She heard George’s chair creak and he left out an exasperated sound. “I hate to bother you on your day off. But I was hoping you could swing back over here to the office for a chat.”
Damn. She knew something was bothering him the other day. “Yeah, no problem. I need to come up and check on Chewie anyway. I’ll see you in an hour.”
* * *
It feltstrange walking into the Lyons substation in civilian clothing. Sylvie was almost always in her uniform and on duty when she visited the station. Even stranger was visiting without Chewie. She planned to go see him afterward. She’d wrestled with that decision, and probably made the wrong one. Because her rationale was that if she happened to catch Alex at the end of the day, maybe the two of them could sneak away…
George was in his usual spot behind his desk in his office. Sylvie could feel the tension in the air before she even laid eyes on him. When he looked up from his computer screen, she immediately zeroed in on the bags under his eyes. No way this was a social call.
“Close the door behind you,” George said.
Sylvie got right to it. “So, why did you want to talk to me today?” she asked as she dropped down into one of the chairs on the other side of his desk.
George gave her a tired smile before pushing a plastic container across the desk. “Cookies from Mom.”
Sylvie popped the top. Snickerdoodles. “This is serious,” she quipped as she reached in for one then took a bite, died, and went to cinnamon heaven.
“I…” He sighed.
Sylvie’s momentary happiness was replaced with concern. “What?”
“I wanted to ask you for a favor, but it’s probably out of line.”
That shocked her. Never, not once, since George and Cynthia had taken her in as a foster kid had either of them asked her for anything, let alone something that could be described as out of line. “You know I’d do anything for you, Dad—”
“Let me stop you right there. This isn’t a father asking his daughter for a favor, but it certainly complicates things. This is one police officer to another.”
Sylvie blinked rapidly, confused and concerned. “What do you think is happening, Da… George?” They made a habit of switching to first names whenever discussing police business, but it still felt strange to her just now, especially in her civvies. The whole day had her off-balance.
“Look, you know how much I adore little Ardie.”
Sylvie rolled her eyes. “You mean Arden Voelker, the fully-grown woman who hasn’t gone by that nickname in twenty-five years?”
George grinned. “One and the same. Anyway, there are some rumors going around about Watchdog, and I don’t want to see her get hurt. Any of them. Kyle’s a good man.”
“Um, one of the rumors about Watchdog is that they’re all retired SEALs and such. I don’t think anything short of World War Three is going to hurt them, certainly not anything around this place.”
“Words are weapons; you know that.”
Sylvie let out her breath. “Yeah, boy, do I. So what’s the rumor?”
George pursed his lips. “People look at the spread they have up there, and they ask where the money’s coming from.”
She felt a twinge of anger. “Right. Spread gossip about the outsiders who don’t fit in.”
“I know this hits close to home for you, Syl—”
“Yeah, it does.”
“Where’s Chewie?” George asked out of nowhere. She sensed a trap.
“Up at Watchdog. I haven’t swung by there yet.” She narrowed her eyes. “Why?”
He narrowed his right back. “I’m surprised you don’t have him with you already.”
“Yeah, I thought I’d go after talking to you. It sounded serious over the phone so I stopped here first.”Hope that covers my butt.She took another bite of her snickerdoodle.
George nodded as he studied her. “Take the cookies. Maybe they’ll fool him.”
