“Upstairs, meeting room three.”
“After we change,” Felipe replied, tugging Oliver toward the stairs to the basement.
“Now.”
Anger flared in Felipe’s breast. If Ansley hadn’t already made him so flustered that morning, he might have handled Teresa differently and things wouldn’t have blown up the way they did. He didn’t care that Ansley was part of the Federal Branch; he had had enough of being ordered around by someone with a quarter of his experience and half Oliver’s brains.
“No.” Felipe whirled on Ansley who snapped back a step. “If you want our help, you’ll have to wait. I’m in no mood to deal with you right now. Oliver and I are getting changed and gathering our notes. You will have to wait.”
While Ansley didn’t say anything, god forbidhemake a scene, Felipe felt his green-eyed gaze stabbing into his back until he and Oliver were well into the stairwell. A small smile crossed Oliver’s lips as he laced his fingers with Felipe’s and squeezed. The tension oozed out of him at the glimmer of contentment that crossed the tether. The moment they reached the basement, Oliver caught Felipe’s lips in an unexpected kiss.
“Thank you,” he whispered as he pulled away, “for doing that and for not yelling.”
“You’re welcome. I don’t appreciate him ambushing us, especially when he certainly knows it bothers you.”
“I don’t think he cares. He didn’t back then.”
That righteous anger flared again, but at the grateful look in Oliver’s eyes, Felipe let it go and followed him to his room.
***
AFTER LEISURELY CHANGINGand gathering their things, Oliver and Felipe met Ansley in the meeting room. Oliver braced himself for the rush of eye-watering magic as the door shut behind them and tried to ignore the tension between the other two men. Glowering from the head of the table with his arms crossed, Ansley merely waited as they took their seats.
“Well?”
“The mission was a success. Oliver set up the interview for Wednesday at four, and Joe gave us the cellar key, along with this,” Felipe said, shoving the paper toward Ansley.
The other investigator studied it for a long moment before scoffing. “This is ridiculous. If that little peacock thinks I’m dancing to his tune, he’s got another thing coming.”
“Do you have any other choice? Really, Ansley, paying him and getting him somewhere safe is the least we can do after roping him into this.”
“Ifhe’s telling the truth.Ifhe isn’t leading us straight into a trap.Ifwhat we find is something I can use on my case. I’m not so confident that this isn’t some elaborate con.”
“Most con artists don’t give accurate descriptions of crimes they could be charged with or detailed descriptions of everyone’s schedules.”
“You’re putting a lot of faith in a self-proclaimed criminal. He’s probably going to shake us down for our purses on Sunday.”
“Then, don’t carry any money,” Felipe snapped.
“I think you have a soft spot for your informant. He your type?”
“Oh, fuck off, Ansley.”
Oliver sighed as Ansley and Felipe bickered. He clamped his palm over the ear closest to them as he pushed around his papers, wishing they would stop. Pulling out the drawings he had collated from his and Joe’s notes, Oliver followed their winding paths and frowned. There was something strange about the gaps. He reoriented the papers, so the floors were in order and lined up with the main elevator. He wished he had drawn them on tracing paper or brought scissors, but this would do. Holding them up to the light, he squinted at the overlapping lines until the commonality became clearer.
“Oliver, put the damn papers down,” Ansley scolded.
Felipe grumbled a retort, but when he saw Oliver holding the papers over his head, his eyes brightened. Squatting behind Oliver’s chair, Felipe rested his chin on his partner’s shoulder and stared at the papers with him.
“Galvan, don’t encourage him.”
“What do you see?” Felipe asked softly.
“It’s more so what we don’t. There are spaces between the treatment and examination rooms on the upper floors. See, there’s no blank space here,” he said, pointing to the wings of the institute that contained the wards and dormitories. “The thickness of the walls make sense, but they don’t in these wings. Ansley and I were in those rooms, and they aren’t that big. I didn’t notice it when we were walking around, but when Joe made his paced-out drawings, the gaps are more obvious.”
“So what do you think is there? A hidden hallway?”
“Or it could be pipes, wires, an airshaft, any number of trivial things,” Ansley replied.
