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Severn stared at him, hard, before he tipped his head. “Well, I wish you luck, then.”
Ruby rushed into the space, her pale brown hair wisping around her face as she grinned at them. “Sorry to keep you waiting, guys,” she said, her voice barely above a whisper. “Had a minor emergency to deal with.”
Brian always smiled when he encountered Ruby. At a whopping five feet and one-half inch, she was a force to be reckoned with. As a former Army linguist, it was ironic that she had no more than a whisper of a voice. She’d lost the ability to speak when a sniper’s bullet had almost taken her out. She hadn’t told Brian the whole story, but he was sure she’d had a harrowing recovery. Now she faced every day with a smile. Sometimes it was a little forced, but it was there.
Bear Stevens strolled into the space, wraparound sunglasses firmly in place, and dropped into the chair beside Brian. “Hey.”
“Hey,” Brian said, surprised he’d even been acknowledged. Bear was taciturn on the best of days and Brian hadn’t yet found that opening to create a dialogue. So, he’d quit approaching Bear. Maybe that was the trick. Back off and give him space.
Parker joined them, settling into one of the other chairs. They were arranged in a loose circle, with a long table between them. The table was scattered with professional magazines and catalogs for Galls, a law enforcement equipment company. Anything they needed, they filled out a form and it magically appeared a few days later.
Gabriella Stone strolled into the space and dropped into a chair. Gabbie was one of the most competent IT people he’d ever met, and he wondered if she hacked in her spare time. The woman lived well, better than an average investigator paid, but nobody seemed concerned. Since Brian investigated money, he was used to being curious about how people made it.
Gabbie looked at Bear. “You owe me ten bucks. I told you who that woman was, and you didn’t believe me.”
Without a word, Bear pulled out his wallet and handed a ten-spot over.
“What woman?” Ruby asked.
“The Real Housewife. She was a secret blogger who liked bashing the women.”
Ruby’s eyes widened. “Oh, I saw that. Nobody knew. That was such a shocker.”
Brian snorted, shaking his head. If someone had told him the trained former military investigators he worked with would be wrapped up in reality TV, he would have denied it to the day he died. But they all watched it. He’d tried, but it was hard keeping track of them all.
And maybe Gabbie made money on bets. He glanced at Bear. “You lose to her a lot?”
“Too much,” the man admitted, mouth quirking slightly.
Two more men arrived. Dan Stirling was another former Marine and they got along well, though Brian hadn’t interacted with him much. They were both lower leg amputees, though Dan had only lost one leg. He was usually on graveyard shift, and this week he’d been protecting some out-of-town socialite.
Remy Prince dropped into the chair beside Dan, laughing at something he murmured to his buddy. Remy was a former Army Ranger who struggled with PTSD. He’d been captured in Afghanistan and tortured. Incredibly, he’d escaped on his own, and no one knew the exact story. Obviously, he’d told some of his higher ups what had happened, but there had been no fallout.
Brian looked around the group. There were a couple of other guys not present. Austin, their runner, must be on some errand. And Brody Bennett must be on some assignment. He was on graveyard shift too, but he generally always made the Friday meetings.
Parker glanced around. “Looks like that’s all of us. I just have a couple of things to go over.”
Brian took notes on his phone, but he was only listening with half an ear. Nothing directly pertained to him. Then Parker called his name. He glanced up. “Yes, sir.”
“Good job on the Ridge case. Andy says they’re filing charges on the housekeeper. And as many family members as they can track down.”
“Excellent.”
Damn, that had been quick. He’d just sent in the report.
The meeting wrapped up with Sev handing him a new file. “This one’s going to take you a while.”
Great. Brian carried it back to his office and started reading. By the time he looked up, it was past his usual clock-out time, and he was starving. He’d managed to work through lunch and everything else. Packing up his backpack, he stuffed the folder in beside his laptop. He could look at it this weekend.
Or maybe not. Maybe it was time for a date with Sage.
15
Think you can find a sitter for Adam? I’d like to take you on a date tomorrow.
Sage stared down at the text, her heartbeat taking off in a gallop.
The stars must have aligned for this date, because Adam has been invited to spend the night at a friend’s house tomorrow.
