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“What about Avery?” I ask.
“At home, with the girls. Helen had them the night before. Oh, and Charlene paid her a visit yesterday,” Marcus replies. “The conversation seemed normal. A little tense, but given the recent events, I can’t fault Avery for being more cautious than usual.”
“Where are your men stationed?”
“Just outside her house, in a black SUV, as per the protocol.”
“Good.” I tell him. “I think Charlene might be trying to rope Avery back into working on her house. See what you can find out about that, and have your agents keep checking into picking up a better line on Toby, too.”
“Sure thing. It’ll be trickier without a warrant, but I’ll need a couple of days just to see where Charlene is going and how long she’s away from the house, on average. Based on that, I can arrange a brief scouting session.” Marcus pauses at the top of the stairs and looks around. “Man, I do love that spring is finally coming back around. I was tired of all those blizzards.”
“It was a harsh winter, even for Nebraska.”
“Where’s your car?” Marcus asks.
I nod at the parking lot. “Over there.”
He follows my gaze and spots the new model I bought the other day. A grin slits his face, a glimmer of excitement glowing in his brown eyes. “Luke, is that the Aston Martin you’ve been talking about?”
“The one I said I’d buy over the past couple of years but never did? Yeah, that’s it,” I chuckle.
“What’s the occasion?”
I can’t help but let a deep sigh escape from my chest. “Honestly? With the latest incidents in our midst, I’ve been having a carpe diem type of existential crisis, and I figured why the hell not? I’ve been talking about it for so long. I love that model, and mind you, it did cost me a pretty penny. But it was worth it.”
“I’ll bet you can’t wait to take Avery out on a ride, huh?”
“Oh, yeah.”
“Until then, however,” Marcus replies and shoots me a cool smile, “How about I get it out of the parking lot for you? I’ll bring it down here to the bottom of the steps. For your convenience, of course.”
“You just wanna drive it for a hot second,” I shoot back with a laugh.
“Busted.”
I give him the keys. “Knock yourself out, Marcus. You might as well take it for a spin around the property, if you want.”
“Damn, Luke, she’s a beauty,” he mumbles. “I’ll be right back.”
“Where’s he off to in such a hurry?” Kay, one of our interns asks as she joins me outside. She hands me a file to look over. “This is what we’ve dug up on that stash house so far. I’ll go back in andkeep rummaging through the archives, but I figured you’d want some light reading for tonight.”
“Wow, Kay. You’ve been here a month and you already know me so well,” I chuckle softly.
“You’re not a complicated man, boss,” she quips.
“He’s just taking my Aston for a test drive,” I add, watching her as she keeps watching Marcus.
“That is a nice car, I’ll give you that,” she says.
Marcus waves at us, keys jingling in his hand. “Hey, Kay! If you ace your weekly review this Friday, I might convince our boss to let me take you out for a ride in this sexy thing!” He laughs as he jogs off toward my car.
“I don’t think he’s joking,” I mutter.
Kay smiles broadly. “I don’t think I mind.”
Marcus gets behind the wheel.
BOOM.
