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Faith and Michael ate lunch mechanically. Turk ate his own lunch with gusto, apparently very happy with the substitute brand of dog food the supermarkets in Tucson carried. Faith supposed her burrito was all right, but she didn’t care much for eating at the moment.
The news played on the TV in the background but neither of them paid attention to it. They were both lost in their own private frustrations.
The logical part of Faith’s mind told her this was just business as usual. She had told Michael once that detective work was a whole lot of nothing, then more nothing, then some nothing on top of that until suddenly there was something. That’s all this was. Just the nothing they had to wade through until they found the something.
Except that while we wade through nothing, people die.
She sighed and tossed the rest of her burrito into the trash can. She wasn’t hungry anymore.
Michael’s phone rang. Seeing it was the Boss, Faith answered. “Hi, Boss,” she said.
“Why the hell are you answering Prince’s phone?” the Boss said irritably.
“Hi, Boss,” Michael said drily.
“Why is Bold answering your phone?”
“Is this something she doesn’t need to hear?” Michael asked.
“No,” the Boss said. “I just thought maybe your heads were still up your asses, and you misplaced each other’s phones.”
“Sarcasm becomes you, Boss,” Michael quipped.
“Incompetence doesn’t become you,” the Boss retorted.
“Deputy Director on your ass again?” Michael said.
“Actually, no. That would be the Chief of Police in Tucson.”
Faith frowned. “Why did the chief call you?”
“Great question, Bold,” the Boss replied. “He wants to know why you have his officers canvassing pawn shops without so much as dropping him a message.”
“Tell him to ask his detectives,” Faith replied.
“I did. He is. Now, I’m asking you.”
Faith sighed and forced herself to stay calm. “We’re following up on a lead on the wedding rings of the victims,” she said. “We think the killer keeps them as trophies.”
“Okay, that’s fair,” the Boss said. “Now, tell me why you harassed a psychologist in the parking lot of his office.”
“Once more,” Michael said, “tell the Chief to ask his detectives.”
“Once more, I did. Here’s the interesting thing, Prince. When I asked him, he said his detectives told him that you told them that he was for sure the guy.”
“That’s not what we said,” Faith interjected, “We—”
“Did you change your name to Prince without telling me?” the Boss said. “If so, congratulations on your wedding, and I’m sorry for not sending flowers.”
Faith’s jaw tightened, but she remained silent.
“Faith’s right,” Michael said. “They jumped the gun. I’m sorry to hear they’re too cowardly to take ownership of their mistakes, but that’s on them, sir, not us.”
“Well, the Chief didn’t seem to think so,” the Boss said. “He requested that you two be reassigned and the Bureau send other agents to investigate.”
Faith couldn’t resist a chuckle.
“I’m glad you think this is funny, Bold,” the Boss said. “I can’t say I share your mirth. See, he made a valid point. There’s a Phoenix field office, so why is he dealing with two special agents from Philadelphia? Now the answer is that you two are the best in our business, an answer I normally have no trouble defending, but when I made that point to him, he told me something very interesting. Apparently, in the course of your investigation, you managed to let sensitive details of the case slip to a person of interest.”
