Page 19 of A Soldier's Pledge
“What’s up? I have a meeting.”
“I wanted to make sure you got in okay.”
“Unless I’m wrong, you have a phone with text messaging that works just fine.” The look on Ethan’s face proved she was right, he had an ulterior motive for being there.
“I was hoping you’d let me talk to your staff at the meeting. Steele and I think that stirring the pot might help trigger a response if one of your employees is involved.”
“That might not be such a bad idea. Does that mean you didn’t get the warrant?”
“We don’t know yet. Oh, and Steele is here too.”
“Is he here for the meeting or to dig up dirt on my employees?”
“Relax, we’re not going to cause trouble—yet. But if something or someone doesn’t seem right all bets are off.”
“Do I have a choice?”
“Of course you do. We can’t force you to help us, but I’d think you’d want to know as much as we do. Especially if all your people are innocent, then they’re in danger too if it escalates. We’ve been lucky so far that no one’s been hurt or worse.”
She’d been thinking that herself, and he had a point. “Okay. Let’s go, it’s meeting time.”
***
He’d taken a chance showing up, but Ethan hadn’t wanted to give her a chance to say no. After what she’d told him about the guy watching her, he was more convinced than ever that someone in her office was involved. And he wanted to close this case as soon as possible before it got any worse.
When they’d told the LT everything, they’d found out he called the DA himself and asked him to get them a warrant, but he hadn’t lied either. He didn’t know if they’d been successful or not in getting one. Until then, he and Steele were going to work every angle they could. That meant showing up at Anna’s office and hijacking her staff meeting.
They decided Ethan would do the talking and Steele would use his keen sense of observation on everyone in the room, his words not Ethan’s. It was as good a plan as any. When everyone was gathered, he explained about the robberies, and what they needed to do to make sure they stayed safe. They were recommending that no agent go out alone until the culprits were caught.
A low rumbling in the room let him know they didn’t like the idea. He understood they were in competition and worked on commission, but there was money, and there was safety, and most if not all of Anna’s employees were probably innocent. Although, he really liked Hugh Johnson for it, even if he didn’t seem like the brainiac type.
“I’m going to leave our cards at the front desk with Jenny. If any of you see anything suspicious, or you think of anything that can help us try to catch these guys, give either myself or Steele a call. It’s imperative that you all are careful until we catch these guys. So far no one’s been hurt, and we don’t want that to change.”
He leaned against one of the walls as Anna finished her meeting, going over the sales stats and delegating some work. He couldn’t have been happier to hear that either. It meant she was going to ease up, and that was a plus as far as he was concerned.
After the meeting, he and Steele talked to Anna for a bit before they headed back to the station. She’d agreed to come over and work with the sketch artist, he told her she’d be rewarded with another of Dixie’s roast beef sandwiches, and he’d been rewarded with a million-dollar smile. All in all, even though he was worried about her and the case, he couldn’t remember when he’d been happier.
A few hours later she was sitting with the sketch artist at the station. It turned out she remembered more details than he’d expected and the sketch turned out well. Lunch went well until Rob Martin, the assistant DA, showed up with the warrant. Apparently, the judge wanted this cleared up quickly since it was an election year and both he and the DA were up for reelection. Gotta love politics.
Anna wasn’t happy, but she’d accepted that they needed to do anything in their power to solve the case. He reminded her to watch for anything suspicious with any of her employees, not just Hugh or even Adria. They were all suspects until they weren’t at this point. Before she went back to her office, he pulled her into the breakroom.
“I’m really sorry you have to deal with all of this, baby.”
“Me too, but it’ll work out, right?”
“Of course, we always get our man,” he said with a laugh and false bravado. There wasn’t a lot of high crime in Willow Haven, mostly minor drug busts, stolen cars and shoplifting were the majority of his cases.
She looked tired, and it was his fault, but he wasn’t one bit sorry. Every minute he’d spent loving on her last night had been magic. Which reminded him. “Are we staying at your place again or mine tonight?”
“What?”
“Did you forget what I said last night? I’m not going to leave you alone until we catch this guy or figure out what’s going on.”
“Aren’t you overreacting a bit?”
“Nope, I’m not. Besides, nothing I do to protect you would ever be too much.”
“Damn, you’re tough. Fine. My place is bigger and has a better kitchen, so you come over.”
