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“You don’t call me John unless we’re talking about something serious, and whatever this is was serious enough to cause a rift between you and The Major that hadn’t been patched.”
“Which is why it’s tough to talk about. Later, when we know—”
“Not later. Now.”
Glenn swore under his breath. “One of my CAP detectives has been diagnosed with prostate cancer. Looks bad. He’s taking early retirement.”
“Shit luck and sad story. What’s it got to do with what we’re talking about?”
“I’ve got to replace him. That division needs somebody younger and smarter than him, than me. You would be my first choice. I bounced the idea off The Major and…” He paused, took a breath, blew it out.
Trapper waited him out, although he could have filled in the blank any number of ways and captured the gist of what Glenn was reluctant to tell him.
“The Major gave me an ultimatum. I could have you living here and working for me.”
“Or?” Trapper asked quietly.
“Or I could continue being his friend. Given that choice…” He raised his beefy shoulder. “There wasn’t a choice. But I was still mad at him over it.”
Glenn looked so shamefaced and sad that Trapper took mercy and let him off the hook. “Don’t beat yourself up, Glenn. I would’ve said no.” Yet he thought wistfully, Crimes Against Persons. Right up my alley. But wrong time, and definitely wrong place.
“I figured,” Glenn said. “But I was going to try. You’re being wasted. Private investigator? Come on. Besides, I was hoping that getting you here would be the first step toward a reconciliation between the two of you.”
“Not gonna happen, Glenn.”
“Not overnight, but given time, maybe.” Glenn regarded him for a moment. “When he went from being just Frank Trapper to the hero, things changed for you, too. He took to celebrity and ran with it. I felt sorry for Debra having to either follow in his wake or get left behind altogether. But I felt even sorrier for you. I can tell you that now.”
“No boo-hoos for me, thank you.”
“That’s my point. You rode it out. Finished growing up without any serious missteps and turned out okay. Your life was on track, and things seemed to be fine between you and The Major. Till you left the ATF. Y’all had more than a falling out. It was a severance.”
“As you said, it tore him up. He couldn’t forgive my failure.”
“What did you fail at? What were you working on?”
“That’s classified, Glenn. I can’t talk about it.”
“Bullshit.”
“Okay, I won’t talk about it.”
Glenn stared at him hard, not with a friend’s or surrogate dad’s eyes, but with those of a lawman seeking truth behind a lie. “Your quarrel with The Major was over you leaving the bureau. That’s it?”
Trapper tried to keep his expression unreadable. “That’s it.”
Glenn still looked like he didn’t believe him, but eventually he stood and put his hat on. “I’m gonna check in with the office. You staying?”
“Yeah, I’m gonna hang around until they let me see him.”
Glenn placed a firm hand on Trapper’s shoulder. “The hell of it is, you love him.”
Trapper didn’t say anything. Glenn nodded understanding, removed his hand, and left him.
When he was out of earshot, Trapper murmured, “That is the hell of it.”
Kerra had hoped the dawn would bring some relief from the terrible night.
But the day began with the discovery that her shoulder bag had been misplaced and no one seemed to know what had happened to it.
