“Deputy U.S. Marshal Costello, you’ve been ordered to stand down by your commanding officer.”
“Whatever.”
“This is why we can’t keep on like we’ve been. You say ‘whatever’ when I give you a direct order.”
“I’m on medical leave, so I don’t have to take orders from you, Chief Marshal Best, and if you’re smart, you’ll do the things I suggested and find that kid before she’s lost forever to a nightmare.”
“It’s all being done, so you can rest easy. But thank you for the help.”
“Are you sure they’re checking the kid’s financials, too? They might not think to do that.”
“I’ll make sure.”
“Do it now.”
Exasperated, Best pulled out his phone to send a text to Rinner about checking the Mayfield kid’s financials. “Done. Now get back to resting and recovering so you can get out of here.”
“They said I might have to do a stint in rehab to get my leg working again.”
“Can you do that at home? They could come in or something.”
“They said I can’t be home alone.”
He stared at her, unblinking, until she said, “What?”
“What the hell do you think? That I’d let you go home alone after this?”
“I don’t expect anything from you. It’s no problem if I have to go to a facility.”
“You’re not going anywhere but home with me, where you belong. That’s it.”
She raised her right eyebrow. “Another order, Chief Marshal?”
Jesse crossed his arms as he sat back in his seat, agitated and annoyed. “Call it whatever you want.”
“I’ll let you know what I decide to do.”
“There’s no decision. You’ll come home with me, we’ll get you therapists or whatever, and I’ll take care of you until you’re back on your feet.”
“What if I don’t want to go home with you? And besides, weren’t you the one who said we had to keep it below the radar at work? How we gonna do that if you take leave at the same time I’m out? You don’t think that’ll get them talking?”
“I don’t care if they’re talking. I’m taking care of you, and that’s the end of it.”
“You know you can’t actually tell me what to do when we’re not at work, right?”
“This is work! You’re in that bed because of work.”
“I’m on full medical leave and not under your direction.”
“So we’re going to fight about semantics when you could just say, ‘Thank you, Jesse, that sounds like a good plan’?”
“Now you’re telling me what to say, too? Last week, you were keeping me at arm’s length, and now you want me staying with you for who knows how long.”
“Last week, I was an idiot, and now I’m not.”
“And what brought about this miraculous transformation?”
Keeping his arms tight around himself, he crossed his legs and tried to find a way to say it without revealing too much. “I didn’t like seeing you bleeding all over the place.”
