Arlington sat back in his chair, arms folded. “Does he now?”
“Yes. He says he’ll recognise the voices and can give us information on who’s there.” He debated about adding the next bit but decided to do it anyway. “He’s worried about Nash. You know how shifters are.”
Arlington raised his eyebrows at that, and Michael instantly realised what a stupid thing that was to say. He was in charge of the SCTF—of course he knew how shifters were.Duh.
“I just meant—”
Arlington waved away his comments. “I know what you meant.” He met Michael’s gaze and held it, letting the silence stretch out.
“Fine,” he said, eventually. “It won’t hurt to have a bit of background information, and at this point in the investigation, I’ll take any bit of help we can get. It’ll also give Bridgford and Stewart the opportunity to meet him.”
Michael sat there a little stunned. He’d honestly expected an emphatic no.
Arlington smirked at him. “You look surprised.”
Clearing his throat, Michael said, “I didn’t expect you to agree to it.”
“We need to make some progress on this case. If having Harper listen in to the meet can help us in any way, then I’ll take it. Maybe he’ll hear something we can’t or maybe he’ll just be able to tell us who’s there. At any rate, I don’t believe having him here will do any harm, and if we get something out of it, then all the better.” He sat forward again. “Anything else?”
“No, sir.”
“Good. Have Harper here in plenty of time.”
“Yes, sir.”
Arlington went back to his paperwork, and Michael took his cue and left.
“Well?” Frank asked when he got back to his desk. He took one look at Michael’s face and said, “No way. Boss said yes?”
“Yep.”
Frank laughed and shook his head. “Didn’t see that coming, but now that I think about it, it’s not a bad idea. We should get to know him a bit better. I want to see how he’s going to handle pressure. We don’t want him backing out when it comes to doing his bit.”
Personally, Michael couldn’t see Harper backing out of anything. He’d seemed genuinely concerned about one of their own going around killing humans and wanted to put a stop to it. If Harper had the balls to go into Smith’s fights night after night, knowing if he was found out they’d kick the shit out of him or worse—shifter or no—then he could do this. They weren’t asking him to do anything that he hadn’t already done, just to keep his ears open this time. “I don’t think that’ll be a problem.”
“Hmm. I’m sure you don’t.”
Michael didn’t bother rising to the bait. Instead, he focused on making sure everything was in place for later, firstly by sending a text to Harper.
Arlington okayed you coming to our offices tonight. Be here for 6.30, ask for me at the front desk.
The reply was almost instantaneous, as though Aaron had been waiting to hear.Thank you. See you later.
Michael almost replied that he shouldn’t thank him; it was Arlington’s decision. But that seemed petty and unnecessary, so he placed his phone on the desk instead and concentrated on the rest of his work for a while.
When Michael eventually took a break, he leant back in his chair with a sigh.
A quick glance at the clock told him he had an hour until Harper arrived. Excitement curled in his belly like it always did when they got deeper into an investigation, and he felt a smile tug at his lips.
He just hoped that was the only reason for it this time.
CHAPTER NINE
Aaron consulted his phone again as he walked up the steps from the tube station. The directions Archer had sent him were pretty straightforward, and ten minutes later he was standing in front of a newer-looking building than he’d expected. In fact, it looked nothing like a police station. Well, none of the ones he’d seen, anyway. The building was all metal and glass, with steps across the front leading up to a set of double doors, and he frowned in confusion for a second.
The name Trenton House sat above the doors in big black lettering, and Aaron snorted out a laugh because, yes, he had in fact expected to see the letters SCTF or the full version somewhere on display.
Once inside, Aaron approached the well-dressed guy sat behind a large curved desk.
