Page 162 of Back in the Saddle

This reminded me to ask a question I hadn’t thought to ask earlier (no, not the one about why Knox was at Luna’s apartment Sunday morning, that’d have to wait until later since she plainly wasn’t feeling talkative about the subject, and equally plainly, Raye nor Harlow knew what was going on with those two either). My actual question needed to be asked, particularly to Eric, someone I couldn’t ask at that moment, because he wasn’t there.

So I asked Raye.

“These guys are expending a lot of resources on a case that isn’t theirs. What’s up with that?”

Stella made a noise.

Daisy murmured, “Mm-hmm.”

I looked to them then back to Raye when she spoke.

“Cap explained that they do this kind of thing.”

“They sure do.” Daisy was still murmuring.

“Do what kind of thing?” Harlow asked.

It was Stella who answered. “Watching your asses, so you don’t get exploded by a car bomb.”

Cripes!

She continued, “Along with working cases they lose money on so stuff the cops don’t have the time and resources to focus on can get sorted a whole lot faster so innocent people stop vanishing.” She threw out a hand and finished, “And the like.”

I ignored the car bomb mention and said to Stella, “Like pro bono avenger type stuff?”

Stella smiled. “Yes. But in this case, there’s also the fact they can’t have you girls showing them up.”

I didn’t think it was that.

I thought it would be easy just to keep an eye on us and let us do our thing without members of their team being up all night, helping us do our thing.

I thought instead they were doing it because, just like us, they didn’t want anyone else to go missing, and if they were still around to be found, they wanted to locate the ones that were already gone.

I also thought this was tremendously awesome.

“What time are we starting tonight?” I asked Raye.

“Right after work, if you two are game,” Raye answered.

Harlow and I nodded our heads.

“Cap suggested we start with swinging by the hotel to talk to Mary. She wasn’t around for very long, but she was there when someone was taken,” Raye told us.

“That’s a plan,” I confirmed.

“Luna can just get over it. Knox will be at the stakeout spot at 5:30. She can join him when we’re done,” Raye stated.

Harlow inched closer, so Raye and I inched with her, and Daisy and Stella both came up to their forearms on the bar so they could listen in too.

“What do you think that’s about?” Harlow queried.

There it was.

I was right.

Or, at least Harlow didn’t know what was going on.

“I think she’s got the hots for Knox, and Knox has the hots for her, and they won’t do anything about it because Cap and I are together, and she’s my best friend, Knox is Cap’s best friend, and they’re big, fat dorks,” Raye shared.

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