The same reason they’d stick Lucky on desk duty—to get him out of the way.
The video began with Walter entering the office. The cup already sat on the desk. Surely Lisa hadn’t brought Walter a poisoned cup. As much as he hated Keith for installing a camera with the hopes of recording Lucky’s downfall, now he wished the guy had started filming earlier, though the camera might have been motion activated.
Which explained the blip. Someone cut themselves out of the scene.
Walter read from a file. Where’d it come from?
Oh, Walter brought it in with him.
Bo stepped out onto the deck. “I brought you some coffee.”
Lucky snapped the laptop closed and forced a smile. “Thanks.”
Bo handed Lucky the coffee, sank down into the other Adirondack chair and focused his gaze on Lucky’s laptop.
“Care to talk about it?”
“No.” It hurt Lucky’s heart to keep secrets from his partner, but Bo had enough to worry about already. Then there was Keith’s warning.
Bo ran a hand through his hair. “Whatever it is, you know you can talk to me, right?”
“Yeah.” Bo knew Lucky too well to fall for fake reassurances. Lucky tried anyway.
“Something’s bothering you. It’s not still O’Donoghue, is it?”
“No.” With so many other things going on, Lucky had barely thought of the devil turning SNB into Hell all weekend.
Stubborn chin lift in five, four, three, two… There it came, proving Bo had no intention of letting Lucky get away with half-truths.
“It’s this whole thing with Walter.” Lucky placed the coffee cup on the floor beside the chair. “I went to see him today. He actually stood up for a bit.”
“Really? That’s awesome.” Bo’s face lit up. “I told you he’d be fine.”
“He’s not fine.” Lucky chewed his bottom lip. “He didn’t recognize me.”
Bo covered Lucky’s hand with his own. “I know how much it hurts you, not seeing him at work. Trust me, it’ll be okay. He’ll be back. You’ll see.” Bo didn’t lie, straight arrow that he was. But in this, he couldn’t possibly know.
“I’d love to believe you.” Lucky’s voice came out strained.
“Then believe me.”
“You sound so sure.”
“I am.”
Unspoken words caused a knot in his chest. This was Lucky’s partner, the man he wanted to spend the rest of his life with. “Walter’s attack wasn’t from natural causes.”
“What makes you say that?”
He shouldn’t, he really shouldn’t, especially since Keith warned him to keep Bo out of this mess as much as possible, but he needed Bo’s insight. Lucky opened his laptop.
Bo studied the video six times and turned to Lucky, face ashen. “I think you’re right. Where did you get this?” He gave Lucky a hardened gaze. “You didn’t plant cameras in the boss’s office, did you?”
“What? No! I wouldn’t do that! Not to Walter.” Not to Bo either. Anyone else and all bets were off. Bo didn’t ask again where he’d gotten the video. “The video just sorta… happened, and I wound up with a copy.” Please let Bo not ask too many questions.
Bo stared at Lucky a long moment, then deflated some. “So, the coffee cup was there when Walter arrived, he brought the file in with him, and now both are missing.” Bo pursed his lips, stared out over the back yard, and finally raised a finger. “Excuse me a moment.”
He pulled his phone from his pocket, hit a few buttons, and held the device to his ear. “Hi, Lisa. Look, I have a question. Do you get Walter coffee in the mornings? No? Oh, nothing. Just asking. I’ll tell you more later.”
