Page 325 of Rangers Last Promise

“You’re still going to jail.”

“Possibly a more comfortable jail.”

Parker starts toward the cell.

Tate blocks him.

“Not today.”

Hampton presses the ice pack against his face.

“I don’t feel safe here.”

“No one cares,” Parker says.

Mara laughs softly.

Tate gestures toward his office.

“We found the field case.”

Every trace of humor disappears.

“Where?” I ask.

“Beneath container twenty-three.”

Kane told the truth.

He hid the original evidence beneath the bodies when Harlan ordered them moved to Eagle River.

The last place Vance would look.

Under the men he believed had already been erased.

“Did the black key open it?” Mara asks.

“Yes.”

“What was inside?”

“Twenty-three personnel files. Photographs of the men before they died. Copies of payment records. Mission reports. Transportation orders.”

“And Harlan?”

Sheriff Tate’s eyes meet mine.

“Four execution orders bearing his signature.”

Air leaves my lungs.

Proof.

Not rumors.

Not Hampton’s testimony.

Not even Vance’s confession.