Page 65 of Building Courage

“We have a federal warrant for your phone and the call history and texts,” Byers announced, handing him a slip of paper. “We’ll need your password.”

“I need to write down a few numbers before I give it to you. Jordan’s girlfriend, Savannah’s number, and his mom and dad and brother.”

“Go ahead.”

Tucker quickly copied down the numbers and a few others. Then he scanned the document Byers had handed him for a moment. He wrote down his password.

Byers bagged the phone and the password slip, set it aside then handed him a receipt.

“You’ll get the phone back as soon as we’ve run through the data.”

Tucker shrugged. “Knock yourself out.”

Byers tried his intimidation stare, but it had little effect. He’d done nothing wrong, and he wasn’t going to let this guy rattle his cage.

“Have you thought of anything else you want to share with us, Petty Officer?” Byers asked.

“No. I said my piece the last time we met. All but this… Get these fuckers. And do it quickly. I’ve had to watch one friend fight his way back from a catastrophic injury and lose everything. And now, I’ll have to watch as another is buried.” He struggled to maintain his composure. “Is that all you need?”

“Yeah.”

Tucker rose and walked out of the room. He wanted to leave but couldn’t. Instead, he left the building and walked the distance to the beach. He’d tried to shove past the rock of grief wedged beneath his ribs, but it just wouldn’t ease. After a while, watching the surf calmed him.

Denotti walked down and sat down on the beach next to him. He handed him a cell phone. “All the important numbers are programmed in. Sam had a heads-up from command that cell phones were going to be confiscated and took care of it.”

“Thanks.” He studied the cheap burner phone. “It wouldn’t hurt to keep these around as a backup.”

“I hope you remember your lady’s number,” Denotti said.

He quickly programmed it into the phone and then shot Denotti a look. “Do you remember yours?”

Denotti grinned like a Cheshire cat. “Oh, yeah.”

Sam and Beckham wandered down, followed by Swan and Rosenburg, and then Arrow and Bullet. For long moments, the eight of them were silent.

Sam finally spoke. “Petty Officer Tolliver’s family requested that you be a pallbearer at the service, Tucker. You okay with that?”

“Yeah.” It was the least he could do.

“Dress whites,” Sam said.

“Okay.”

“His CO said he’d let me know when they’ve made the arrangements. I’ll keep you in the loop.”

“Okay. His brother or girlfriend may try to call me.” But they’d taken his phone. Fuck. He raked his fingers through his hair. He’d have to call them and give them the number of the burner. He dreaded that.

“Now that we’ve had our interviews, we can knock off for the day,” Sam said. “The brass has given us a few days of R & R, compliments of the Senator. Monday morning, we’ll be back in the trenches.”

All of them were silent as they rose to walk to their cars.

Tucker was relieved. He had some things at the house to take care of. Then he’d make those calls.

Sam fell into step beside him. “You did the right thing sharing your ideas with them, Tucker.”

“Maybe.”

“Ours isn’t the only team they’re questioning. There are others, Toliver’s included.”

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