“I don’t want to miss out on this.”
“Bring Madelyn to the station. She’ll be safe here.”
“Let me see if she’s agreeable.” Jack said he’d call me back and ended the call.
“I want in on this,” Denise said.
“No.”
“Yes!”
“You’re still recovering.”
“I’m fine.”
I gave her a concerned look.
“I’ll be fine. We’re just picking up a perp.”
“Who’s armed and dangerous?”
She gave me a flat look. “He’s not that dangerous.”
“He killed a man.”
She wasn’t taking no for an answer.
I raised my hands in surrender. “Clear it with the sheriff.”
Denise grinned and darted off to find him.
Jack brought Madelyn to the station. Dressed in a new outfit, she looked delightful.
“I hope you don’t mind,” I said. “This won’t take long.”
“No problem. JD was kind enough to chauffeur me aroundall day. I’ll just get some work done. Is there somewhere out of the way I can set up?”
I escorted her to the conference room. Madelyn pulled a laptop from a bag and set it on the table. “Stay safe out there.”
“Always,” I replied.
“I’m kinda screwed if you guys get taken out.”
“We’ll be careful,” Jack assured.
Before long, we had a tactical team at Stephen’s workplace. He was an account executive at First Oceanic Bank on North Beach Boulevard.
We entered the bank, and I flashed my badge discreetly to the security guard. “Looking for Stephen Pike?”
With a concerned expression, the guard pointed to a cubicle in the back.
The teller windows were to the left upon entrance. In the center, a series of open mahogany cubicles. Along the far wall were private offices. The vault and the restrooms were located to the right.
The tac team moved along the far side of the cubicles and surrounded Stephen Pike's office. He was with a customer at the moment. A young brunette woman filled out some kind of application.
Stephen looked at us with concern and said, "I'll be with you in a moment.”
I flashed my badge and said, "Your moment is up.”
