Not in this lifetime.
“Try, Lany.”
I always tried. It just never seemed to work out for me.
As soon as I stepped out the door, Marcus and Dmitri were at my side. I wanted to groan when I saw Marcus's narrowed eyes, but I couldn't. I was fully in the wrong this time, and I knew it.
“Sorry, Marcus,” I said in a low tone filled with guilt. “I won't do it again.”
“I understand why you do what you do, Lany,” Marcus stated. “I just need you to take me with you when you go on your little adventures. I can't keep you safe if I don't know where you are.”
Sal had said the same thing.
Maybe I needed to listen this time.
“The next time I need to go undercover I'll take you along as my pool boy or something.”
Marcus cocked an eyebrow.
I groaned as I dropped my head back on my shoulders and stared up at the ceiling. “I promise, Marcus. I won't go anywhere without you and Dmitri again.”
“Make sure you keep that promise, Lany.”
I sighed heavily and lowered my head. “I will.”
“Sal and the others are waiting for you.”
I started walking, unsure of what sort of reception I was going to get when I got to Sal's office. If I had been asleep for an hour, a lot could have happened. In my life, things were either incredibly slow or going at light speed. I never really knew which until it happened.
When I stepped into Sal's office, I was a little surprised at what I was seeing. For one, Vinnie, Supervisory Special Agent Dan Crenshaw, and my Uncle Jerry were sitting in the chairs by the window talking together.
That was a scary sight if I'd ever seen one.
Sal was at the wall with Detective Sparks, both men placing photographs on the wall with thumbtacks. Sam and David were stringing yarn between the pictures Sal and Detective Sparks were putting up. Lyn and Joe were at the computer at Sal's desk with Clarke and Burk standing behind them.
I was stilled wigged out by the three men by the window.
“Hey, caro, how are you?”
I groaned as I walked into Sal's waiting arms. “A little achy, a little sore, and a little tired, but mostly hungry.”
Sal hugged me gently and placed a kiss on the top of my head. “Mrs. Martinez is cooking up a feast for everyone right now. Agent Crenshaw convinced her to make you cupcakes.”
Oh, cupcakes.
I perked right up. “I guess that means I'm working the DEA case now, too?”
Sal glanced at the wall. “I think it's all the same case, Lany.”
Was it?
I started at one end of the storyboard and slowly moved down the wall, looking at everything Sal and David had put up and all the yarn lines they had made. A lot of it I already knew, but there was some new information in the different notes that had been made.
Once I had seen the entire wall, I walked over to Sal's desk and grabbed a pad of sticky notes and a pen. I started at the beginning again. Every time I came across something that seemed out of place, was missing information, or made me think there should be a connection somewhere, I wrote it down and stuck the sticky note in place.
By the time I was done, I still had more questions than answers, but at least I felt as if we knew a little more than we did. Or at least I did.
“So, what's your take on all of this, Lany?” Sal asked.
