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"Alright," Lo said, taking a breath, leaning back in her chair, holding a pen between her two hands as she looked at us, lips pursed slightly. "It's doable," she told us, making some of the tension slip from Reagan's shoulders.
"But?" I prompted when I sensed one hanging in the air.
"But," she agreed, nodding, tossing the pen onto the notepad she had on the table, "there is no guarantee that this will work the first time. Or the second. Or the third. I'm not saying that to discourage you, I just want you to be aware. This could be a long game, unfortunately. That's fine with us. We do that sort of thing all the time. I know you are willing to pay for that should it be necessary, but I just want you to consider other options," she said, her gaze moving to Reagan, the two of them seeming to have a silent conversation, one I wasn't privy to.
"Hm," Reagan said, leaning back in her chair, eyes far away, thinking through what Lo had--and hadn't--said.
"Want to fill me in?" I prompted.
Lo looked to Reagan first, waiting to get a nod before pinning me with her almost unsettlingly intense gaze.
"We have no evidence that randomness is part of his M.O.," she started. "There is a good chance that we would see results more quickly if we introduce a possible victim that he already has a connection to."
And back to where we left off.
"Absolutely fucking not."
Lo's brow rose at that. "I don't believe we were asking your permission," she told me, the authority in her voice making me feel five inches tall, like a little kid trying to stick his head in grown-up business. I suddenly saw the reason Lo was someone both respected and feared in our town and beyond. "Do you want us to have him removed?" she asked Reagan.
"No," Reagan said. "Well, maybe. If he keeps looking at me like that," she said, but her lips were twitching.
"Babe, fucking no. You can't be considering this."
"It makes sense, though," she said, shaking her head. "Especially because," she started, needing to stop, take a deep breath, eyes closing for a second. "Especially because he calls me that word. Like he did Sammy."
"There is often a pattern to this sort of thing," Lo piped in. "The asshole might only have things for young women from his circle. Or, worse yet, women he watched grow up from little girls. And since none of my people are from his circle, the best chance of catching him in the act would be to use Reagan as bait."
"Bait gets fucking eaten," I reminded Lo, teeth gritted, hands curling so hard onto the armrests that I was a little surprised they didn't crumble in my palms.
"You're underestimating us," Lo shot back. "We would never send her in there unprepared, not surrounded by backup. Without cameras scattered around. Without a listening device on her. She would be monitored every single move she made. She couldn't be safer."
"Sure she could. If she didn't fucking do it. And she's not."
"She," Reagan cut in, voice a little firmer than she generally used, "gets to make her own decisions. Even if she thinks you are kind of sexy when you get all riled and protective like that."
"I can't let you go in there. Fuck no."
"Nixon, be reasonable," she suggested, placing her hand on my arm, squeezing my wrist. "In one or two nights, I might be able to put an end to all of this. Instead of having it go on for weeks or months."
"You seriously think you are going to be able to let your sister's rapist hit on you, corner you, take you to another location, and start assaulting you? You think you can handle that? Not just in the moment, but in the long run?"
She already had it bad enough to begin with. She struggled with Sammy's passing every single day. She could constantly be seen picking up the picture on her desk at work, looking at her siblings' faces, and the same at home with the one on her vanity, the collage in her living room.
Sammy's passing was a wound that just didn't heal right.
And I had a feeling that that bastard putting his hands on her, calling her princess like he had with Sammy, it was going to plunge a knife into it and dig it deeper, wider, making it impossible to ever heal correctly. "I think that, if it means we can catch him in the act, that I can. Besides, like Lo said, there will be a whole team there to make sure I'm safe."
That was a hollow sort of comfort.
"Babe, you could barely speak to him on the street that one night."
"He caught me off-guard. I wasn't expecting him. I wasn't prepared for an interaction. This will be different. I will have been coached by Lo and her people. I will know what I am supposed to do and say."
