“Yeah?”
“Yeah. It’s like oil and water with those two,” Mitch chuckled.
“I thought you might be blowing me off,” Cody uttered randomly. He’d finally mustered the nerve and just said the words. Seconds felt like hours as he waited for Mitch to respond.
“What? No. Not even a little bit. I wanted some privacy to talk to you. We worked all afternoon into tonight and then I had to get Kreed situated. I actually miss you like crazy,” Mitch replied. He sounded sincere. The words made perfect sense, and Cody’s relief level soared through the roof.
“You’re quiet again. Tell me, what’re you doing?” Mitch asked after a full minute of his silence. He took his seat back on the patio and kicked his legs up on the rail.
“I just put a steak on the grill,” Cody answered.
“You could add that you’re missing me,” Mitch suggested, and Cody got quiet again. “There’s the silence. I liked it better when you were here, and I could gauge your reaction. Damn, I miss you, Cody. I don’t want that to freak you out, but I do. It was only two days, but when I came in tonight, the hotel seemed lonely. Fuck, Cody, look what you’re doing to me. You have me assessing the feelings of a fucking hotel room.”
“I miss you, too,” Cody confessed.
“You sound like it pained you to say that” Mitch laughed.
“What about the case? Do you think it’s moving in a different direction?” Cody questioned, moving the conversation away from the sentimental stuff. He wasn’t good at expressing his feelings, so they needed to talk about something different.
“We’re going backward again. I told you, we’re missing something. Kreed’ll help us. He’s a pain in the ass sometimes, but good at his job.” Mitch let out a giant yawn in the middle of his sentence. “I’m beat, cowboy. It’s late here, and I’m sleeping on the sofa bed. Besides, somebody kept me up all weekend. Hell, when I think about it, you kept me up all week, Cody Turner.” Mitch chuckled again.
“I’m glad you called,” Cody replied.
“What’re you doing tomorrow?” Mitch asked.
“Hanging shingles on the barn at my parents place,” Cody answered.
“Cool. I’ll call you tomorrow night. Text me if you want, but remember, I have shoddy signal. It might take me a little while to reply.”
“All right,” Cody said, and there was a pause.
“Damn, I don’t want to hang up this phone,” Mitch whispered.
“Go to sleep, I’ll talk to you tomorrow,” Cody offered.
“All right, goodnight,” Mitch responded.
“Bye.” Cody ended the call and stared out into the night. Mitch had called and made everything right in his world with just the sound of his voice. What the hell was that about? Cody let the smell of sizzling meat pull him from his thoughts. He jumped up, letting the chair slam back as he lifted the lid to his grill and tried to salvage the steak he’d let overcook on one side.
Chapter 32
“What the hell are you doing in here?” Mitch asked. He’d left his office for no less than five minutes and returned to Kreed kicked back in his office chair. Mitch’s computer was pushed to the side, and Kreed had his laptop placed right in the center of the desk.
“We’re bunking together here too. Apparently the bureau’s short of space right now,” Kreed said, typing away on his computer.
“That shit doesn’t mean you take over my spot,” Mitch said, placing his coffee on the edge of the desk. On a second thought, he picked the hot paper cup back up and downed several gulps. He needed the liquid energy because he’d only gotten about twenty minutes of sleep last night on that damn uncomfortable fucking sofa.
“Sure, I can. You can sit over there.” Kreed pointed to the other side of the desk.
“The hell I am!” Mitch grabbed the laptop out from under Kreed’s hands and laid it on the decorative office chair facing the desk.
“Hey, man!”
“You have five seconds before I physically move you out of my chair,” Mitch warned.
“Try it,” Kreed taunted, gripping on the sides of the chair. “This chair’s badass. The Marshals Service needs to invest. I refuse to go willingly.”
“Four.” Mitch started rounding the desk toward the back of the chair.
“Three,” Mitch growled, and Kreed anchored his feet to the ground.
“Two.” Mitch continued the countdown and gripped the back of the chair.
“No fair! You gave me your lumpy bed, and I bet it was covered in undesirable shit, too,” Kreed protested.
“One.” Mitch used his brute force, dumping Kreed out of the chair. He didn’t hesitate jumping in the vacant seat as Kreed landed on his knees and hands, breaking the fall.
“You suck, man. Can’t say you’ve never had me on my hands and knees, Knox,” Kreed chuckled.
“Whatever. The promise of personal favors won’t help either, Sinacola,” he said smugly, reaching for his coffee.
“And I thought you cared. Hell, you didn’t even bring me a cup of coffee,” Kreed replied, getting to his feet. “Speaking of coffee, shouldn’t we be heading over to the coffee shop?”
“Connors will be here soon. He’s running behind,” Mitch supplied, pulling his laptop back in front him.
“Oh course he is. And why do we have to wait?” Kreed questioned.
“Because he happens to be my partner on this fucking case. The coffee’s right around the corner. No, to the left not the right,” Mitch called out when Kreed went the wrong way. Seconds later, he was back with Brown on his heels.
”Brown agrees, let’s get moving. Connors can meet us there,” Kreed announced.
“All right, but you guys are explaining this when Connors gets his panties in a wad. Did you get your official reassignment?” Mitch asked, reaching for the jacket he’d tossed on the coat rack by the door.
“The email was waiting for me when I came in this morning,” Kreed offered, heading for the elevator.
The three of them made it as far as the elevator before the doors opened to Director Young. Mitch could feel the collective sigh from both Brown and Kreed.
“I was coming down to see you,” Director Young said.