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“Bower botched up all the files and hoped that it would be enough in case anything ever happened again. It would have worked if Fry hadn’t come back after his brief stay in the state pen and started up again. When we called Bower and started asking questions, he panicked, and lied to us to buy some time.” He turned to Lesley again. “I thought you should know, given the grief Smith had been throwing your way. You have nothing to worry about now, even though this isn’t how anyone wanted it to play out.”
His face showed no emotion. Lesley knew he was good at masking himself, but she was hoping for even a glimmer of affection. Not a damn thing. She squared her shoulders and nodded. “Thank you for telling me,” she said simply. She didn’t trust her voice to say much more.
He nodded and turned back to the Sergeant Major. “If there’s anything else?”
“Not right now. I’d like a copy of the reports sent over if you don’t mind.”
Antony pulled a manila folder out of his leather case and handed them to the man. “Here you go. There will be some addenda, and I’ll make sure you get those as they happen.”
They all stood, and as Antony turned toward the door, Lesley made to follow.
“Prosser. A moment, please,” Sergeant Major Waters said.
She bit back her impatience and waited as Antony strode down the hall and out of sight through the door.
CHAPTER FORTY
Fuck, that was hard. Antony leaned back against his chair and put his foot up on the corner of his desk. It took everything he had in him not to touch her, or to wait after the meeting to talk to her. She was hurting. These last two weeks hadn’t been easy on her if the shadows under her eyes were anything to go by. Oliver hadn’t said much when he got there—there hadn’t been a lot of time—but Antony didn’t miss the sympathetic look.
Dr. K. had checked in with him again just a few days earlier and it had helped. So had going over all of his old therapy documents. He really had become more complacent, and while it was necessary for healing, he was ready to make plans. He knew what he wanted; he just had to wait for her.
“Hey, asshole, you gonna get up and help me here?” Charlie asked, throwing a wadded up piece of paper and hitting him on the forehead.
He jumped a little and scowled at her. “You need your ass kicked?”
“Pfft. Like you could,” she said, grinning at him. “How did it go? Did you see Lesley?”
Antony grabbed a new evidence box and set it on the table before turning toward the board to pull off all the images and documents they’d taped up. “I did. She looks good. Tired, but good.”
“Okay. Did you talk to her?”
“No. I left before we had the chance.”
“The hell is wrong with you?”
“Nothing? Everything. I want to get everything settled before I call her.”
“So wait.” Charlie closed her eyes and held up one hand. “She finally texted you and you’ve left her on read. You saw her just a bit ago and didn’t stick around to talk to her. Is that how this has gone?”
Antony slumped down into a chair. “Yeah. That’s about it.” He scrubbed his hand over his face. “What was I supposed to do, text her back ‘hey, all good’? Between the case and the Vicky issue, we’ve been a bit busy, and when we talk, it needs to be in person and alone.”
“Are you worried that she’s changed her mind?”
“A little. Just want to be prepared for the worst, is all.”
“You’re an idiot, but I understand.” Charlie silently cursed Victoria all over again for what she did. “What’s happened with Vicky?”
Antony stopped and rubbed his forehead with his fingertips. “After I talked to the dude she dumped me for, I called one of the detectives and told him what was going on. They brought her in for questioning—looks like the jackass in Phoenix let the thugs know where she was after all.” Seeing Abbott’s name on the report still burned Antony’s ass, but he was trying to let it go. “She spilled. Racketeering, drugs, trafficking. You name it, they were using her and the empty houses to make it all happen. She tried to get out, but they got her hooked on some of the stuff they were dealing to keep her compliant.” He felt bad for her, but she’d been involved long before they tied her down with the drugs, so his sympathy only went so far.
“But why here? How’d she find you?”
“She had a friend look me up. Got lucky that I was so close. I guess since Abbott kicked her to the curb, she figured she could bullshit her way back into my life. As if.”
“So, where is she now?”
“Rehab. They offered her rehab and protection if she turned state’s evidence against these guys. It’s a big ring. Wouldn’t surprise me if there’s some crossover with some of the drug problems here.”
Charlie raised her eyebrows at that. “No more Vicky then. Like, ever.”
