Page 83 of Night Hawk
He headed out the door and the others followed, each of them retrieving their computers, as did Clay. He brought up the rear so he could think about how to get his parents to leave without offending them. Once his mom had her mind set on something, it was nearly impossible to change it. Nearly, but not totally. Clay just had to think of the right thing to say about Toni, and maybe his mom would go home.
He looked at the doors to see if Kelsey or Blake were awake and spotted light shining under Blake’s door. Clay knocked.
“Come in,” Blake called out.
Clay found Blake seated on one of the bottom bunks, his iPad on his lap.
“You might’ve heard my mom and dad arrive,” Clay said. “She’s made her famous cinnamon rolls for a snack. Thought I’d see if you want to join us.”
Blake’s expression waffled for a moment. “Sounds good, but I gained a few pounds with Emory during her pregnancy and still haven’t lost them.”
“I heard that can be a problem.”
“I just need to work out more, but once you have a kid, time for yourself pretty much disappears. Not complaining. Just stating a fact.” He closed his iPad case. “So how’d Trent react to the delayed call for Sharkey’s place?”
“As well as you’d expect.”
Blake grinned. “He was beyond mad then.”
“Yep.” Clay laughed. “Not that it was a laughing matter at the time. He threatened to haul me in for obstructing an investigation.”
“He won’t,” Blake said. “When I was sheriff, I often tangled with Gage and his operators. Trent has, too, so he’s used to it. When he calms down, he’ll be thankful the guy’s off the streets.”
“That and Pong sniffed out several micro SD cards Trent’s team would’ve missed.”
“And I’m sure you got a look at them before Trent arrived.”
“Videos of Hibbard in bed with young girls.”
Blake shook his head. “That’ll help nail the guy, but man, having to watch them will be awful. I saw my share of videos like that on the job.”
Clay had too, and he wasn’t looking forward to it. “Any way you can find out if Sharkey rolled over on Hibbard?”
“Doubtful.”
“It’s also doubtful that hedidroll over, but it would be good to know if Trent is looking for Hibbard too.”
Blake glanced at his watch. “I’ll give him a call during office hours and see what I can find out, but no promises.”
“Thanks.” Clay patted his belly. “Time to fatten up.”
“Eat some for me, too.”
Laughing, Clay closed the door and started down the hall.
Instead of his mother butting out, he found her seated with Toni at the table, munching on the cinnamon rolls and talking about Toni’s job exactly like she’d promised. And by promised, he meant threatened.
“We need to get to work now, Mom,” Clay said, trying his very best to keep his irritation at bay.
Surprisingly, she got right up. “I’ll grab the pot and fill mugs, then join your dad.”
Right. Sit in the family room within hearing distance so she didn’t miss a thing.
“I uploaded the videos to our server,” Erik said.
Clay set his machine on the table, grabbed a plate, and loaded it with two gooey rolls. “Let’s go ahead and eat before looking at the files.”
“Agreed.” Aiden chomped off a large bite of the cinnamon roll, and Clay followed suit.
