Page 99 of Smoke Screen
Special Agent Blackwell turned a hard glare on him, his eyes nearly black with fury. Phin didn’t seem fazed.
Wasting time sitting around a table wouldn’t help them find the jewels.
And, as far as Maddy knew, he still had Neck Tattoo’s phone in his pocket.
The sooner they got out of here, the sooner they’d get on with figuring out where the jewels were.
Special Agent Blackwell shook his head, but leaned against the whiteboard.
Phin turned back to Sheriff Kingston. “The Thompson Center has hired BARS to help recover their stolen jewels.”
For a moment, she simply stared at him, taking in the information. “I see,” she finally said, obviously not needing to be briefed on the case. “This man you were meeting with, what’s his name?”
“We don’t know.”
She eyed him for a few seconds and he held his hands out. “I’m not lying. Literally, we didn’t get that far. Maddy and I met him in front of the B, but it was too crowded. We moved off of Main Street to talk.”
Sheriff Kingston put up her hands. “You’re going to need to start at the beginning. If you don’t know who he is, how did you set up a meeting?”
Another round of yelling sounded from the outer hallway. Another man.
Active place.
“Oh, for God’s sake.” Sheriff Kingston pushed out of her chair, walked to the door, and threw it open.
A mammoth, insanely jacked guy appeared in the doorway.
“Great,” Special Agent Blackwell said. “This nightmare won’t end.”
The guy angled around Sheriff Kingston, his enormous presence filling the room. “Y’all are involved in this?”
Clearly, they were acquainted.
“Reid,” Sheriff Kingston said, “get out. I can’t talk to you right now.”
The guy ignored the sheriff and pointed at Phin. “Mrs. Royce said she saw you with the victim.”
“Reid!” Sheriff Kingston said, her voice firm. “Out!”
“No, Mags,” he said. “In case you forgot, my very pregnant wife owns a shop half a block from where this guy got popped. It appears my cousins were involved and I want to know what the fuck happened.”
Wait. Cousins? Maddy shifted her gaze to Phin. He ignored her, keeping his focus on the Superman lookalike.
Sheriff Kingston shoved Phin’s cousin, backing him up a full two steps out the door. An impressive display since he was basically a walking mountain.
“Wait outside,” she told him. “The Steeles have created their fair share of drama in this town. Now get out.”
You go, girl.
Maddy swiveled her chair to Phin, grabbing his attention. “Wow.”
Phin snorted. “She’s a tank. She’d kick any of our asses.” Then he stood up and headed to the door. “Zeke, finish filling Maggie in.”
Zeke peered up at him. “Where areyougoing?”
“I’m gonna talk to Reid. Calm the big man down.”
“NDA,” Zeke said.
