Rock Chick Reckoning(94)
“Nothing.”
“Bul shit.”
I tipped my head back to look at him. “Seriously, Eric,” I lied through my teeth. “Nothing. We just talked.” At least that last part wasn’t a lie.
He wasn’t buying it. “Preston Mason doesn’t make a move without an ulterior motive. He didn’t kidnap you from a gig to have a chat.”
“I’m not saying it was a pleasant chat, I’m just saying he didn’t do anything to me.”
Eric’s brows drew together. “Stel a, you’re keepin’
something from me.”
“No, I’m not. You know I didn’t want to be back together with Mace. I just decided to make it clear,” I lied.
Yes, I lied.
Yes, again.
And no, I didn’t mind going to hel . It couldn’t be much worse than my life was at that very moment.
Eric watched me again. It did, of course, occur to me that he was a federal agent and likely could read the body language and facial expressions of much more accomplished liars than myself but at that moment I was too tired to care.
“I need to sleep,” I told him.
“You need to eat then you need to sleep,” Eric returned.
“I’m not hungry.”
He pushed up, rol ed over me, got to his feet and then pul ed me to mine.
“Then you get a bowl of cereal,” he decided.
“Eric.”
“No argument.S">“NoGy His voice was firm, so was his grip on my hand which led me straight to the kitchen.
* * * * *
Eric
Eric forced a bowl of cereal on Stel a.
Then he sat on the couch and watched a movie with her which she fel asleep halfway through.
Then he carried her to his bed, pul ed a blanket over her stil -clothed body, left the room, closed the door and walked into the living room.
He made a couple of cal s and got the number he needed.
Then he dialed Lee Nightingale’s cel .
“Yeah?” Nightingale answered.
“It’s Special Agent Turner.”
Lee’s voice went on alert. “Stel a?”
“She’s fine,” Eric responded. “You stil got that boy wonder at your computers?”
Lee didn’t reply.
“You do, you get him to work on Preston Mason and whatever the fuck he’s holding over Stel a. Something happened in that car. She’s not talkin’. There’s gotta be a link.”
“We’re already on it,” Lee responded.
“She doesn’t know about Caitlin Mason,” Eric went on.
“I know,” Lee replied. “You said ‘doesn’t’, you didn’t share?”
“Not my place.”
Silence then realizing from Eric’s words the lay of the land, Lee went on, “Mace wants the papers kept from her.” Eric thought about the papers the last two days, rehashing every last, juicy, devastating detail of Caitlin Mason’s kidnapping and murder and Kai Mason’s involvement as part-martyr, part-hero. Worse, his now very public relationship (making out onstage with a local rock star, for fuck’s sake) was quickly becoming legend. Stel a was cast in the dual role as balm to soothe the wounded soul alongside damsel in distress. A dual role that would only be intensified after her version of “And So It Goes” (Eric didn’t see it, the agent he’d assigned to watch her had reported to him about it, in detail) and her post-gig kidnapping complete with the Nightingale Men publicly (and therefore open to cel phone cameras) engaged in pretty fucking brutal physical skirmishes in an effort at her protection.
“I don’t blame him,” was al Eric said but his point was made. While she was with him, Eric wouldn’t let Stel a see the papers.
“You get more –” Lee started and as much as Eric hated it, he interrupted.
“I’l cal .”
He beeped off his phone, set it on the end table, went to check the house alarm, looked out the window in the door to check for the car on the street, two houses down, two agents sitting inside. Spotting the car, he got his gun, put that on the end table too, grabbed a blanket, yanked off his boots, lay down on the couch and finished watching the movie.
Chapter Sixteen
Squirtable Cheese
Hank
The next morning, Hank and Mace walked into Lee’s office. Lee was sitting on the front edge of his desk, his head bent toward a file in his hand. It came up when they entered. He closed the folder and dropped the file on his desk.
“What did George say?” Lee asked.
George Riverside was a prosecuting attorney. Hank, Eddie and Mace had a meeting with him that morning to discuss the Sidney Carter case. Primarily, the discussion centered around if it was strong enough to arrest him.
“He says we don’t have enough,” Hank replied and Lee’s eyes narrowed.