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Chapter 6
Posted by
harrisoncase
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02 October 2012
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It was McNab who found the first messenger. He burst into the conference room, causing Eve to shoot him an annoyed glare.
“What, Detective McNab?”
“Amy Marsden,” he set the hard copy in front of Eve, “Except her employer, Rapid Delivery, doesn’t exist in Petersberg. Or anywhere. She messed up, Dallas. Security got enough of her face for us to find a match.”
Eve gave him an appreciative smile, “Good work, McNab. What’s her location?”
“East Washington,” he answered, “Listed as divorced, one child, male, age twelve.”
“No way anyone was that careless,” Kellison looked up from his work, “How could you miraculously find a connection so fast?”
“Andrew.” Blair rolled her eyes and looked up at McNab, “Sorry, he’s just an asshole.”
Good naturedly, McNab shrugged, offered an understanding smile, “It’s fine. We were bound to find a name somewhere between all the bogus delivery companies and the mag security they have. Most likely though, data on Marsden is bogus too.”
“I’ve got something too, Dallas,” Peabody, who hadn’t spoken since the briefing looked up, “Wales Express Parcel Service. Business address is in the financial district of East Washington. A little far out for delivery to Petersberg.”
“Also a little strange. Is the service legit?”
“Looks like. But If you look up the company in a directory, like if you want to send something, they’re listed as a private branch of Snyder Financial-another private company that was completely unlisted-not a delivery service.”
“Sounds like we should be looking in East Washington,” Feeney suggested.
“We could head back home, start working that direction,” Blair offered, but Eve shook her head.
“Right now, we’re all data crunchers. If it comes down to it that someone has to go to the Capitol, I’ll make that decision when.”
“And in the mean time, we have no idea where Hadley could be hiding,” Kellison pointed out.
“I’m sure he’ll make himself known to us,” Blair rolled her eyes, “But Dallas is right, we should do as much research as possible. Maybe grill those security guards again.”
“Not a bad idea,” Eve nodded gratefully at Blair, “Maybe we’ll go at them fresh tomorrow,”
The team had spent the entire day watching security discs, scanning employee records, digging into delivery companies and bouncing thoughts off of each other. It was an interesting group, Eve thought as she dismissed them all and watched them start to clear up their work. Blair was friendly, organized and well-focused, a complete opposite of her overly stressed partner, Kellison, who wasn’t unfriendly, but didn’t seem to fit in with anyone. He was high strung and seemed annoyed when the room got too loud with discussion. But he worked hard, analyzed data well and clearly wanted to get things done. Mixed in with her own team-Baxter, who kept the humor moving, Trueheart, eager as a puppy, Feeney, unphazed by the mix of personalities and digging out the hardest data, McNab, bright of mind and of clothing, and her own partner, Peabody, who seemed to naturally carry an air of “peacemaker” around with her.
And then there was Roarke. He was not officially attached to the team, nor was there a need for him to be. But she knew the minute he’d left the briefing, he’d be doing his own digging, his own detective work. It drove her crazy.
But it was also incredibly helpful.
She was thinking about how she could turn this around, how she could get Roarke to help her when Blair stepped over to her. The room was empty except for the two of them, and Feeney, who was on the link with a DS from his division.
“Lieutenant Dallas, I just want to thank you for letting Kellison and I work with you on this.” Blair readjusted her shoulder bag, “He’s not usually a hothead about things, but keeping Hadley in a cage is just so important to him.”
“It should be,” Eve answered as she studied Blair, “Do you think he’ll stay a hothead or will he relax?”
“Well, he seemed to be pretty excited about going out with everyone else to celebrate Detective Trueheart’s exam results. I think that will help. And knowing Detective McNab from before he moved to Virginia doesn’t hurt. McNab is good.”
“Stop,” Eve said sarcastically, “Feeney will overhear you. No need to inflate McNab’s head.”
Blair laughed, “I like your team. And Kellison will be better after he gets to know them. I promise. He’s also still a bit sore from getting dumped last month by his girlfriend.”
“That always sucks. But don’t worry, Baxter will get him good and drunk. Just make sure he sobers up before 0800 hours.”
Blair laughed, “Will do,” then she paused a moment, “Um, Dallas, you wouldn’t happen to know if Detective Peabody is seeing anyone, would you?”
Eve stared at Blair, “Peabody?”
“Yeah. She’s cute. And she seems like she’s a great cop.”
“Oh, um,” Eve hated relationship stuff, but figured Blair should be warned before she tried to hook up their partners, “She’s uh, in a relationship.”
