Fay's Six

“Don’t you dare talk about her like that.” Walker reined in his anger. It wouldn’t matter if he hadn’t slept with Fay. He wouldn’t anyone treat any woman that way. “I honestly don’t understand what the fuck your problem is when it comes to her or any woman for that matter.”

“I don’t have a problem with ladies. I just don’t think they are cut out for certain roles in life, and I have the right to believe that. We do live in a free country.”

Walker rolled his neck. He’d had this conversation a dozen times with Lee and it always ended the same way, with Walker beating his head against the wall. “Do you want this job?”

“Yeah. I do.” Lee turned. “And I get there’s no getting away from her, or women like her in this or any organization. I get that. I’ll work on my attitude, but tell me why you didn’t trust me.”

“Albert being there has nothing to do with me and everything to do with Sparrow. It wasn’t my call.”

“So, the cop lady doesn’t trust me. I wonder why that is.”

“Well, now it’s because you skipped out on your detail and lied to me about it,” Walker said with a fair amount of sarcasm. “And I told you before, her father can come and go in that circle better than any of us. He can find out things we can’t. And this is still her investigation. Our role is to support and use our contacts as needed. Her having her father there had nothing to do with me putting you in there. For the record, he wasn’t watching you.”

“That might not have been his sole focus, but I call bullshit on that. And while we’re on the subject, Fay has your head turned around. Back in the day, you wouldn’t have thought to question my ability. But you did.”

“That’s not true. But I am questioning your loyalty.”

“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.” Lee smacked the steering wheel. “You really are pussy-whipped.”

“Shut the fuck up before I do it for you.” This was getting them nowhere. “Fay isn’t going anywhere. Either you’re part of this team or you’re not. It’s your choice.”

Lee turned and glared. “Are you going to start treating me like one instead of keeping secrets? Because that would make this partnership go a lot easier and I didn’t tell you I was leaving because I knew the casino was covered.”

“Why did you lie?”

“I wanted to see what you and Fay would do.”

“That’s childish and could have fucked up our mission,” Walker said.

“I didn’t put anything in jeopardy. You’re the one playing games. I’ll agree to be upfront if you can do the same. Can you?”

“Of course I can.” Walker wasn’t entirely sure Lee was being totally honest, and he needed to understand why because if he didn’t, everything about this case was going to be hard.

“Now, can we put this shit behind us?”

Walker wasn’t about to completely brush this under the rug. Lee didn’t get a pass on his bad behavior, but he did want to move forward. “Absolutely. Where did you go and what did you find out?” Walker made sure he kept his voice even and light. He needed Lee to believe what had happened was water under the bridge. Walker would deal with his trepidation later.

“I didn’t know Randall was going to come to Fool’s Gold. But when I saw how close his mother’s house was to the hiking trail and how a couple of the phones were found there, I thought I’d go pay him a visit back in Denver. But he wasn’t there, so I did some poking around. According to his parole officer, Zeke, he’s found God and he’s been trying to make amends with his mother. Zeke said he has this list of things he wants to correct. That’s one, along with giving back to the victims he hurt. He believes he’s a changed man.”

“So, why is he hanging out with his old crowd?”

“That I don’t know.”

Walker pointed toward Randall who stepped from the front door. “Looks as if his mom might be on her way to forgiveness, but she told us she’s done with him.”

“I’d say she might be changing her mind about reconciling with her boy.” Lee turned the engine over. “Shall I follow him?”

“For a few miles. I just want to make sure he heads back toward Denver.”

“He could be the kidnapper-killer.” Lee punched the gas and pulled out onto the road. “Not to state the obvious, but he was in prison for six years and no one went missing during that time.”

“He was a basic drug dealer. He got busted with a shit ton of coke. He resisted arrest. He injured a cop. He then stole a police car and a plethora of other things that landed him in prison for longer than his original drug charge. But at the time there was no cartel involved. No connections to anyone in the Renegades. And Randall didn’t hang with Craig or anyone in his crew before he went away.”

“He got the drugs from somewhere and when he was gone, the kidnappings stopped. That’s not a coincidence.”

Walker wished he could argue that point, but he couldn’t. Neither could Fay. Only, he hadn’t even been on Sparrow’s radar six years ago.

“Not even after he’d been arrested?”

“Because the cars were dumped and there were no bodies found, it was always believed that whoever kidnapped the boys took them somewhere and maybe sold them,” Walker said.

“I have to say I’m not impressed by the police work if no one questioned Randall or even suspected him as the one who kidnapped those boys.”

“This is the shit that needs to stop,” Walker said behind a tight jaw. “You know he was questioned. You know this house was searched. Gender doesn’t make someone better at something so stop putting down Sparrow—”

“I didn’t say Sparrow. I said police. There was no gender involved. Geez.” Lee rolled to a stop at a red light. “He’s getting on the highway.”

“You might as well turn around and head home.” Walker blew out a puff of air. Dealing with Lee was like playing with a yo-yo. It was a constant up and down.

“For the record, Sparrow’s a smart cookie. I like her. I think she’s good at her job.” Lee waved his hand. “I still stand by my old-fashioned ways that women should stay home with the kids, once they have them. It’s simple biology.”

“You live in the dark ages.”