Moose blinked twice, then dropped his head to the floor.
That’d be a no. Cat Lucky lay curled on the back of the couch, also close to Charlotte. Traitorous beasts.
The door to Ty’s room wasn’t completely closed. Maybe he’d be up to talking. Lucky stepped closer. “Got a minute?”
Ty shot a panicked look at the door, threw something into his backpack, and plopped back down on his belly on the bed, books stretched out in front of him and laptop a few inches away.
Lucky stood in the doorway. In normal circumstances, Ty would be facing him to find out what Lucky wanted. Turning away and trying to pretend he hadn’t just stashed something he didn’t want Lucky to see only served to point out the wrongness of the situation.
Lucky wouldn’t pry. If he remembered nothing else about his teenage years, he recalled being defensive as hell. Okay, maybe he’d never grown out of his suspicious stage. In his line of work, not trusting folks had saved his life on more than one occasion.
“What are you studying?”
“Algebra. I’ve got a test on Monday, and my teacher is pretty tough.” Ty kept his back turned. He might as well spray-paint a sign on the wall:“Guilty of something!”
But what? Then again, the kid was sixteen. Lucky might have interrupted something that caused Ty to hide a porn mag. Maybe he should ask Bo about the two of them sitting the kid down and explaining a few hard facts. Ty seemed more prone to listen to Bo than to Lucky. “How’s school going?”
“Fine.”
“Making many friends?” Except for Keith-the-official-workplace-asshole’s daughter, he’d not seen Ty with anyone his own age recently, though he spoke on his cell phone often.
“Yeah. A couple guys on the team.”
Short, clipped answers. To the point. No volunteering information. The same technique Lucky taught prospective agents to not give away too much.
He’d not been a big part of his nephew’s life until recently, but no familiarity was necessary to recognize Ty hid something. Lucky blew out a breath. Asking would only earn him evasive answers and make Ty more cautious of whatever he’d thrown into the bag.
What was Lucky thinking? Ty was no felon. Chances were he’d simply hidden a love letter from his girlfriend or something. Nothing to worry about at all. “It’s about time for supper. Your mama’s busy. What say we rustle up something to eat?”
Ty slammed his book shut. “Okay.” He tucked the book into the backpack and sat waiting for Lucky to leave. So he could hide the bag?
This was his nephew; he couldn’t simply search Ty’s things based on suspicion. He’d destroy the fragile trust they’d built up over the last few weeks. Still, something seemed off.
And even Walter paid attention to Lucky’s gut instincts.
Could Ty have cigarettes in there? Booze? Drugs?
No, Lucky, just because you did those things, doesn’t mean he does.
***
Loretta Johnson sat at Bo’s desk, sipping coffee and tapping away on her laptop. As much time as she spent in Lucky’s shared cube, she might as well move in.
But her moving in meant Bo moving out permanently, which he pretty much had already, sharing Walter’s office while learning to replace the boss someday.
Lucky’s heart gave a painful squeeze. As much as he’d hated having Rookie Boy Schollenberger thrust on him all those years ago, now, how was he going to get by without glancing over to see Bo smiling back at him?
“Well, damn,” Johnson groused, shattering Lucky’s delusions of Bo coming back.
“What?”
“Spring carnival at Rone’s school tonight. I promised I’d go. Then he’ll want me to take him for ice cream. I won’t get home until late.”
Wait another day? But one day Lucky might be the one rearranging his schedule for parental duties. He could hardly fault her. “I could go alone.”
Did she just growl? “Oh, hell no, you won’t. I brought you this case, and you sure as hell aren’t going to push me to the side on this one.”
“Why, Johnson, you sound like you have a personal stake in this.”
