Page 35 of Caleb's Cause
“He’s an FBI agent based out of New York state. Not in the city, but about an hour’s drive north. He’s the agent that’s working on my case back there.” She looked between Erin and Duane, and when they nodded, she told Jake and his men what she had been through. When she was done, they only stared at her in shock.
“Wait,” Pru said. “Why would you call another FBI agent. I may be scatterbrained at times, but even I can tell that Duane’s Director Grayson, and Katherine’s George Babcock are the same people. If Grayson is bad, then why call in another FBI agent?”
“Because, he’s not mine, but I’ll refer to him as such, but my Agent Haller lives in New York state. Three thousand miles away from Duane’s Director Grayson. Haller is in white collar crimes, while Grayson is in narcotics. It’s my understanding that they are two entirely different entities.”
“It is,” came a voice from behind everyone, and in less than a seconds, everyone had a gun pointing to the newcomer. It wasn’tuntil Caleb jumped to his feet and yelled that they lowered their guns.
“DAD!” Caleb ran forward and hugged the man, and the next person there was Ryan with his hand out, and he gave him a hug also. Ryan turned with his arm around the other man and grinned. “Everyone, this is my brother-in-law, Kevin Lassiter. Oh, he’s also Caleb’s father.” They laughed, and introductions were made, hands shook, and drinks passed out. Once everyone settled back down, he looked at Duane. “I agree with what this lady said. You’re going to want to have an internal FBI investigation conducted, and if you have someone in white collar crimes willing to take it on, and being on the other side of the country, I would reach out to them.”
“Who are you, exactly?”
“Other than Caleb’s father, and Ryan’s brother-in-law, I am a homicide detective with the Seattle Police Department. Twenty years with the police, fifteen years as Homicide.”
“Are you retiring?” Erin asked.
“I might, why, are you offering me a job?” he joked, but stared at his son when no one said a word.
“We’ll talk.” Erin nodded and looked at Duane. “Do you know this Agent Haller?”
“I’ve met him a couple of times, Laurie knows him better than I do, since he’s working her case with her ex-husband, ex-mother-in-law, and the asshole that tried to shoot her. He was on her board of directors at her company. He pulled the gun on her when she announced she’d sold the business.”
“It’s a mess,” Laurie said with a shake of her head. “Luckily, all parties involved are sitting in jail, but now none of them are talking. Not one word.”
“That’s hard,” Kevin nodded. “I don’t know everything, but I would be willing to help if you need it.”
“This is off topic,” Pru said before anyone could answer Kevin. She turned to Ryan. “I think we should cancel the wedding with everything that is going on.”
“NO!” Both Ryan and Katherine yelled as one. Ryan looked at Katherine with a raised brow. “Why do you think it shouldn’t be canceled?”
“Because you can’t put your life on hold because of this. This might take weeks, months, even years to sort out. We’re going to have to gather information, be discreet, and gather everything we can before we can even arrest anyone. I’m not in any form of law enforcement, but I looked over your wedding plans. Correct me if I’m wrong, other than Mr. Lassiter here, and everyone in Erin’s employ, who other than your parents were invited?”
“Just Jake and his men,” Pru looked at the other man with a smile. “Ryan and I are getting married in two weeks. You’re welcome to come.”
“We’ll be here,” Jake said with a nod. “We’ll even have our wives with us. Think of it as extra security. Where exactly will the ceremony take place?”
“By the cabins over at Broken. You can see the trees in the distance, and they are just starting to change. I want them as a backdrop.”
“That will be beautiful.” Jake nodded, and looked at Ryan. “All settled?”
“Yes, two weeks from yesterday, two in the afternoon over at Broken, and there will be a big BBQ as the reception.”
“Got it.” He turned to look at Erin with a grin. “Does this mean Ifinallyget to see Broken?”
“You haven’t seen it yet?”
“No, I’ve only been as far as here.”
“Well, damn.”
“We’ll take you.” Clark nodded. He turned to Duane, then Erin. “We can strategize where to place people to help protect Katherine, and the guests at the wedding.”
“What do you think we should do?” Katherine asked. “Do we reach out to Laurie’s Agent Haller?”
“Yes, but not before we get all our ducks in a row first,” Duane said. “Can you write down everything you remember about your relationship and interactions with Michael? You never know what you might have overheard something that might be important. You might have thought it was trivial, but it might be something to blow the doors off this case.”
“Shit,” Katherine said after several minutes.
“What?”
