“I want to preserve your uncle’s memory, not take it away from you. He was one of us. Our records are sorely lacking for not having his journals in our collection already.” Bonnell smirked. “If we need to strike a deal… we have Oliver Uttley’s journals.”
Uncle Ephraim’s partner. A spy during World War Two and so much more after it. Jesse hadn’t known Uttley kept journals, too, but it made sense. With the horrors Jesse had seen so far, he already needed a way to process them. Back then, they wouldn’t have even considered going to therapy to deal with anything that happened in the line of duty.
Uttley’s journals might be filled with all the things he couldn’t tell Ephraim. All the missing bits of cases, all the minutia that Ephraim thought was unimportant. He might even have written more about their day to day lives than Ephraim had.
Jesse couldn’t resist. “I get a full copy. No redactions. There’s not much of a point in hiding anything from me anyway.”
“Well, there are some racier passages—”
Jesse grinned. “Everything I learned about sex came from my uncle’s journals. There’s nothing that Uttley could write that would be scandalous.”
“I couldn’t give you anything related to current operations,” Bonnell said.
“Unless I was on the inside?” Jesse asked. “Like, an agent?”
Bonnell shook her head. “While I admire the determination, we’re not to that point. And even being an agent doesn’t give you an all-access pass.”
“Can’t blame a guy for trying.”
“But you can hold him accountable if need be,” Bonnell replied. “Go get some sleep, Dawes. And try not to break my agent’s heart while you’re at it.”
Jesse expectedthat the car ride back to his apartment would be less awkward than the ride to the DWO building. For starters, he’d hoped Bryce would leave the blindfold off. But he didn’t. And Jesse’s attempt to make fun of it didn’t brighten Bryce’s mood any.
Jesse sagged into the passenger seat. “I cooperated. I didn’t lie.”
“I’m not angry,” Bryce said.
“You are tense though.”
Bryce sighed.
“Hey, you’ve got two options. Let me take the blindfold off or talk to me. Otherwise I might fall asleep on you.”
“Wouldn’t be the worst thing,” Bryce said.
Only Jesse wasn’t sure he would remain nightmare-free for even the short ride home. He kept seeing the tentacle creature and those broken, decaying buildings. If he let his mind drift, he wasn’t sure where it would decide to go. “Come on. I did what you asked. I even agreed to let the DWO copy the journals. Which, if that was what Ephraim wanted, he would have left them to you in the first place. And I know Bonnell’s going to find some way of tricking me into letting you guys keep them.”
“Jesse, I’m not angry or upset.”
“You sound off.”
“It’s almost two am and I didn’t get much sleep last night. It’s been a long week, and it doesn’t look like it’s getting any shorter.”
Jesse waited a moment. “And you’re still pissed at me.”
“No.” Bryce sighed again. “I’m waiting for you to get pissed at me.”
“Why would I—”
Bryce had known he was FBI before leaving the apartment Friday night. Jesse had started working the Valless case that night, and running into Bryce at the museum hadn’t been a mere coincidence. They’d been working the same case, but Jesse didn’t know that until Lawson stole the statue.
Bryce knew it when they kissed in the museum, and when he’d texted that afternoon. He’d known they were going to butt heads sooner or later over the case, but hadn’t said a single word. Hell, he tried to conceal his job. The situation Jesse was in the middle of was so distracting that he hadn’t stopped and correlated all his information.
Bryceknew, though, and more than that, he’d gotten upset with Jesse when he thought he’d been used to get into the DWO. Meanwhile, Bryce could have been using Jesse to figure out whatheknew. He might have accused Jesse because he had a guilty conscious.
Lying didn’t suit Bryce, or what Jesse knew of him. Jesse wasn’t quite sure he should overlook Bryce’s potential betrayal, except Bryce cared too much to willfully hurt anyone. The way he insisted on taking care of Jesse last night and again tonight pointed to his good intentions.
The car was too silent as Jesse tried to make his mind up over whether or not he was angry. At least Manhattan always had noise. Jesse wasn’t sure where they were in St. Louis, but it was quiet.
