Hockley didn’t take long to deliver. “You having a little family picnic, Mr. Crewe? You bring a date? Here, to a crime scene?”
“Acrime scene?” Wade exclaimed. “What do you mean? Are you suggesting that this fire wasarson?” He shook his head in exaggerated disbelief. “Who would do such a thing?” Then he frowned. “Wait. Do you have any actualevidenceto support that claim, or are you just throwing words around?”
“Mr. Granger, I’d be happy to discuss this all with you if you’d care to accompany me to the sheriff’s station.”
“Areyouinvestigating this?” Wade asked, continuing with his innocent confusion. “Is arson a DEA issue, now?”
“We wouldn’t have to limit our conversation to this issue,” Hockley said calmly. Jericho was tempted to back away, leaving these two to their competition, but he really wanted to see how it would end.
“Oh, that’s generous of you,” Wade drawled. The more slowly he talked, the more annoying he was, and he clearly knew it. “But I actually have a very busy day scheduled. As you can imagine, losing property like this is a disruption to my business. But I would like to hear a report on your investigation, just as soon as you have— well, as soon as you have anything more than your typical fed bullshit.”
Hockley nodded as if he’d expected nothing less. “I’m sure we’ll be able to get this figured out without your assistance. Mr. Crewe was kind enough to share your earlier text with us, so that gives us an idea where to start.”
“It does?” Wade asked. Jericho’s stomach churned, waiting to see Wade’s reaction now that he knew Jericho had shared that information, but Wade didn’t even glance in his direction. “I can’t imagine how. But okay, then. You know what you’re doing, I know what I’m doing. Let’s both just get on with it.” He turned to Nikki, his gracious smile oozing Southern charm rather than northern reserve, and swept an arm toward his waiting pickup. “Ready to go?”
“Absolutely. Elijah, move it.”
All three of them swept away in a tight unit, and Jericho should have felt relieved to see his complications leaving him. When Elijah was passing the feds he reached a small, soft hand toward Hockley’s sidearm, and it was Wade who smoothly caught the boy’s arm and directed him away.
“What a nice family,” Hockley said, shifting around to stand beside Jericho and watch Wade help settle Elijah in the backseat of the pickup. “We’ve been wondering if Granger was looking to step into your father’s shoes, but I admit, we were thinking of it more in a business sense.”
Jericho had no time for this. “I guess he’s got more versatility than you give him credit for.” He started for his patrol car, but wasn’t too surprised when Hockley stepped in front of him.
“I’d like to know what the hell you were doing out here, meeting with a suspect at the scene of the damn crime.”
“I’d like to know why you think this crime is yours to investigate. I’m guessing we’re both going to have to talk to the sheriff to get any real answers to those questions.”
“This is how you want to play it, under-sheriff? Are you refusing to cooperate with a federal investigation?”
“I’ll talk to the sheriff about whether thisisa federal investigation, and then I’ll decide.”
Hockley sighed, then came up with a strained smile. “We should fix this. Right? This antagonism between us, it’s not productive. We should go get a beer or something after work, and get over it.”
Jericho squinted at him. “Why don’t we skip the beer, and just, well, just both do our jobs? I know what I’m supposed to be doing, and it hasn’t got anything to do with current federal investigations. So I don’t think we’ll need to deal with each other at all.”
“I’d like to believe that too. But it’s a bit difficult, when I show up at a crime scene and see you having a friendly meeting with the prime suspect.”
“You never interact with suspects? Really? Huh. Seems like you’re closing off a valuable way to get information, but . . . whatever, that’s your business.” Jericho stepped a little closer. “But I’m getting pretty tired of you acting like I’m a dirty cop, even though you’ve admitted you can’t find anything on me. Either I’m not dirty or you’re a crappy investigator. You choose which one.”
“Are you getting tired of it?” Hockley stepped a little closer and squared up. “And what are you planning to do about that?”
The man wanted Jericho to take a swing at him. He knew Jericho’s background, knew his training, and even with that knowledge he still wanted Jericho to start something. Was Hockley a secret black belt, hoping for a challenge? Jericho looked at the agent’s stance, the musculature that could be seen past his suit, and dismissed the idea. Hockley was just so vindictive that he was willing to take a few hits, willing to get beat up, maybe, in order to get Jericho in trouble. A silver star wouldn’t be enough to get assaulting a federal officer off Jericho’s record. No, Hockley wanted Jericho out, and he was ready to suffer to make it happen.
But Jericho wasn’t interested in doing the guy any favors.
“What will I do about it?” he asked, and he squared off too, then leaned in a little, menacing with his height and breadth and Marine-cold stare. Then he whispered, “I may cry. I really think I might. I can feel the tears building up right now.” He waited, watching Hockley slump in defeat, then smiled sweetly. “I know you don’t want to make me cry, Special Agent Hockley. I know you’re a kind man, deep down. Aren’t you?”
Hockley sighed and stepped away. “Just stay out of my case, Mr. Crewe.”
“So we’re back to the same old problem. You won’t tell me what your caseis, which makes it pretty hard to stay away from it.” Jericho scanned the fire scene. “And Wade was—oh, wait, sorry,Mr. Granger—was right: arson isn’t a DEA concern, not unless there’s something more to it.”
“Then you should assume there’s more to it.” Hockley nodded his chin toward Jericho’s squad car. “This is ours. Off you go.”
“If you’re looking for work, I heard there’s also a kid dealing pot at the grade school—maybe you’d like to take that over too? And Mrs. Galasso out on Derry Road is absolutely sure there’s someone stealing her lettuce seedlings. Straight out of the garden each night, bold as brass. I can send you my notes on that. Could all be connected—you never know.”
“I appreciate your eagerness to share. We’ll let you know what we need from you.” Hockley smiled blandly, and Jericho returned the expression with just as much sincerity.
And that was about all there was to say. Jericho gave both agents a jaunty wave and headed for the squad car. The feds were one more aggravation in his life, but he didn’t find himself brooding over them as he drove back to the station. Instead, of course, he was thinking about Wade.
Well, notthinking. That suggested some sort of conscious, rational train of thought, which wasn’t what Jericho was being treated to. Was it possible to befeelingabout someone? Maybe he should be honest with himself and admit that he wasobsessingabout the man. The way he’d looked, the way he’d moved, his easy authority with Elijah, the casual defiance toward the feds. It was all—damn it, it was allWade. Jericho had gone cold turkey when he’d left Mosely as a teenager, but just because he hadn’t been getting his Wade fix anymore didn’t mean he wasn’t still an addict, underneath all the discipline he’d developed to protect himself. Now he’d let Wade back into his system, and all the old pleasure centers were being reactivated and all the old pathways were firing their enthusiastic approval. Jericho was back on the junk, and the pull was as strong as it ever had been. He couldn’t deny it, so now he just needed to figure out a way to deal with it.
In the meantime, he had a job to do.
