Page 108 of Call it Reckless

“Okay, then. Good. Where do you want to meet?”

“I’ll pick you up.”

“Sounds good.”

I started back to my desk to work on my plan, but, apparently, Reid wasn’t wasting any time today. He must have already been on his way because his patrol SUV turned into my parking lot before I even got out a sheet of paper. I grabbed my jacket and hurried out to meet him.

“Hey.”

He reached his hand across the truck and pulled my head toward his. His kiss was consuming until he gentled it a few minutes later. “I don’t want there to be any doubt that I want you,” he said.

“Got it,” I answered, still a little breathless.

Instead of driving into town, he headed in the opposite direction of the river. He grabbed a large bag and a blanket from the backseat and met me outside. Lots of other people had the same idea to have lunch here. He spread the blanket along the bank and pulled sandwiches from the bag along with chips and two bottles of water.

“This is perfect.” I took a bite of one of the sandwiches. Ruth’s chicken salad, one of my favorites.

Reid seemed to relax as we sat and ate. But I finally had to ask. “What do we need to talk about?”

“You need to fire Griff.”

My mouth dropped. “What the hell, Reid? What’s going on?”

“How well do you know him?”

“Griff? Well, I guess not all that well. He’s kind of quiet, but I think that’s his nature. I know he’s a hard worker, a skilled mechanic, and he served in the Marines. Why do you ask? Is he in trouble?”

Reid looked at me. “I’m not sure aboutintrouble. But I think he maybetrouble.”

That caught my attention. “What do you mean?”

“I mean, there is no such person as Griff Herzog.”

“What do you mean? Of course, there is. I work with him every day.”

“No, you work withsomeoneevery day, but there is no one by that name, at least no one who matches that description.”

“Reid, you’re not making any sense. How would you even know that?”

“I have reason to believe he might be involved with something illegal, so I ran a background check. And I have a source who has a source who double-checked on him for me.”

“You did what? You have a source who knows a source? Do you have any idea how crazy you sound?” I was having a hard time believing what I was hearing. “Look, I don’t know what you think you saw or heard or whatever, but he’s a good guy. He lost his leg serving his country. He bought a puppy, for Pete’s sake.”

Reid glanced around and dropped his voice. “Look, we’re still looking into things, but I think he got that puppy from someone who trains dogs to fight. I just wanted to make sure you weren’t working with someone who was involved with an illegal fighting ring.”

“There’s no way I can see Griff being part of anything like that, or even knowing someone involved in that. I’m telling you, he’s a good guy.”

“And I’m telling you, involved with it or not, something isn’t adding up with him. Griffin Herzog doesn’t exist.”

“I have a copy of his driver’s license. I ran his recommendations.”

“All of which can be forged.”

“Well, even if he goes by a different name, maybe he has his reasons. Maybe something happened while he was in the service. I’ll ask.”

“No.”

“What? Why?” I was exasperated.

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