“Is there more?” Reyes asked.
Sean shook his head, separating the personal info from the information he’d needed. Everything else she’d shared was not related to the case. “She had no idea who he was. Just another irate parent in a custody battle, or so she thought.”
“Is there a custody battle?” Reyes asked.
“Not officially. We’ve been keeping tabs on his known associates and haven’t seen him in their vicinity. We’ve never officially identified any children who were specifically his.” Sean had been assigned to the large files on the Latin Kings. Since El Socio had gone behind bars, things had been relatively calm.
“We may want to re-visit that theory. Sounds like there are. We need to go over his regular friends and women. They’re a close-knit group, so someone would know which kids are his.”
“If they were smart, they got out of town when he was released,” the captain said darkly. “With him raising hell, they’d either seek his protection or flee.”
“We’re missing something,” Reyes said. “I don’t know what it is yet, but it’s there.”
“Maybe he thinks she has the info from the hospital computers,” the captain suggested.
Reyes shook her head. “If he wanted that, he’d have kidnapped anyone who could log into the MetroGen system and check remotely. He didn’t need her.”
“Well, Lily… Dr. Hernandez doesn’t know. Now that we know he’s in Cleveland, are we moving to his regular haunts?” Sean asked, unable to stop his slip of the tongue.
“I doubt he’s going to approach her again,” the captain said.
The Chief disagreed. “I think he will. It’sla familia.He wouldn’t have gone to the hospital if he weren’t desperate.”
Captain Bailey said, “Then we need more eyes on Dr. Hernandez. With our new alliance, we can easily place temp officers in hospital security.”
“We need a Spanish-speaking officer.” She looked over at Sean and smiled. “¿Está listo para más trabajo?”
He did not appreciate that smile or her asking if he was ready for more work. “Sir?”
“Es perfecto para el trabajo. Un batido de fresa.”
“Debido a que soy de cabello castaño rojizo, no me convierte en la persona adecuada. Hice mi parte,” he retorted. If his Chief called him a strawberry milkshake and thus perfect for the job, he could hit back.
“Amamos las fresas. No podemos resistirnos a ellos. Es El pastel del fresas que nunca pudimos comer. If we put him in hospital security, we can justify him hanging out and talk to Hernandez in Pediatrics. She did just have an aggressive patient encounter.”
“Don’t you think she’ll notice the security guard and her personal confidant are the same person?” Sean crossed his arms over his shirt.
Reyes raised her hand. “Don’t tell me how personal you got, but we can use that. I take it you two are compatible.”
Compatible was one way of describing what happened in her apartment. Or the three times he’d beat his meat in the past twelve hours, including in the locker room right before this meeting. Every single time he thought about her, his dick got ideas which were NOT conducive to a talk with the Police Chief.
“Yes, compatibility is not going to be a problem.” His dick immediately responded in its now customary fashion.
“Did she ever see your face?” the captain asked, adding fuel to the fire. “Could she pick you out in a crowd?”
“Not by face. I wore the mask the whole time.” It had been kinky as hell, and in other circumstances, he’d be more than happy to do it again. And again. And again.
“Excellent, with what our team gets you dressed up as, she’ll never know the difference,” the captain said. “Can we do that?”
His question was aimed at Charlie. “I have some ideas. It’ll take arranging, but it’s possible if the undercover team and I arrange things properly,” Charlie confirmed, eyeing Sean in an almost predatory fashion.
Chief Reyes laughed, “This is your precinct, and I’ll trust your skills and expertise, Layton. Murphy, glad to have you on narcotics. I’ll let you work out the details for Murphy shadowing the good doctor during the day and controlled visits at night to get access to her building. Ideally, a camera or two, but not inside her apartment. We’d need a warrant for that.”
The Chief left, chuckling, and Sean tried to hold everything in. He could feel his skin flushing in frustration, which would only make the stubble growing where his hair had been appear even redder.
“You’d better say it now. Speak freely,” the captain offered.
Sean wasn’t going to speak as freely as he wanted because ‘this is the fucking worst damn plan on the fucking planet’ would not go over well. “I have serious concerns about this. You want me to hang out pretending to be a security guard with the hope El Socio shows up again.”
