“I have to let Kat know,” Pasco said.
“Give me the rest of the morning,” I said. “Let me go home and see if she tells me, then I’ll call Kat.”
He sighed. “Okay, but you have to let Cami tell you. No leading the witness, so to speak. And if she doesn’t tell you, you need to let Kat know that as well.”
“Yeah, I know how it works, Pasco.” I propped my head on one hand and tried to think, to make sense of why Cami had done this.
“I’ll just...” Pasco pointed his thumb over his shoulder. He patted Bella’s head and she thumped her tail, then he went back to his IT cave.
“What do you think about all this, girl?”
If she could speak, I knew what she would say. She loved Cami. She trusted her. As much as Cami liked to call me her hero, she had been that for Bella.
“I know what you’re thinking,” I said. “There has to be an explanation.” We would go home, I’d make breakfast, and then Cami would tell me the truth. I was sure of it.
Or maybe I wasn’t so sure, because before I went home, I needed to hit something. Preferably repeatedly.
“Christ,Rogers, what did that heavy bag ever do to you?”
I turned around to see Lang, wearing jeans and a black leather coat and holding his silver helmet.
“I thought you were out of town,” I said, pointedly not answering his question.
“Drove home this morning,” he said. “Just stopping by to get my new cell phone from Pasco.”
Fucking cell phones. I punched the bag again.
Pasco joined us, handing Lang his phone.
“What’s with the heavyweight champ over here?” Lang asked Pasco.
Pasco shook his head. “Not sure that’s one for me to tell.” He raised his eyebrows at me like he thought I should spill. Probably to get Lang off his back.
I punched the bag. “You can tell him.” Another punch, then a glare aimed at Lang. “But this doesn’t escalate to Kat unless it becomes absolutely necessary.”
Pasco gave him the one-minute summary while I took out more frustration on the heavy bag. When Pasco was through, Lang laid a hand on my shoulder to stop my onslaught.
“I need a cup of coffee.” He handed his helmet to Pasco,then pulled off his leather coat and handed that over as well. He looked at me. “You’re with me.”
I pulled off my gloves and dropped them on top of Lang’s jacket, then stalked after him.
“I’ll just take care of these things like I’m the butler,” Pasco called.
“Excellent,” Lang replied.
When we reached the kitchen, Bella jumped up to greet us. She was gaining energy and getting restless, which meant it was soon time to go home. If only I were ready for it.
Lang poured a cup of coffee and sat at the table. I reached for the pot.
“You sure you want more caffeine?” he asked. “You seem to be bouncing off the walls.”
“Fuck you,” I said, but I slunk to the table and collapsed into a chair without more coffee, because he was right.
After a long silence, Lang said, “Did I ever tell you how my marriage ended?”
Since this was the first I was hearing he’d been married, that was a no. I shook my head. “If I had to guess, I’d say the long deployments.”
“Why the fuck would you have to guess when I’m sitting right here and can tell you?”
