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Chapter Sixteen
Riker
After we fill out our statements, Libby makes a beeline for the door marked Detectives. “Just give me a few minutes to check in with Trent.”
When she grabs my wrist and pulls me inside, I know this is going to turn into anything but a few minutes.
We head for a cluster of desks in the back corner where Trent sits alone, hunkered over a stack of paperwork.
“Did you get anything?”
His head pops up when he hears Libby. “The guy who paid our young intruder was Wade Daniels. He has a record for petty crimes, so there’s a chance he did some homework and put the pieces together before going through with it. Kid says he met Wade a little after midnight through mutual friends and was offered two hundred dollars to carry out a prank for Wade’s ‘friend.’”
“I’m certainly not Wade’s friend,” Libby says.
“Well, we should know more shortly. Unis already brought him in. James and Ryan are talking to him now.” He holds up a stack of paperwork. “In the event that this does lead where we think, it’s probably best I’m not the detective Beckett sees pointing a finger in his direction, so James is taking the lead, and I am working on case reports.”
Libby taps his desk, and her face is lit up when she looks at me.
“Yeah, go do your thing. I’ll go track down a good coffee house and come back in a bit.”
With a quick peck on the lips, she heads toward the back hallway.
“Water Street,” Trent says, pointing his thumb toward the east wall of the building. “Turn right. If you actually cross the river, you’ve gone too far.”
* * *
I’m just finishing up my coffee when I get a text from Libby.
Libby: Might want to make your way back.
So, I grab a few cups to go, and head back to the station. Libby’s nowhere in sight but I spot Trent, still at his desk but now joined by two others, all sharing an intense conversation. I take my coffee out of the carrier and set the remaining three on his desk.
“I approve of this arrangement,” Trent says, plucking out his own and shoving the carrier across the desk. “James and Ryan.” He nods to the man next to him, and then the younger man across from him. “Libby’s in the corner office, door’s open.”
I find Libby behind a large gray desk, jotting something down on a sticky note.
“So much for you not making a day of it.” I set the cup down in the middle of her desk.
“It’ll be worth it, and thanks to your timely delivery, you should be here for the good stuff.”
Intrigued, I take a seat in the brown armchair across from her. “You going to fill me in or—”
From the grin on her face, I’m guessing they got exactly what they wanted during the interview.
“Well,” Her head bobs toward her left shoulder. “Mr. Daniels confirmed our theory, at least as far as—" She stares out her door, pinching her lips between her teeth, and in a blink, she composes her features and continues writing on her tiny note.
I hear a brief knock at the doorway to my left, and Beckett steps in. His gaze is set on Libby, so he completely misses me sitting in the corner. She’d tricked him into walking right in.
“Elizabeth, I’m so sorry.”
She stands, walks around her desk, and sits on the corner with her arms crossed over her chest.
Beckett stammers for a moment, then glances back and sets his gaze on me. I wave casually, without lifting my arm from the chair.
He tugs on his collar. “When you said something happened last night, and you wanted to talk—"
“I do, but they’re going to handle it.” She gestures toward the door with an open hand as James and Ryan step in.
