“Then, dinner with the boss and silent sleeping it is,” Alex said. “I’ll buy you breakfast, and you don’t even have to put out tonight,” he teased.
“Darn, and here I’ve been practicing,” he joked back.
Yeah, Alex amused Corbin, and for a plethora of reasons. One, he was straight, and Corbin was the only gay man in the pairing, and two, the FBI gave them a food budget.
The taxpayers were buying.
Only, before he could say anything, they were no longer alone.
When the door opened, a man walked in, and he was dressed to the nines.
Oh, someone took this city council shit seriously.
“Gentlemen?” he asked.
Alex stood up.
“Mr. Trenton Balkin?”
The man nodded, and sat behind a desk without shaking either man’s hands. That was one hell of a way to start a conversation.
They were off to a bad start.
“I’m to assume this is about what happened today at the building on Market Street,” Trenton stated. “Am I correct in assuming that?”
Both men nodded.
Trenton was off to the races.
“It’s a problematic building,” Trenton admitted. “Only, it’s on the historic registry. The owner, Devon Slater, wants totear it down, or make it into some cheap apartments, but we can’t allow that. I fear he’s created this situation to make it more difficult for council.”
What?
Was he serious?
Somehow, they doubted that Devon Slater planted jars of eyeballs in order to get the council to do what he wanted. That was a tad bit extreme.
Seriously.
What kind of lunatic would keep that kind of mess in his own building?
Alex was to the point, and didn’t comment on what the man had insinuated. Elizabeth was talking to Slater, and if he was involved, she’d pick up on that. This guy was a little too quick to point fingers.
“A murder took place there,” he said. “We need to know everything you do on the building and owner.”
He laughed.
“What can I tell you? Devon’s father purchased the building, and as it was in the process of being transferred to his ownership, he promised not to change the outer façade of the building. It’s to stay exactly how it was over a hundred years ago, and that means no tearing it down or making it apartments. It’s not zoned for that. His son won’t do that, so we have to deny permits. We won’t let that building come down.”
Corbin was curious.
“Even if there are murders going on there, and the place is a mess?”
He was to the point.
“I appreciate that the FBI has come here to handle whatever the situation is. How bad is it?” he asked, ignoring the question Corbin asked.
“Pretty bad. We have multiple victims,” Alex said. “Anything more than that, I can’t give you.”
