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“Got it.” He turned to the taps. “Can I get you fine lady cops anything to eat?”
“In a few,” Kara said. “We’re going to grab that high-top over there, if that’s okay?”
“All yours,” he said, putting the pint down in front of Marcy. “Is that a new blazer? Looks good.”
“Not new,” she said. “Just forgot I had it.”
Kara pulled off her own blazer and draped it over the back of the chair at the high-top table, away from the bar where they had a little more privacy. She claimed the best seat, and Marcy sat next to her rather than across from her so she, too, could look out at the restaurant.
“Cheers,” Marcy said, holding up the pint.
Kara tipped her glass to Marcy, then drank, put it down. “Long day,” she said.
“John had me doing a deep dive on all known IP members.”
“West End appears to be the target,” Kara said, keeping her voice low. “Shit rolls downhill, sorry. For what it’s worth, I had to do a shitload of paperwork this afternoon. I needed this beer.”
“Who was the woman you were talking to this morning? The brunette?”
“Oh—friend of Neil Devereaux. Ryder interviewed her, about the cold case Neil was looking into. She’s the sister of one of the college students.”
“Have to cover all the bases,” Marcy said.
“Exactly.”
Rena, the cheery waitress from Monday, came over to them. Jamie was also working tonight but she had the other half of the restaurant. If it wouldn’t have been awkward, Kara would have worked her way over to Jamie’s section, just to see how Marcy and Jamie interacted, but that wouldn’t have been natural when the restaurant was nearly full and the bar still had a few tables.
“Hi, ladies, are you ready?” asked Rena.
“I’m going to try the bacon cheeseburger tonight,” Kara said.
“Good choice. Regular fries or sweet potato fries?”
“I’m old-fashioned, I’ll stick to the regular.”
“Same for me,” Marcy said.
“Got it! Another round?”
“With the food, if you don’t mind,” Kara said. She was working, of sorts. She wouldn’t drink more than one beer with Marcy just so she could stay on her toes. Catch anything—if there was something to catch.
When Rena left, Kara said, “Did you know about the cold case Neil was looking into?”
“About the college boys? I think everyone knew.”
“Did he talk to you about it?”
“Not really. He came into the station a couple of times and talked to John—they’d become friendly. Once I was meeting with John when Neil came into his office, mentioning something about an old case file John had requested from another jurisdiction for Neil. Whatever it was, it hadn’t arrived yet. When Neil left, I asked John about it; he said Neil was looking into a closed case of two college boys who drowned, and there was another suspicious drowning investigation from—I don’t remember where, someplace in Washington.”
“Did the file ever come in?”
“No idea. That was months ago. John would know. So what is it? IP targeting West End or something about Neil?”
“To be honest, we don’t know.”
“Your boss and another agent—Harris, I think his name was, the tall, dark, and handsome agent? They came in and gave us a briefing this morning about the bomb mechanism and how each one was detonated. ATF has a team of dogs on patrol, and they’re bringing in another team for the weekend. But then I heard that West End was going to shut down their weekend charters. It’s awful for them—this is one of their biggest weeks of the year—but I understand: for safety reasons, it’s wise.”
“What’s your gut say?” Kara asked Marcy.
