”
“From the council.”
“No, from … before. My past life. The council, too, but I lived in a world where people made these hard choices, Casey, and I have always believed they were for the greater good. With Oliver Brady, it was. With other situations I’ve resolved here, it was.”
“Other situations?”
“Minor ones that have not interfered with any of your cases. I still believe in the council as a whole. I have just come to realize that they may not be whole. There are elements with an agenda that conflicts with Rockton’s purpose.”
“You have no idea. You honestly have no idea.”