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His phone clicked. "Yeah?"
"Albert, s'Charles. Need you to go with Agent Allerton, follow up on a lead to Serrano... That's right... I don't know, parking lot?" He lifted an eyebrow to Allerton. She nodded. "Good. Now."
He disconnected.
"Good luck," Overby said and retreated to his office.
Chapter 23
Albert Stemple had been told he grunted a lot, though he didn't think that was the case. He never said much, didn't find it necessary most of the time and so he would respond to people with an Ah or Oh.
Maybe people thought words like that were grunts. I look like a guy who grunts, so people hear grunts.
The massive man, head free of hair and shaped like an egg, though shinier, stood with his arms crossed outside the rear door of CBI, looking over the parking lot. Since Stemple was the closest thing CBI had to a SWAT team, he'd been in more firefights and had more collars than any other agent in this division, which meant he had a price on that glossy head of his.
Stemple tended to check vistas and shadows regularly.
CBI's back door opened and Carol Allerton stepped outside, nodding to Stemple, taking in his jeans, black T-shirt and impressive Beretta .45, the only caliber a man should carry. He supposed the bump on her hip through her gray jacket was a teeny Glock. A model 26, he guessed. Not bad. If you liked peashooters.
When she looked at his face with a bit of hesitation, Stemple knew she'd been considering the scars. You should see the other guys.
He nodded.
"Hi," Allerton said.
"We're going, Seaside. A Serrano lead."
"Right."
"Hm." Maybe gruntlike. "I'll drive," he told her.
"Hey," came a woman's voice behind them.
Kathryn Dance walked up from the side of the building, where her car was parked, the gray Pathfinder. Nose art from her dogs decorated the back windows. Stemple liked her dogs; he knew them pretty well, being a regular visitor to the Deck. He was after Dance to let him borrow the flat-coated retriever, take her hunting and bring back a dressed duck or two for the family in thanks. He'd made the mistake of mentioning that in front of Dance's kids; the look in the agent's eyes in response was a hard one to describe. It meant no in a lot of different ways.
Allerton was eyeing Dance neutrally as the CBI agent walked up. She glanced around and then moved closer yet. "Al."
A nod.
"Carol, there's something I want to talk to you about. Both of you, really."
"Sure, Kathryn."
Stemple tipped his large head once again. Maybe issued a grunt.
"I heard you had a lead to Serrano."
The DEA agent hesitated.
Dance said, "Well, I know you do. TJ told me. He's my inside man. You're going to talk to this lead now?"
Allerton held her gaze. "We are."
Dance said, "I want to interview him."
"Well..."
"I know the turf, Carol. I don't know this particular subject but I know the crowd he'd hang with. That gives me a huge leg up."
