“I’m sure if we interviewed his contemporaries at work, we’d see a pattern of odd behavior,” Clint said.Then he eyed Joey and Chadwick.“Gid, it’s your call.You and the kid take his office, or leave that to me and Tal while you and the kid take Chester Schumer himself for a preliminary interview.”
“They need to happen simultaneously,” Chadwick said, completely focused on the board.“He can’t know he’s a suspect.Let’s do it on an off day.Tomorrow’s Saturday, the market’s closed.You and Tal start interviewing the people from his office, and we can say we’re part of a team.Joey and I can even hit some other office people afterward.But he can’t think he’s singled out, or we’ll lose him.”
“Your call,” Harding said.“Meet here tomorrow.Crosby’s here to take an online class, so he can do overwatch while we’re out.”
Chadwick gave a sweet little smile, and Joey’s heart twisted.Why should he care?Why should he care if this thin, dry man sounded all warm and gooey when he was talking to the BAU lady, Kathy whatever?Why should he care if Chadwick seemed to have a hard-on for the other rookie?This wasn’t what that was about, was it.
“His second weekend doing online classes here,” he said.“Kid seems to be throwing himself into it.”
Harding grunted.“He told Gail he wasn’t sure when we’d realize our mistake, and he wants to learn as much as he can while he’s here.”
Chadwick groaned.“Oh God.Fuck me.We’re keeping him.”
“So far she says he’s pretty field-ready,” Harding admitted.“And the best part is he admits what he doesn’t know.”He nodded at Joey.“Witness.”
Joey realized then that while they hadn’t necessarily meant this meeting as a test, he’d still passed by being willing to learn stuff.On the one hand, he felt a warmth in his stomach, one that he’d gotten while learning to hunt and track with his grandfather.It was a pride of sorts for being the best he could be, for pleasing an authority figure who neither demanded nor ridiculed.
He hadn’t been aware that feeling could be replicated.
But on the other hand, he realized that he’d walked in here with a sort of arrogance.He knew he was hot shit—he was the best tracker his unit had ever seen, and he’d heard that again and again and again.He’d been able to stay out of his father’s clutches while he lived with the bastard; he’d always thought that should qualify him for some sort of award.He was silent, he was able with any kind of weapon, and hand-to-hand?Forget about it.He could take out guys three times his size, which was a good thing because height and mass were not his friends.If the stupid major in the stupid Green Berets had just listened to reason, he wouldn’t have had to leave deployment, or the military, and he wouldn’t be stuck pencil pushingherein this building where the fluorescent lights made him half blind.
Except that wasn’t the case at all, was it.He’d defied a direct order.He could have been arrested fortreason.Instead the other major, the one who wasn’t even his CO, had bailed him out for no other reason than ithadbeen unfair, and now he was here where hedidn’t know anything.
He’dthoughthe knew things—his FLETC training had gone fine, but that thing they’d just done—where they reasoned through a mass of facts and found a suspect, then decided how best to investigate him—that wasnewto him.He’d asked questions because it was interesting, not because he’d realized he was a weak spot on the team.
And he’d met Crosby.Big dumb Irish flatfoot who was probably right, his being there had been a big mistake.Except that big dumb Irish flatfoot apparently knew more than Joey fucking Carlyle, because he was already coming in here on his own time, making up for what he realized he didn’t know.
And Carlyle, who thought he washotshit, had just realized that he didn’tknowshit instead.
Oh fuck.He needed to up his game.
And that started with not being jealous or mean about the big dumb Irish flatfoot.
“What kinds of online classes?”he asked, and he must have been abrupt about it, because both Chadwick and Harding got the sort of expressions on their faces when a kid did something oh so precocious.
“I’ll get you a catalogue,” Chadwick said mildly.“There’s time.Any other questions?”
“What should I wear tomorrow?”he asked.
“Black tracksuit is fine,” Harding said, glancing at the new outfit Joey had worn that morning.“In fact, it almost looks more professional than a sport suit and tie.”
“Fuck you very much,” Chadwick said with a grimace.“If they had a Grim Reaper outfit, I’m sure that would suit me better.”
Harding chuckled, and Carlyle realized that these two men had known each other for a while.Unlike with Crosby—or that Kathy person who still pissed him off because he’d heard Chadwick’s voice warm—Carlyle didn’t feel any jealousy or one-upmanship with Harding over Chadwick.Maybe it was because the two of them together had done that sweet thing with the food and the making sure he didn’t wake up in a strange place alone.Or maybe it was because Harding was so overwhelmingly his CO.But either way, Harding had orders or lessons or suggestions.
Chadwick seemed to have more than that.
Carlyle didn’t understand the hold, but he did understand he needed to trust his instincts.Whatever fascination he had with this very smart deer, he needed to observe the deer and maybe learn from his behaviors if he wanted to keep this job.
ALL THATself-searching and healmostlet someotherhunter kill his fucking deer!
“Nice digs,” Joey said as he and Chadwick disembarked from the department-issued SUV.The place backed up against the national forest that housed the Pine Barrens and, thanks to the thick growth of oak and pine that made up the place’s name, was out of sight from its nearest neighbors.It stood two stories, both levels having big bay windows that looked to the road and an overhanging awning that would keep the porches shady in the summer and rain and snow free during the other times of year.There was an attached garage and no outside stairs, so they approached the front door with its nice little stoop and a solidly built mat with bristles at the bottom designed to reallycleanthe sole of a boot.
“God forbid we track the forest in,” Chadwick muttered.
Joey cocked his head, listening for those mutters.They’d spoken a little on the two-hour drive from Manhattan.Chadwick had asked him about his interests—movies, TV, music—and Joey had been… embarrassed.
“I don’t… listen, a lot,” he said, thinking about the noise of these things.“I… if you can’t hear the silence around you, you could be in danger.”
