“You want to work now?” He kissed her ear.
She firmed her resolve. “Yes, I’ll be too tired later. Once I’m in bed, I don’t like to be interrupted.”
“I’ll keep that in mind. Do you want some wine? A little dinner while we read what the great Arthur Hale sent along?”
“That works.”
After polishing off a couple of pretty decent omelets, they settled down on the couch—her feet on his lap—and he read the reports out loud to her.
While the information twisted her stomach, his soothing voice smoothed out the dark edges. They were in this together. They were a team. It felt…well, it felt right.
He threw the report aside when he finished. “How convenient for them to say Ray had alcohol in his system when he skidded off the road. Fuckers had to ruin his reputation.”
Meredith ran a hand down his arm. “Gene said his tox screen was under the legal limit.”
“Why couldn’t he have left that out like he did with Jemma? Ray was a good kid.”
“This doesn’t say he wasn’t. Like everyone else, Gene’s looking to give people answers to a senseless car accident.”
“I still don’t like the way he works. Why does he get to decide what people know? Besides, it’s against the law. Why doesn’t that bother you?”
He was in a fighting mood, and she didn’t want to fan the flames. “It does bother me. Read Kenny’s file.”
He complied, Hugo’s ears perking up at the sound of his deep voice. “Hah,” he said when he reached the end. “I’ve seen enough of these reports to read between the lines. They suspected Kenny was smuggling drugs out of Afghanistan, but couldn’t prove it. Add in insubordination to a superior officer and some drunk and disorderlies, and he’s history. He’s a disgrace to the uniform, but his commanding officer’s too much of a gentleman to say it.”
She rubbed his denim-clad thigh with her bare feet. “Another thread. If he was doing drugs there—”
“Makes sense that he’d do them here. Stick with what you know. Smart to choose pot. It’s not opium, which makes it a lower priority for law enforcement, and by lacing it, he’s ensuring steadier sales.”
“But Gene didn’t find anything in Jemma’s tox screen besides marijuana and alcohol. We’re still missing something.”
“All the more reason for Peg to run another test on the drugs. See if her lab finds that missing element.”
“What happens if they don’t?”
“Don’t borrow trouble.” He tugged her onto his lap with one hand. “I have a request. I want to take a picture of us.”
Her head darted back. “Why?”
“So I can put it on my phone’s home screen.” He held it up. “Say cheese.”
She turned and smiled as he clicked the photo, her stomach suddenly queasy. Pictures signified they were a couple. She was delighted… and a little afraid. They hadn’t talked about their future plans, and she wasn’t sure they were ready for that conversation.
“It’s just a picture, Meredith,” he muttered, giving her a squeeze. “The bug I planted at the garage is working, by the way. I did some listening earlier. Kenny’s planning on taking a long vacation, and they’re shutting down operations like they said. He didn’t say where he was keeping his truck. And I didn’t find another set of tires where Ray went off the road.”
“Tanner—”
“Kenny and Barlow were right. We don’t have dick unless I figure out where his car is hidden.”
“Don’t you dare look! They already know you’re onto them. Let Peggy test the paint shavings from Ray’s car.”
She rubbed his rock-hard shoulders, trying to settle down herself. “We have Ray’s statement and the drugs. His phone call to you and the warning after they killed him. Plus there’s everything we heard in the garage and the paint shavings. Let Peggy test them. Please! We’ve got to pray it’s enough to have the authorities take this seriously—even if there’s nothing weird about the drugs.”
“We still don’t have enough. Do you really think they’d investigate a deputy sheriff on a whim? They need more. As for what we heard in the garage, we were there illegally. It’s our word against theirs. And we never actually saw them. We can’t connect the drugs to them without Ray. The threatening phone call came from Ray’s phone, not theirs. And I can’t prove anyone fucking called me except Ray! Even a shitty lawyer could pick that apart without breaking a sweat.”