Page 118 of Long Past Deadly

Alanna’s eyes widened.

“You what?” He rose and grabbed his jacket, listening carefully. “We’ll be there. Might take an hour.” He tapped the off and slammed the phone on the desk.

“What?”

“San Diego PD found Mercer’s hide. A house.” His phone dinged.

“Address. You in?”

“Let me get my weapon and credentials. I’m in. Have they touched anything?”

“Yeah, a bit. At the moment, the bomb squad is there.”

Alanna couldn’t stop the exasperated swear word. “Of course. Why would it be easy? Where is it?”

“Suburbia San Diego. Where else?”

“Bastard.” She went for her gun and her phone.

She’d been hoping Mercer would slowly recede in the dark side of her memory. Apparently, that wasn’t today.

&&&&&&&&&&

Quaid listened to Elizabeth with half his attention musing on Alanna. They were at the conference table in the room adjacent to Operations. They’d never put the removable wall back as it gave them more space flexibility, and since they had the other building, they could afford to expand Operations.

“Quaid, I know you’re in love, but could you pay attention.” When she used her saccharine sweet tone, one needed to duck.

Love. What?

He sat straighter and stayed silent on the L subject. “I’m listening. Would you like me to recite what you said?” They were talking about the particulars for renovating the building next door.

Mac occupied the other seat and was leaned back with a cup of coffee cradled in his hands and his eyes half shut. The man had the capacity to nap while talking.

“I may have all the business end handled, but you are on the paperwork and legally responsible for everything I do.”

“Did my grandfather ever question what you wanted?”

“No. But he paid attention when I talked so he knew what I was doing.”

Mac drank the last of his coffee and set the mug on the table. “My only request on Building B is to keep the cargo loading space open for Close Quarter drills. It’s perfect and one of the best things we improvised.”

Elizabeth scoffed. “Building B? No. You are not allowed to name things, Mackey, but I’ll note your request. Let me repeat. Do we want to leave space for more living area so we can keep more staff on site? We’ve needed it with the serial killer case. It offers them convenience and us more protection assets on site.”

She actually sounded like an experienced operative. Quaid shook off his distraction. Alanna usually text him or called him several times a day. She hadn’t today. He wasn’t worried. She’d been cleared from the shooting, and with Tenney renewing, he knew she’d have time here to help them with the case. But he was coming to hate this setup they had. Every day the late afternoon call – driving home or staying in LA? Am I coming to you or you to me? He stayed flexible, or at least he thought he did, but he wanted her home with him. Not at the LA Patton overnight or on the road. But the solution was not simple.

He answered Elizabeth before she could shake a finger at him. “I’d say yes. How much space will the living quarters take?”

“We could take one floor and do fourteen units similar to 501 in this building.”

The Operations door opened. Cait came in with Hunt behind her. They skirted the Operations computer area and walked to the business table. At this point, Hunt had a permanent visitor’s pass. Nobody was telling the Navy.

Quaid signaled them to seats, but answered Elizabeth before she lost her cool. “I say do it. It’s a good perk, works for security, and we weren’t going to fill all the space in the building anyway.”

“Is that an authorization?”

“Yes. Where do I sign?”

“Nowhere. This is for the architect.”