Page 21 of Barron

“What do you want me to do?” Sergeant Benson asked.

“Appoint one of your guys to go through the recording and this spot in particular with a fine-toothed comb. We might get lucky and catch a reflection in a side mirror.”

“Good idea,” Sergeant Benson said. “And I know just the person to do it. Leave it with me.”

Captain Weaver stood. “I want a report as soon as possible. We’re done here, Yoanni.”

As they exited to the hallway, Captain Weaver said, “Billings will follow you home. It’ll make me feel better, so don’t fight me on this. Damn it. I should’ve pulled the office videos when you said things had gone missing. But that’s one hell of an undertaking. We’re talking months. If we get nothing from this recording, I may revisit that idea. Are you with me?”

“Yes, Captain.”

He turned to the officer. “Billings?”

“I heard you, sir. I’m following her home.”

“Try to rest, Yoanni. It’s going to be a hectic week.”

Yoanni winced. Easier said than done. She could only hope this person was satisfied with scaring her this one time and no more.

CHAPTER FIVE

Barron lifted two large boxes loaded to the rim with printer paper out of Shifter’s pickup truck. Huffing with the heavy weight, he shuffled through the storage room and down the hallway to where the supply closet was supposed to have its folding door open. A door he’d specifically left open to make his life easier, and some obsessive neat freak, who should’ve minded his own fucking business, had closed on him. Growling, he lifted his knee to balance the boxes on top while attempting a precarious dance as he opened the door one-handed. Somehow, he managed to accomplish the task without stumbling or, worse, having the boxes fall on top of each other and break open, spilling hundreds of sheets everywhere.

He sighed and wiped his sweaty forehead with the back of his hand. Two more boxes to go, and he was done. Before he went back outside, he wedged the door open with a stack of file folders. An obvious sign to the neat genius that someone was working and to leave the door alone. As he turned to head back to the loading zone, agitated voices got his attention.

More than agitated: this was an argument. And Shifter, one of the speakers, was pissed.

“I don’t know what the fuck is wrong with him,” Shifter barked. “He’s ruining my wa.”

“Do you mean Barron? What’s a wa?”

That was his good friend Johnny Gun asking. Quietly, Barron slinked down to the computer room and stopped at the door to listen in.

“Fucking A, I mean Barron,” Shifter retorted. “And wa means harmony. Internal peace. I need it to set up the agency’s complicated systems. He’s supposed to be helping me. Instead, he’s walking around with a huge bug up his ass, and the slightest thing sets him off. He needs to get laid or something.”

“That’s not it, and you of all people should know what’s eating him,” Johnny G argued. “Did you forget? Not long ago, you were a huge asshole.”

“That was different.”

“How so?”

“Ginny, man,” Shifter replied. “She was riding my ass real hard.”

“I see. Now that you’ve made peace with your ol’ lady, life is wonderful.”

“Damn right. Barron has to get on his knees and grovel some. Ask her to forgive him. Yoanni is a sweet Little. She’ll take him back.”

Fuck me.

Shifter knew Yoanni was Little? Then Blade had told him the truth. Evidently, every one of his brothers, except himself, had seen what he couldn’t. More than a metaphor, Blade’s comment was fact: he’d been riding around town blind as a bat, an inch away from an accident.

What are you going to do?

Barron glanced at his watch. Five minutes after seven. Yoanni should’ve been home an hour ago.Okay, Shifter, I get your point.

He stepped over the threshold. “Guys.” Shifter and Johnny Gun startled. “I put two boxes of printer paper in the supply closet. Two more are in Shifter’s truck. One of you better get them. I’m outta here.”

“Barron, wait,” Johnny G said.

---