“Damn,” disappointment crossed over Blair’s face, “Well then. Okay, Dallas, I’m meeting them all for drinks, are you coming?”
“We’ll try to meet up,” Eve answered when she got a shrug from Feeney, “But if not, have fun.”
“Sure,” Blair gave a friendly wave and was gone.
“You should remind the kids that Peabody shouldn’t be drinking,” Feeney told Eve as he gathered up his stuff, “The way she got knocked around at the softball game.”
“She may need the drink if Blair is trying to hook her up with Kellison. Why do people play matchmaking games? It’s just stupid.”
Feeney smirked as he met Eve at the door of the conference room, “Dallas, you really are clueless about other relationships. Detective Blair wasn’t asking for Kellison. She was asking for herself.”
Eve stared at him with disbelief, “What are you talking about?”
Now Feeney laughed, “Dallas, Detective Blair is gay and she spent a large part of her day checking out your partner!” He patted her shoulder when her mouth dropped open. “Give Roarke my best and I’ll see you in the morning.”
Head reeling from Feeney’s words, Eve wasn’t paying attention to where she was going as she walked along the corridor and walked right into Trueheart, who came sharply around the corner.
“Sorry Lieutenant!” he went straight as a board into attention, “I didn’t see you.”
“Don’t apologize, Trueheart,” she gave him a smile, “I wasn’t paying attention. Where’d everyone go?”
“Tennison’s,” he answered, speaking of a burger and beer joint a couple blocks away, “I left my jacket in the conference room. You coming out?”
“I’m going to head home, but don’t worry, Detective, I’ll buy you a drink.”
He grinned at her and turned to head back to the conference room, then turned back, “Lieutenant, I want to thank you for-“ Eve held up a hand to stop him.
“Not now, Trueheart. Good work, I mean it, but we’ll save the mushy stuff for the ceremony, okay?”
He flushed, “Sure, Lieutenant, okay.”
She grinned at him, “Call me Dallas, please.”
“I’ll try,” he smiled back then went to get his coat.
Grin still on her face, Eve changed her mind. She did have time for a drink. She’d stop down at Tennison’s and remind Peabody that she was technically still on medical leave and while she was there, clink a mug with her newest Detective and his trainer.
And postpone going home to deal with Roarke.
“What, Detective McNab?”
“Amy Marsden,” he set the hard copy in front of Eve, “Except her employer, Rapid Delivery, doesn’t exist in Petersberg. Or anywhere. She messed up, Dallas. Security got enough of her face for us to find a match.”
Eve gave him an appreciative smile, “Good work, McNab. What’s her location?”
“East Washington,” he answered, “Listed as divorced, one child, male, age twelve.”
“No way anyone was that careless,” Kellison looked up from his work, “How could you miraculously find a connection so fast?”
“Andrew.” Blair rolled her eyes and looked up at McNab, “Sorry, he’s just an asshole.”
Good naturedly, McNab shrugged, offered an understanding smile, “It’s fine. We were bound to find a name somewhere between all the bogus delivery companies and the mag security they have. Most likely though, data on Marsden is bogus too.”
“I’ve got something too, Dallas,” Peabody, who hadn’t spoken since the briefing looked up, “Wales Express Parcel Service. Business address is in the financial district of East Washington. A little far out for delivery to Petersberg.”
“Also a little strange. Is the service legit?”
“Looks like. But If you look up the company in a directory, like if you want to send something, they’re listed as a private branch of Snyder Financial-another private company that was completely unlisted-not a delivery service.”
“Sounds like we should be looking in East Washington,” Feeney suggested.
“We could head back home, start working that direction,” Blair offered, but Eve shook her head.
“Right now, we’re all data crunchers. If it comes down to it that someone has to go to the Capitol, I’ll make that decision when.”
“And in the mean time, we have no idea where Hadley could be hiding,” Kellison pointed out.
“I’m sure he’ll make himself known to us,” Blair rolled her eyes, “But Dallas is right, we should do as much research as possible. Maybe grill those security guards again.”
