Page 53 of Hawk

He wandered over to the edge of the building and looked over. “It’s really high up here. I bet the view is something at night.”

“If you’re going to be up here, shoot me a text and let me know so I can find you if I need to.”

“I will, but odds are I won’t be leaving today. I’m just planning to drink coffee, watch baking shows, and crochet. No exploring—at least not today. I think I need some time to decompress and think about everything that’s happened in the last couple of days.”

I knew he’d been through a lot, but I hoped one of those things he needed to think about wasn’t us. I didn’t want to say that, though, because I didn’t want to pressure him.

“You take all the time you need. Don’t forget that the bistro is downstairs if you want to grab lunch, but if you’re going to do that, let me know first. You can access it from inside the building, but it’s open to the public with an external exit, so I’d prefer to go with you.”

“Thanks, but I have plenty of food that we brought from my place, so I’ll be good.”

When he stepped into the stairwell, I looked down at him before running my hand through his unruly curls. “If you get bored, you know where to find me.”

“I do. And if you get hungry, you know where to find me.”

I raised one eyebrow at him, and he laughed. “For lunch, silly.”

I was pretty sure that hadn’t been what he meant at all. “As tempting as lunch sounds, I need to find these assholes so you’ll be safe. I’ll want to eat later, though.”

I was so tempted to change my mind and stay upstairs with him, but there would be plenty of opportunities for me to spend time with my boy after Butch was taken care of. So I settled for a quick kiss and a reminder that if he needed anything, I was just downstairs.

I headed straight for the ops center to talk to Kat. I needed to tell her what I’d found about the sheriff and see if she had any information for me. She looked up when I walked in and grinned.

“You two are sweet together.”

“What do you mean?” I asked, and she pointed at the bank of monitors—one of which was pointed right at the area on the roof.

“I forget you have eyes everywhere,” I grumbled.

“Not everywhere. There are none in the personal residences.”

“Only because we told you no.”

She let out an exasperated sigh. “I still think it would be a good idea. What if there’s an intruder?”

“Then you’ll see him on one of the other hundred cameras you have in this building. Now, have you found anything?”

“Nothing good. Just more and more of the same. The Iron Jackals are involved in some shady shit. I can’t believe there are no charges yet. It’s so obvious they’re mixed up in everything from running guns and selling drugs to human trafficking.”

“Yeah, about that. Mika said something that got me thinking… something about how they had the local law in their pocket. I started looking into it, and I think he’s right. Check this out.”

I pulled up the guy’s social media and set the computer down in front of her, and she started scrolling.

“Is that a new bass boat?”

“Yeah, and it isn’t just any bass boat. That sucker is high-end. It starts at eighty K. But keep scrolling.”

“A new truck to pull the bass boat. Wow, nice house in the background there. I wonder if that’s his.”

“According to tax records, it is. And check out his vacation photos.”

“Is that from a guided hunt in Canada?” she asked. “That can’t be cheap.”

“I would think not.”

“Whew.” Kat blew out a breath. “Looks to me like our local sheriff is living pretty high on the hog.”

“Or he was anyway.” I pointed at the last post. “Check out those dates. All the posts stopped about six months ago.”

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