Jericho spent most of the night hanging around, waiting to be called on. He built up a pretty good sense of resentment against the feds and their high-handed bullshit, so when he finallywassent in to drop off some paperwork for Hockley, he didn’t have to rely on his acting skills to glower at the asshole. Five hours of sitting around in the middle of the damn night, and the bastard was using him as an errand boy?
It was Mike DeMonte in the chair across the table from Hockley, looking about as pissed off as Jericho felt, but there was no opportunity to exchange words or use their fledgling relationship to extract any information, so the whole thing seemed like a waste of time.
When the last of the interviews were finished around seven in the morning, Hockley called a meeting in the conference room that had been Jericho’s extended office before the feds had shown up. Jericho and Kay were generously permitted to attend.
There wasn’t too much news to share, since the bikers had uniformly denied any knowledge of recent events and there were no results back from the crime lab yet, but Hockley managed to drag we-don’t-know-anything-yet into a half-hour presentation.
“This is a developing situation,” he said as his speech ran down. “Thus far we’ve been reactive rather than proactive, but we’re hoping for an opportunity to change that. We’re investigating the crimes that have been committed, but we’re also watching the bigger picture, looking to charge and convict perps to ensure there will be nofuturecrimes. We need to be patient, but also ready to act when we have a chance.”
“How long were they in town last time?” Jericho muttered to Kay. “They didn’t make a single arrest, right?”
She shushed him, but her lips quirked into a little grin as she did it. Kayla respected authority, but she never would have hung out with Jericho and Wade if she didn’t sometimes question it too. Especially when it was in her damn headquarters, trying to take over.
“So, we’ve got some fresh assignments,” Hockley said, and then he looked back at Jericho and Kayla. “As I was reminded last night, members of the sheriff’s department aren’t actually mine to order around, so I think we’re at the end of the information we need to share.” His gaze was pointed. The locals were dismissed.
“You be sure to let us know if you learn, well, anything,” Jericho said, his tone making it clear he wasn’t optimistic about the chances of that happening.
“Or if you need any help,” Kayla added. “You know, with the tricky stuff.”
“Thank you for the kind offer,” Hockley said. And then he waited as Kayla and Jericho left the room.
“That was a waste of a night,” Jericho said as they stood outside the closed conference room door. “But at least I wasn’t attacked by savage children. I should go make sure they get to school, and then I think I’ll catch some sleep, unless you have something you want me to be doing?”
“Come with me for a second,” she directed, and led the way to her office. She sat behind the desk, clicked a few items on her computer, then gestured for him to join her so he could see the screen.
He did as he was told, and let out a low whistle. “Advance copy of the fire marshal’s report? Damn, Kay, that was fast.”
“He texted me while we were in the meeting. Stresses that it’s stillverypreliminary, but says all signs point to the same accelerant and technique being used at Kelly’s and the Mountaineers’ club house.”
“So the Chicago gang hit Wade first, then the bikers?”
“Seems likely.” She peered up at him. “Strange order—you’d think they’d go after the bikers first, then worry about Wade. I mean, he’s involved in every damn thing, but he’s more or less a solo operator. Hirelings as needed, but no standing army like the bikers have.”
“Maybe they were warming up with an easier target,” Jericho mused. “Or maybe they were trying to negotiate with the bikers and the talks went bad. Whatever that meeting I saw yesterday was about, I wouldn’t say either party walked away happy.”
“They could have killed a lot more bikers if their timing had been different. If they’re taking revenge for three dead soldiers, you’d think they’d have wanted some body bags involved.”
“Maybe it was deliberate—like a warning. Or maybe it was just a coincidence that the place was empty—good luck for the bikers, bad luck for Chicago.”
“Too many damn maybe’s,” she growled, and pinched the bridge of her nose. Then she took a deep breath and squared her shoulders. “Okay. Go take care of the demon-spawn. Hopefully they haven’t killed and eaten poor Megan.”
“If they did, you’re the one who has to tell Garron,” he said.
He was downstairs and almost to the front door when someone called “Crewe!” from behind him. Jericho turned to see Hockley trotting down the stairs. “Where are you heading?”
“Bed.” Jericho didn’t mention the stop he was planning to make at Nikki’s house, because it was none of this guy’s damn business.
“Nice work in front of DeMonte.” Hockley smiled. It looked creepy and wrong.
“You mean when I acted like I was sick of your shit?” Jericho shrugged. “I’m not actually a good actor.”
Hockley’s weird-ass smile didn’t budge.
“Jesus, what are you up to now?” Jericho was too tired for any of this. “Whatever it is, you should go through Kay. She’s my boss.”
“And your friend,” Hockley said. “You’re loyal to her. That’s nice to see.”
“What, are you going to give me the ‘I hope that loyalty isn’t misplaced’ speech? Because you can save it. I trust Kay way, way the hell more than I trust you, which isn’t saying much since I don’t trust you at all. But I do trust her, and my loyalty is placed exactly where it should be.”