“Not a bad idea,” Eve nodded gratefully at Blair, “Maybe we’ll go at them fresh tomorrow,”
The team had spent the entire day watching security discs, scanning employee records, digging into delivery companies and bouncing thoughts off of each other. It was an interesting group, Eve thought as she dismissed them all and watched them start to clear up their work. Blair was friendly, organized and well-focused, a complete opposite of her overly stressed partner, Kellison, who wasn’t unfriendly, but didn’t seem to fit in with anyone. He was high strung and seemed annoyed when the room got too loud with discussion. But he worked hard, analyzed data well and clearly wanted to get things done. Mixed in with her own team-Baxter, who kept the humor moving, Trueheart, eager as a puppy, Feeney, unphazed by the mix of personalities and digging out the hardest data, McNab, bright of mind and of clothing, and her own partner, Peabody, who seemed to naturally carry an air of “peacemaker” around with her.
And then there was Roarke. He was not officially attached to the team, nor was there a need for him to be. But she knew the minute he’d left the briefing, he’d be doing his own digging, his own detective work. It drove her crazy.
But it was also incredibly helpful.
She was thinking about how she could turn this around, how she could get Roarke to help her when Blair stepped over to her. The room was empty except for the two of them, and Feeney, who was on the link with a DS from his division.
“Lieutenant Dallas, I just want to thank you for letting Kellison and I work with you on this.” Blair readjusted her shoulder bag, “He’s not usually a hothead about things, but keeping Hadley in a cage is just so important to him.”
“It should be,” Eve answered as she studied Blair, “Do you think he’ll stay a hothead or will he relax?”
“Well, he seemed to be pretty excited about going out with everyone else to celebrate Detective Trueheart’s exam results. I think that will help. And knowing Detective McNab from before he moved to Virginia doesn’t hurt. McNab is good.”
“Stop,” Eve said sarcastically, “Feeney will overhear you. No need to inflate McNab’s head.”
Blair laughed, “I like your team. And Kellison will be better after he gets to know them. I promise. He’s also still a bit sore from getting dumped last month by his girlfriend.”
“That always sucks. But don’t worry, Baxter will get him good and drunk. Just make sure he sobers up before 0800 hours.”
Blair laughed, “Will do,” then she paused a moment, “Um, Dallas, you wouldn’t happen to know if Detective Peabody is seeing anyone, would you?”
Eve stared at Blair, “Peabody?”
“Yeah. She’s cute. And she seems like she’s a great cop.”
“Oh, um,” Eve hated relationship stuff, but figured Blair should be warned before she tried to hook up their partners, “She’s uh, in a relationship.”
“Damn,” disappointment crossed over Blair’s face, “Well then. Okay, Dallas, I’m meeting them all for drinks, are you coming?”
“We’ll try to meet up,” Eve answered when she got a shrug from Feeney, “But if not, have fun.”
“Sure,” Blair gave a friendly wave and was gone.
“You should remind the kids that Peabody shouldn’t be drinking,” Feeney told Eve as he gathered up his stuff, “The way she got knocked around at the softball game.”
“She may need the drink if Blair is trying to hook her up with Kellison. Why do people play matchmaking games? It’s just stupid.”
Feeney smirked as he met Eve at the door of the conference room, “Dallas, you really are clueless about other relationships. Detective Blair wasn’t asking for Kellison. She was asking for herself.”
Eve stared at him with disbelief, “What are you talking about?”
Now Feeney laughed, “Dallas, Detective Blair is gay and she spent a large part of her day checking out your partner!” He patted her shoulder when her mouth dropped open. “Give Roarke my best and I’ll see you in the morning.”
Head reeling from Feeney’s words, Eve wasn’t paying attention to where she was going as she walked along the corridor and walked right into Trueheart, who came sharply around the corner.
“Sorry Lieutenant!” he went straight as a board into attention, “I didn’t see you.”
“Don’t apologize, Trueheart,” she gave him a smile, “I wasn’t paying attention. Where’d everyone go?”
“Tennison’s,” he answered, speaking of a burger and beer joint a couple blocks away, “I left my jacket in the conference room. You coming out?”
“I’m going to head home, but don’t worry, Detective, I’ll buy you a drink.”
He grinned at her and turned to head back to the conference room, then turned back, “Lieutenant, I want to thank you for-“ Eve held up a hand to stop him.
“Not now, Trueheart. Good work, I mean it, but we’ll save the mushy stuff for the ceremony, okay?”
He flushed, “Sure, Lieutenant, okay.”
She grinned at him, “Call me Dallas, please.”
“I’ll try,” he smiled back then went to get his coat.
Grin still on her face, Eve changed her mind. She did have time for a drink. She’d stop down at Tennison’s and remind Peabody that she was technically still on medical leave and while she was there, clink a mug with her newest Detective and his trainer.
And postpone going home to deal with Roarke.
