“No.Probably not.”
I’m back to tapping my nails on the table.
“Do you want to brief Adrien or should Hudson?”
“Hudson’s in the loop?”It just occurred to me he’s not on the line.
“Not yet.He had a meeting with the owners this morning.”
“The owner… You mean KOAN’s owners?”
“Very ones.”
“Do you know when he’ll be back?”
“He does not report to me.”
“Right, but you can reach out to him.”
“If you don’t want day-to-day with the client, tell Hudson.”
“That’s not—” I catch myself.This isn’t about avoiding Adrien.
I should shut it down.His words from yesterday come out of nowhere, playing on the audio in my mind.
If he shuts The Sanctuary down, we get nowhere.And something tells me a guy like Eddie isn’t going to talk if we let the feds take him in—especially if he’s organized crime.
“I’ll go visit Adrien.It’s better if I tell him in person.”
“If I were you, I’d tell him out of the office.”
“Why?”But even as I ask, the answer clicks into place.“In case Eddie’s listening in on his office.But we swept for bugs yesterday.And Adrien said that security checks…”
A security team that we don’t yet know is trustworthy.
Judging by Eddie’s behavior at the moment, even if he bugs Adrien’s office from time to time, nothing has piqued his suspicion yet that anyone’s onto him.
“I’ll have Adrien meet me outside of the office.”
“Sounds good to me,” she says.
“After I meet with Adrien, update him, and confirm he’ll let us play this out, I’ll reach out to Hudson and create a plan for surveilling this guy.Oh, and text me if you learn anything.You know, if he decides to do something other than play with his phone.”
After the call ends with Quinn, I call the number I have for Adrien, using my personal cell, which means he’ll now have my number.But, given I allowed him to learn where I live, my unlisted cell number is no biggie.After all, it’s easy to change a cell number, but it’s annoying to move.
He answers on the third ring.
“This is Adrien d’Avricourt.”
“This is Brie.”
“I thought so.Otherwise I never answer an unknown.If you’re calling to invite me to dinner, name the date, place, and time.”
“I’m actually…” The sigh that escapes is one of frustration, because he’s not treating this as a professional interaction, and what I’m about to say is going to make that situation worse.“Would you be up for a walk in the park?”
There’s a pause—I can practically hear him recalibrating.Yesterday I let him walk me home; now I’m creating distance again.
“Shall I meet you at your place?”
