Within the hour, I had a signed arrest warrant in my hand. In all my years at the department, I'd never seen the wheels of justice turn so fast. Reese and I were escorted in his unmarked sedan by two deputies in patrol cars, and on our drive to Millbrook, Shannon called.

I held the phone to my ear. "Hey, babe."

"Hey," she said. "How's your Monday?"

"Amazing. We finally have a solid lead on that case I'm working on."

"That's wonderful, Nathan." She paused for a beat. "Unless you're joking and then it's not funny at all."

I pulled the phone away from my head and stared at it for a second. "Joking?" I finally asked her. "Why would I joke about something like this?"

"Because it's April Fools' Day," she said.

I looked at the date on my watch. It was April 1st. I had no idea. "No. I'm definitely not joking. We're on our way to make an arrest right now."

"Oh, well that's good. Our office has been rampant with pranks today. Our IT guy had a sign made that said our office printer was now upgraded to use voice recognition software. I stood there yelling at the printer to print for ten minutes before they finally clued me in."

I covered my mouth, but chuckled anyway. "I'm sorry. That's pretty funny."

She let out a huff. "I swear those computer guys have way too much power."

I was still laughing at the thought of her talking to the printer when Reese slapped me on the arm and pointed to the street sign where Culver's apartment building was. "Shannon, I've got to go. We're almost there. I'll call you later."

"Good luck!" she said before I disconnected the line.

I looked at Reese. "Did you remember it's April Fools' Day?"

He nodded. "I was gonna tell you that Carr told someone you were getting canned, but after your story this morning, I worried it might be true."

I slugged him in the arm as he turned into the apartment complex.

Through the windshield, I studied the building. "I hope this isn't a prank."

"I'll kill somebody myself if it is," Reese said and put the car in park.

The front door of the apartment was standing open, so we walked in with guns drawn. The television was on and water was boiling on the stove next to a box of macaroni. But no one was home. Kyle Culvers had left in a hurry.

I holstered my Glock. "It's like the bastard knew we were coming!"

Reese looked at me. "He had to know. But how?"

Shaking my head, I looked around the apartment. "I need to think."

Reese smirked. "Good luck with that."

I held up my middle finger. "Don't touch anything," I told the other two deputies. "Reese, go check his closet. I'll bet he's a size ten."

He nodded and walked down the hallway. I pulled out my cell phone and began making calls. The first was to put out an APB on the car Culvers was driving. Judging by the amount of water left in the boiling pot on the stove, I guessed he didn't have that much of a head start. The second call I made was to the sheriff, so he would hear the bad news from me instead of Carr. I called Carr last, but hung up in the middle of his rant when Reese reappeared with a pair of sneakers dangling from his fingertips.

"Size ten. You called it," he said.

A deputy produced an evidence bag.

I shoved my phone in my pocket. "We need to get back to the office so I can figure out if we've got a mole or not."

Reese's eyebrows lifted. "You think it's someone on our side?"

We walked outside and I turned toward the deputies. "Secure this place and sit on it. I want statements from all the neighbors. I'll be back." I looked at Reese. "You got a better idea?"

He pulled out his key fob and unlocked his car. "The State knew, so did countless people at the courthouse."

I opened the passenger's side door and looked at him over the roof. "Yeah, but it's too coincidental that all of our officers have been just far enough away for the perps to escape each crime scene. Now this."

He nodded as we got in the car. "Good point."

I leaned against the door and tugged my ball cap down tight over my eyes. "But how?"

When I sat up and looked toward Reese again, my eyes fell to the laptop mounted on his dash. "Holy shit."

He slammed on his brakes mid-way through backing out of his space. "What?"

I slammed his laptop shut as I repeated Shannon's words. "The computer guys have too much power."

His eyes doubled in size. "Ramon."

"Get to the office, now!"

***************

From the author...

Uh oh!!! (I used to work in IT. We never get to be the bad guys.)