Page 17 of Night Hawk
Finished with his interview, Clay headed over to her.
“Guess you didn’t have a friendly conversation either,” she said.
“He reminded me whycivilianslike me and my brothers aren’t supposed to investigate crimes.”
“What did you say to that?”
“If it wasn’t for me and my brothers, he wouldn’t have a crime to investigate.” He brushed his jacket out of the way and shoved his hands into the pockets of his tactical pants.
Interesting.“What happened to Mr. Diplomacy?”
“Your boss was condescending to the max, and a guy can only take so much arrogance.” He grinned, a cute smile reminding her of the nights they’d worked late and had gotten slap-happy. “And what about you? Adair didn’t look pleased.”
“He warned me not to plan to investigate this on my own.”
Clay didn’t respond for a moment but held onto her gaze as if mining for information. “But you aren’t going to listen to him, are you?”
Not ready to admit aloud that she intended to go against her supervisor’s wishes, she shook her head. “I feel the need to take some leave.”
“Will Adair go for it?”
“He’ll probably see right through it, and I can’t lie to him, so don’t talk about working this investigation together right now or I’ll have to tell him.”
“How do you plan to get the leave approved?”
“I’ll tell him if he lets me take time off, I won’t be in the office bugging everyone for information. Which is the truth. I might need to call in to ask some favors, but…” She shrugged. “Anyway. He should go for it.”
“And if he doesn’t?”
She looked at the door where the FBI forensic staff were marching past Sierra and giving her the stink eye. “Then I might have to become a private investigator like you.”
An hour later, Clay looked at Adair’s SUV where Toni sat in the backseat with him. Clay’s family had already departed for home. Clay would meet with them to form an action plan and return tomorrow with items needed to work this investigation. Return with Toni. And spend time together again. Oddly enough, he was more drawn to her now than he’d been when they were on the task force. Maybe because she was so emotionally vulnerable tonight.
Even from a distance, he could see the frustration in the rigid set of her shoulders. And the tight expression on her face said she was working hard to control her temper. Something else he loved about her. She had a fierce temper and let it explode occasionally. Having gotten it out of her system, she generally sat back all relaxed and moved on.
Not him. He stewed over things. Let them simmer and fester. Probably from being the middle boy. He didn’t mean to sound pitiful. He’d had a great life growing up. Two wonderful parents who loved him unconditionally no matter which birth order he fell in. Not a one of his siblings was lacking for love, support, and encouragement from their parents to become the best person they could be.
He had that in common with Toni, but he’d felt competitive toward his brothers growing up, and because they linked up in pairs, he found his place in the group by trying to break up their disagreements. And man, in a family of so many guys, there were plenty of them.
On the bright side, he was the closest of all the guys to Sierra. He didn’t know if she paid more attention to him because she pitied him or because she needed an ally in the family too. Either way, as the eldest in the family, she looked out for him.
Adair’s car door opened, and Toni jumped out, marching across the lot and heading for the remote corner of the building cloaked with dark shadows. She must really be upset if she needed to isolate herself.
Clay wouldn’t let her suffer alone. He went after her and found her bent over, hands planted on her thighs and taking deep breaths. He made sure to make noise on his approach so she’d know someone was coming. She looked up at him, her eyes awash with tears.
His heart tore, and he went straight to her. He rested his hands on her shoulders. “I take it your talk didn’t go so well with Adair.”
“No, but that was expected.”
“Still, you’re upset.”
She shook her head. “Sure, I didn’t want to be thrown off the investigation for personal reasons, but it’s more than that. The girls. There could be over thirty of them in Hibbard’s clutches. Suffering. Scared. Traumatized. This investigation has become even more personal to me, and I need to find them as well as find my dad’s killer. Adair taking me off the case doesn’t help.”
Clay loved her heart for others, and it was just like her to put the girls first and be more upset about not being able to help them than her career setback.
She spun and faced the school. “Hibbard dodged us at every turn in Safe Harbor. He’s done the same thing here. We can’t let it happen again.”
Hands free now, Clay shoved them in his pockets. “We have my whole family behind us, and I’m not bragging when I say they’re good at what they do. We’ll find Hibbard.”
