Full Disclosure (Nice Guys 2)

Tyler Connors earlier email had bothered him all day long. Elliot Greyson had had a breakthrough moment in counseling yesterday. A wave of memory was back, but he didn’t identify Agent Langley as his abductor. Actually, he been more than adamant that he was one hundred percent convinced they didn’t have their man where his case was concerned.

Connors decided to wait and clue Mitch in after the Christmas holidays. The Marshals and the FBI had arranged for him to take some time off. He’d become too high profile after Cody’s attack. His face was recognizable so they kept him on the down-low. He’d probably get assigned to a desk on his return, bury him in piles of paperwork.

After that email, Aaron had sifted through the miles of files he had on the case. So they hadn’t gotten all their men. That meant the information was somewhere inside the data, hidden, just waiting to be found. He pulled up all the video coverage he had on Agent Langley. Aaron watched the in-custody interview between Agent Langley and his attorney. There was no audio, but he suspected they’d exchanged some valuable intel, whether directly or using code. He pushed that file out to his desktop. He’d investigate the attorney soon.

Next he re-watched the coverage of Cody’s accident, leading back to the coverage of Kreed’s brother’s funeral. He bounced his leg as he watched the hate spew from those supposed Christians’ mouths. As a gay man, it was hard to stomach. The leg twitch helped him concentrate and kept his anxious feelings manageable. He didn’t know how Mitch had kept so calm amidst all the hate. How had he not taken out his gun and shot them all? He would never understand how people who called themselves Christians could be so cruel. Aaron slowed the feed and concentrated on the picture in front of him, looking for anything that might help. That was when he saw him. Aaron almost missed the lawyer.

He rewound, slowed the video feed, and stilled the screen on the familiar face. Langley’s lawyer was part of the hate group picketing the Sinacola funeral. Why in hell hadn’t anyone caught this before now? Better question, how had he missed this? Damn.

Pulling up his phone, he went to call Mitch and stopped. He didn’t want to be the one to tell him there were now holes in the case. Instead, he tried Connors on his cell. The agent didn’t pick up, but he was traveling for the holidays. He then called Kreed. He hated bothering the guy during this particular Christmas. Mitch had told him he’d gone home for the first time in years. Maybe he would answer.

“Kreed Sinacola,” a deep voice barked over the Christmas music playing in the background. “Hang on, I can’t hear you. I’m going outside.” Seconds passed and the background noise quieted. “That’s better.”

“Kreed, it’s Aaron Stuart. I hate to bother you, but are you busy? This is important.”

“Hey, Aaron, nah, it’s fine. What’s up?”

“I was going over the footage on the Langley case, and I think I might have found something,” Aaron replied, his eyes back on the attorney as he captured a print screen and sent the photo to Kreed’s phone.

“Well, of course you have. Tomorrow’s Christmas, you know that right? This couldn’t wait twenty-four hours?” Kreed sarcastically replied.

“Probably not.”