Page 34 of Night Watch
“Now you’re interested in the break-in,” Erik muttered. He felt his anger rising to the surface, and he had to swallow it down to remain levelheaded and not make an enemy. “I suppose any chance in our seeing the results from DNA and fingerprint database searches is now out of the question.”
“Yes. We have no reason to believe the two incidents are related, but you know what I say?”
“You don’t believe in coincidences.”
“Exactly. So Johnson will want a full accounting of any leads you’ve run down so far.”
“And if I don’t cooperate?” Erik could barely contain his frustration over the one-way street.
“You know the answer to that.”
“I’ll be issued a subpoena or you might even have enough probable cause to get a warrant to search my place and office.”
“Exactly. Don’t make me do that.”
“Can the Veritas experts continue working on the evidence they’re evaluating?”
“I’ll check in with the task force leader and get back to you.” Sarge ended the call.
Erik refrained from punching the wall. He didn’t want to share their information, but they didn’t have much to share. They’d mostly struck out anyway.
He made a group call to Sierra, Emory, and Maya. Once they were all on the line, he brought them up to date on the new development. “PPB detective’s name is Frank Johnson. I’ve worked with him before, but he was in a tough spot back then so he was defensive. I hope he’ll cooperate now.”
“They’d be foolish not to let us continue with what we’re working on,” Maya said. “But I know how politics in a multi-agency task force work. You get FBI agents in the mix, and they’ll likely want everything to go to Quantico.”
“We’ve seen that happen often enough,” Sierra said. “I’ll rush what I can while we wait for a verdict. Let me know if I can do anything else.”
“I really can’t rush anything,” Emory said. “It’s all running right now, and the machines will need to complete before we can analyze the data.”
Erik swallowed down his frustration. No point in letting them know how much this was impacting him. He thanked them and ended the call. He stowed his phone along with his negative attitude and opened his condo door. Voices floated down the hallway as the patter of doggie paws headed his way.
What in the world?
He’d expected Kennedy to be alone.
His mom’s voice sounded above the others asking Kennedy if she was dating anyone.
Crud. His feet stuttered to a stop. What was his mom doing there? His dad was likely with her. Who let them in the building then escorted them to the condo? Sierra or any one of his brothers. One or more of them had probably told their mom about the anthrax. Not that he blamed them. She always managed to discover when one of her children was in danger or sick, and she always came running. He both loved and disliked that about her.
And she’d likely badgered Kennedy about their breakup. If he knew his mom—and he did—she was probably already trying to get them back together.
He didn’t want to deal with that. He needed to focus on finding the creep who drew a gun on Kennedy, but he would never leave Kennedy to fend for herself with his mother. Never.
Pong reached the door and gave a sharp bark of greeting. Even if Erik wanted to bail, his best friend had outed him. He strode down the hall, Pong rushing ahead, and prepared for his mother’s inquisition. She was seated between Kennedy and Erik’s dad on the sofa, but caught sight of Erik and propelled herself off the plump cushions.
When she approached, Pong eyed her as if he might need to protect Erik the way many working dogs might do.
“Sit,” Erik commanded.
“I know you don’t mean me.” His mom smiled and looked him over. “I get that you never want any fuss, but I just had to see if my baby was all right.”
Worse than he thought. “Baby? Come on, Mom. I’m not a child.”
“You’ll always be my baby. You’ll understand someday when you have children.” She cupped the side of his face then gave him a good once over. “You don’t look any worse for wear, but Kennedy tells me we really won’t know anything for a day or so.”
“So far, I feel fine, so you don’t have to stay.”
“Nonsense.” She waved a hand. “I brought lunch, and your dad is starving, so we’ll all eat together. I’ll just set the table.”
