Oh, he was.
“No, I’m good.”
Tony pulled some candy from his desk drawer, and rolled closer to the man to share some.
What few people knew was that Ethan loved candy. He was a secret candy junkie. The man ran on sugar and chocolate. When Gene always asked him why he never needed food, the reason was a pocket full of goodies.
Yeah, no one ever saw him eating it, but Tony had been his supplier for years. He slipped him his favorites because a dude had to eat, and worst-case scenario, he could throw it to distract his wife and run the other way to escape.
That’s what Tony did when Elizabeth was around.
Ethan saw the licorice, and he took some.
“Thanks.”
Tony didn’t move.
“Spill it.”
Ethan sighed.
When he’d come in here to see what the nut was up to, maybe he was coming in here to have someone to talk to.
Who was he kidding?
Ethan needed a friend.
As he ate the candy, he shared what was going on in his head.
“I am struggling with this profile. He knows so much about us, and I don’t know how he got all the information. Plus, I know that with any killer, he’s going to escalate. I just don’t know how.”
Tony ate some licorice with him.
“She’s got this,” he said.
Ethan said nothing.
“My dude, she’s the strongest most terrifying person I’ve ever met, and she’s going to be good. You have to have faith in her.”
He actually laughed.
Well, who saw that coming?
“You don’t say?” he asked.
Anthony nodded.
“I’ve seen Elizabeth handle some wild situations. She always comes out on top. I can count on one hand the few that got away from her. She’ll nail it. Give her time.”
Yeah, but did they have time?
That was the question.
“I’m just scared,” he admitted. “She’s my wife, and I know that this could go sideways. He wants to get her so he can hurt her. Everything he does is going to be about that.”
Tony understood that fear.
“Again, Ethan, faith. Neither one of us is religious, but we have to find some faith.”
