ATLAS, CARTER,and Red finished up with Evie at one of the large contract warehouses. Evie had found a number of small amounts of suspicious substances, which had been taken into evidence. The owners of some of it were as yet unidentified, but there were no large quantities. and it all seemed to be marijuana, although that wouldn’t be evident until the substances were tested.
They still had three more buildings on their training list, but it seemed that Evie’s skills were as sharp and accurate as ever. Carter had taken charge of the evidence, while Red was doing his best to run down the owners of the illicit property. Some were fairly obvious, found in a locker as well as an inside coat pocket. But the rest had been in the more common areas of the warehouse. Surveillance video had been turned over, and Carter would eventually go through it for clues to who might have placed it there.
Atlas put Evie in the air-conditioned back area of the SUV and gave her some water and a few treats before closing the back hatch. Then he climbed into the driver’s seat and, after waving to Carter and Red, headed out toward town. “You did really good,” he told Evie, who had already settled in back. She whined like something was wrong. “What is it?” Atlas asked, more to himself than to her.
She lifted her head and then set it down once more. He sped up, heading for the station. Once he arrived, he opened the back door and checked her over.
“Are you feeling well?” he asked, but instead of being listless, she prowled the back in circles. He slipped on her leash, and Evie jumped down but sat right away, looking up at him like he was being stupid. But the thing was he couldn’t think of anything he’d done. “Do you know something I don’t?” She blinked at him as if to sayDuhbut was otherwise uncommunicative.
He led Evie inside, where he checked in and went to his desk. Evie sat on her bed, but stayed in that position, as if she were on alert. Atlas looked around and found the other officers looking his way. “What is going on?” he asked out loud.
Larissa looked around, and then a chat window popped up on his computer. “The captain and the chief have been in a closed-door budget meeting, but one of the officers heard your name mentioned when he interrupted to get an urgent signature. So everyone is wondering what you did.”
Atlas groaned to himself and typed back, “Captain Rogers has an issue with Bazel staying with me. Not that it’s any of his business. There is no conflict, since I’m not involved in any of his applications. Social Services is working all that.” He added the last part, his fingers banging on the keys.
She turned away and then typed again. “The captain just left the office, and he does not seem happy.”
“Great,” Atlas typed and then closed the window and began writing up his report on what they’d found at the warehouse. He also had other paperwork that he was a little behind on, so he figured now was as good a time as any to get it all up to date so he could keep his head down.
After getting all his back paperwork done, a clearing throat pulled him out of his thoughts. “Hey, Angela,” he said asinnocently as possible. “What’s up?” She was the police chief’s admin and the nicest person in the entire department.
“The chief wants to talk to you,” she said.
“All right, thanks. I’ll be right in.” He saved the document he was working on and called Evie, who trotted right along with him. Atlas knocked on the door and went inside when the chief answered. He sat up a little straighter when Evie came in with him. It was well known through the department that the chief didn’t particularly like dogs. But he and Evie were a team, and if the chief wanted to speak with him, then he’d speak with Evie as well.
“Take a seat. This isn’t the Spanish Inquisition.” Atlas sat down, and Evie did the same right next to his chair. “We seem to have an issue, or at least your captain believes there is an issue.”
“Is this about Bazel?” Atlas asked.
“Yes. The situation is complicated, as far as I see it. At this moment, he is an illegal who came to this country under dubious circumstances.” Atlas sat up straighter. “I understand how we found him and have read up on the particulars of his case. I have also spoken to Social Services, who informed me that they just received confirmation of his temporary visa.”
“I see.” He had to stop himself from grinning. That was good news. At least that gave them some time to complete a more permanent application for residency.
“The issue is that he has potential legal complications and is staying with one of my police officers. I understand wanting to help him, but….” The chief paused as his phone rang. He answered it quickly and returned to the conversation. “It’s not my place to tell my officers how they can live their lives, and I find it admirable that you want to help Bazel. I do. Hell, when I was an officer, I found myself getting involved almost too deeply in my cases.” He cleared his throat as though he were uncomfortable. “Now, I am not going to tell you how to live yourlife, and I won’t tell you what to do. You’re a good officer, and your performance is stellar. Well, yours and Evie’s.”
“What I don’t understand is what the issue is,” Atlas said. “Why is everyone so concerned?”
The chief blinked a few times. “I’ll be honest. Maybe there is a little prejudice involved. But I don’t want my officers getting involved in situations that could be fraught with issues. It’s best if we are above suspicion.”
Atlas cleared his throat. “But what if… look….” He tried to put things into words. “I like Bazel, and he’s a good person. He was forced to leave his own country because he’s gay. Can you imagine that? Because I sure as hell can’t figure out how he didn’t completely fall to pieces, but he didn’t. What did happen was that he protected the others he was with and helped see to it that they all survived a harrowing journey, both on the ship and in that damned truck.”
“It sounds to me as though you have feelings for this man.”
“I do, and I’m not going to deny it. I was made aware yesterday that the Coast Guard has been following the ship he was on as it came back to the US. They are still going over it.”
“Yes. They didn’t find any people aboard. I was made aware.”
“No. But they did find empty containers that should have been full. Containers that had been scrubbed clean.”
The chief scowled. “Where did you get your information?”
“From a real pain in the ass in the FBI who happened to owe me one because of the information I was able to give him.” He leaned closer to the desk. “Once they realized they were in trouble, they dumped their cargo and washed out the containers.”
“Dumped?” the chief asked.
“Yes. They probably tied weights to everyone and pushed them overboard. That’s the kind of treatment that Bazelsurvived. My contact promised a copy of the report. That way we can use it as part of Bazel’s immigration case.”
“I see.” The chief was clearly a little shaken up, and damned if he might have gotten a little watery-eyed.
