“Tucker, keep us updated.”
“I actually have a mole in Barlow’s group… I try to keep tabs on the situation in all large groups. I could set you up a meeting with her, but I’m not positive it’ll help.”
“Sounds good.”
Once I’m done with him, I call Henry.
“What shit have you gotten into this time?” he grumbles. It’s almost like he doesn’t believe I’d call him just to wish him a wonderful day!
“You act like we get into that much stuff,” I say. “I’m almost offended.”
“Then tell me there’s nothing going on.”
“There’s not. We were swinging by the department, and I wanted to know if I could get you something for lunch.”
“Maybe some migraine relief for the migraine you’re going to inflict upon me when you tell me the truth,” he says with a sigh.
“I don’t think you can eat that.”
His next sigh is quite overkill, if you ask me. I fear he’s going to run out of air sighing so much, but he definitely doesn’t as he goes, “Lay it on me. Quickly.”
“Like… the sandwich? I usually only place food on Jackson’s body, but for you, I’d do it. You want a cheeseburger?”
“Fine. I’m ignoring everything else you just said.”
“Fries and drink?”
“Yeah.”
“Got it! See you in like ten minutes. Oh, and Raul Barlow has informed everyone that the Sandman killed his son, and now there are people after the Sandman who are convinced they can kill him. And I forgot to mention that we were attackedby a group of fifteen unidentified people at a rage room where Jackson was being his sexy self, and Sophia was also attacked and might have ended up with a code red. That’s when there’s like… this… human-shaped… mass to take care of, you know? And Patel waltzed in, and so we had to hide the unalive mass of human while she trotted around.”
Silence.
“Henry?”
And then the phone beeps, telling me that the call has ended.
“Huh, he must have poor service,” I say.
“Definitely didn’t hang up on you,” Jackson teases.
“I can’t imagine he’d do that. He loves me.”
With burgers in tow, we head into the station and find Henry just standing in the foyer staring at us. It’s an odd kind of stare. One that says, “I have waited for this moment for my entire life” with a dash of “You are going to be the death of me.” Seems like a fun mix.
“You are the most Daddy of all store greeters,” I assure him.
He doesn’t seem to understand it, based on the way his face scrunches up.
Before we get far, Patel rushes onto the scene.
“Good, you two are here,” she says.
“I need them for a moment, Detective,” Henry tells her.
“We got you a burger, though!” I say as I hand her one of the bags. “Just pretend this burger is us. You can ask it all of the same questions, and you will likely get better answers than if you asked us directly.”
She stares at us, unimpressed, but takes the food and tries to hand me a twenty.
