Did he? “I honestly don’t know. One thing about going under is you see some really ugly things. You see enough of it and you start wondering why God allows them. It always takes me back to when I lost my dad. He died of a brain aneurism right in front of me.” Drew worked hard not to let the memories flood back and fall apart in front of Teagan. “I was helpless to do anything but call for help and kneel beside him as he died. It’s the same thing while under. Doesn’t impact me as much as losing my dad, but it still brings up the why question.”
“I could see that.” Teagan tilted her head, her hair softly falling over her shoulder as she studied his face. “I’m sorry you had to lose your dad at such a young age. And in that way. My cousin was murdered going on two years ago. That was so hard.” She let out a long shaky breath. “Is still hard. But nothing like you must’ve suffered.”
He took a moment to let go of his residual feelings from his father’s death and compose his thoughts. “You can’t measure loss that way. It’s all hard and painful. And you also had to deal with the aftereffects of a violent crime. Doubly hard.”
“What I remember so vividly at the time was just what you said. Asking why. Almost demanding answers. We all did.” Her eyes glistened with unshed tears, but she took a breath and slowly let it out. “On the job, we’ve also seen the same things you mentioned. Criminals who hurt people and swindle others. It’s hard to take when these creeps continue to live and some of them even flourish. And there was my cousin Thomas. An upstanding, Christian guy, running our company and doing a super job until he was murdered. Makes no sense. At least not to us.”
“Yeah.” Drew set down his fork, his appetite waning. “I’m still wrestling with that after all these years. I don’t know if my faith will recover. I want it to, but if I’m honest, I just don’t know.” He picked up his coffee cup and pointed at her folder before he took them even further off course and spilled his entire past to her. “Let’s move on. Look into some of those bad guys and maybe try to even the score by putting them behind bars.”
She set down her cup and went to the big picture on the nearby wall. She slid it back to reveal a whiteboard with information written in neat letters in blue and red ink.
He shook his head. “Wow. The Steeles don’t mess around. A situation room right in your house.”
“I told you we’re a law enforcement family. Maybe to the extreme.” She grinned, this one cute and playful, and her eyes sparkled. “But really, this is used for the business most of the time. We don’t run into other obstacles all that often.”
“I hear a but in your tone.”
“But lately, my cousins had some tough things they needed help with. So we used the board for that too.” A pensive look on her face, she returned to her seat. “I wish they could be here now. Helping. I know they would if we could let them.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Hey.” She lifted a hand. “I get it. Your life could depend on me keeping my big mouth shut.” She grinned again.
He caught her mood, and his appetite returned. “Tell me what we’re looking at.”
He stabbed his fork into the casserole and savored the bacon, egg, pepper, and onion mixture.
“So Flag Pole guy.” She wrinkled her nose. “The name I gave to the skinny guy with white hair is Chauncey Rossi.”
“I like Flag Pole guy better.” Drew chuckled.
“Me too.” She laughed as she handed a packet of papers to him. “Here’s his background report, but I put the highlights on the board. He started Northwest Geo Instruments in 1982. He has a strong reputation and has expanded to ship equipment worldwide for the past twenty years. No hint of criminal activity. He’s a father of two boys. Avid soccer fan. So avid, he even travels abroad to soccer matches, and he’s been known to bet heavily on the teams, his favorite being Italy, of course.”
“How about a connection to a guy named Smiley?”
“That’s the good news. Nick located an associate from a single picture posted online with the name Smiley in the description. His real name is Lenny Spence. He’s on page three of the report.”
Drew flipped the papers and took in the man’s built physique and a grimace on his wide face. “I’d bet he was once Rossi’s muscle.”
“Me too. He was listed as a company employee—no job description—starting at the time the business went international until 2016.”
“Then what happened?”
She took a long sip of her orange juice. “Nothing. No missing person report. No interest from the police. He just seems to have disappeared.”
Had to be their guy. “Looks like Rossi really killed him. Or had one of his flunkies kill him. Exactly like he hinted at last night. We need to figure out where he’s buried. Try to prove murder and link it to Rossi. All in less than two days.”
She set her glass down. “But how will that help with your undercover op?”
“It might not, but putting him away for murder should end the smuggling pipeline too.” Drew flipped through the pages. “He’s the sole owner of the company?”
“Yes, but he has two sons who could carry on the legal aspects of the business, and I assume the illegal ones if needed.”
Their lone subject had turned into a party of three. “We have to not only nail him but shut down the business.”
“And still, if the sons are involved, they could start up elsewhere.”
Drew set down his fork, planted his hands on the table, and lifted his gaze to Teagan’s. “Then if they’re involved, we’ll have to nail them too.”
