“I thought Hank and Jake told you that this was all part of the interview process.” Walker kept his frustration in check, though it took a fair amount of self-restraint.
“Maybe if the two of you would stop playing kissy face and get up at—”
“We’re wasting time. We’ve got to work to do.” Fay stood. “Lee, I want you to go to the casino and keep an eye on who comes and goes. I’ll give you a—”
“I know about you and Beck’s girls and you don’t really work for the Brotherhood Protectors, so I’m sure as hell not going to take orders from you,” Lee said with what sounded like a snarl.
“That’s not true. Beck and her girls operate under the Athena Team which is part of the Brotherhood Protectors. Besides, does it really matter who it comes from?” Walker raised his hands, letting them fall and slap his thighs. “Go to the fucking casino. We’ll give you a list of people we need to know what they are doing. Report in every hour. We’ll let you know if we need you to follow anyone. Got it?”
“Sure thing.” Lee turned on his heel and pulled the sliding glass doors closed. “You don’t need to get snippy about it.”
“I’m going to say something I might regret,” Fay mumbled.
“I won’t regret voicing what I’m thinking and I sure as hell hope they don’t hire him because if they do, I’m going to end up breaking my promise that I had made to my sister.”
“And what was that?”
“To keep my temper in check.”
Fay cocked her head. “You have one of those?”
He chuckled. “I got more demerits in the Naval Academy for fighting, but only because I hit every asshole that had something to say about my sister or any other female cadet. Lee just might bring that out in me again.”
She leaned in and kissed his cheek. “Never thought I’d say this, but I wouldn’t mind that.”
* * *
Fay leanedagainst the hood of Walker’s car in the parking lot of Gunny’s Watering Hole. The afternoon sun beat down on her face.
“How are things going with the case?” Beck asked as she handed her a to-go cup of diet soda.
“It’s complicated, that’s for sure.”
“I don’t think either boy is alive at this point,” Beck said. “The question is where are the bodies? What did the kidnapper do with the victims from six years ago?”
Fay took a long sip, enjoying the bubbles. “There’s a huge difference from those cases.”
“What’s that?”
“The cooling-off period. There were ten boys over eight years. We have two in a couple of days, and Walker and I have looked at a couple dozen missing and murdered boys and men during this time frame in surrounding towns, but either they were runaways or bodies were found or they were found. We can’t really fit them neatly into our current victim profile.” Fay had spent the better part of the morning sitting in the basement of Gunny’s Lodge going over much of this with Walker. There were a lot of little pieces, all pointing to someone who was connected to Chris or Craig or the cartel or all three.
But that was a large pool of people.
There was that six-year span of now missing young men, but even then there were a dozen people associated with both Chris and Craig that had served time during those years.
And then there were some associates who had moved to other states, like Arizona, which meant widening the search for like cases and that brought a good fifty missing persons cases that they would need to go through this evening.
“You’ve got your work cut out for you,” Beck said.
Fay could only nod in agreement.
“How are things with Lee?”
Fay wasn’t sure how to answer that one. If she did so truthfully, that could make her and Walker look bad, which was the last thing either one of them needed. But lying to her boss wasn’t a good idea for different reasons.
“It’s been interesting.” That was about the only way to describe anything when it came to Lee.
“I find that answer fascinating.”
Fay shrugged. “I don’t know how else to answer it. I’m not going to complain about a man who’s never going to change. He’s going to have an issue with me—with women—no matter what I say or do.”
“For the record, I wasn’t on board with him tagging along with you and Walker,” Beck said. “But I do understand why Hank did it.”
“You do? Because I don’t.”
“If Lee can’t work with you, he’s not going to fit in with this organization at all.”
“Then he’s not going to fit in.”