“The mouth part is fighting its natural frown. You’re almost smiling,” she observed.
Nolan appeared behind her holding a cup of coffee and a stack of files. “Whoa. Someone got laid,” he announced, taking one look at my face.
“Don’t make me send you through HR’s six-week sexual harassment training,” I warned, telegraphing a message of dire consequences if he dared mention Sloane’s name in front of Lina.
“He didn’t even threaten to fire you,” Lina stage-whispered. “It’s official. Lucian Rollins has been abducted by aliens.”
“Aliens that had a lot of sex with him. Initiate Protocol D, people,” Nolan announced. Employees nearby grinned at him.
“You’re both fired,” I decided.
“You might want to hold off on that until I update you on that issue we discussed Saturday night,” Nolan said, nodding in the direction of his office.
“This concerns you too,” I told Lina.
Together the three of us trooped into Nolan’s office. He closed the door and dumped the files on his desk. Lina took a seat and crossed one long leg over the other. I remained standing.
“I pulled Travers off the Rugulio background check and sent him sniffing around Felix Metzer’s family this weekend.”
“And?” I prompted.
“He was able to confirm that Tate Dilton was the one who showed up at the Metzer family barbecue. Three family members IDed him after Travers showed them a couple of photos of our mustachioed, deceased douchebag.”
Lina was on her feet. “Tate Dilton. The son of a bitch who tried to murder my fiancé?”
“That’s the one,” Nolan said.
“Apparently he was connected to the man Anthony Hugo commissioned to create the list of law enforcement and informants,” I explained.
“Did he put Nash’s name on that list?” Lina demanded. Her fury was a controlled, icy blast.
“It looks that way,” Nolan said.
“But why the hell would he put Nash’s name on the list and then be the one to try to take him out?” she asked. “Why not just pull the trigger and forget the list?”
Nolan glanced at me. “The best we can figure it, Dilton was a dumbass.”
“Well, that tracks,” Lina said.
“He wanted Nash out of the picture but not enough to pull the trigger himself, until Duncan offered him cash. He could have been playing both sides, doing a little work for Anthony over here and a little something for Duncan over there. There’s no loyalty in dipshit criminals,” Nolan explained.
“It looks like that ties everything up in a nice neat bow,” I said. “Dilton put Nash’s name on the list. Dilton pulled the trigger twice. And Dilton ended up dead.”
Lina’s eyes narrowed. “I wish that asshole wasn’t dead so I could knee him in the balls and wax his mustache.”
“You, me, and the boss man,” Nolan agreed.
“I’m telling Nash,” Lina announced. “NDA or not, he deserves to know.”
“I assumed you would.” It worked in my favor, since then she’d have to listen to him bitch about civilians sticking their noses into law enforcement investigations instead of me.
She sighed. “Thanks for reading me in.”
“Welcome to the team,” Nolan said.
“Speaking of work,” Lina said. “Morganstern Credit Corporation was just informed they’re about to be hit with a lawsuit for skeezy debt collection practices. The attorney sends her thanks, by the way. She thinks this might turn into a class action suit.”
“Good,” I said, checking my phone for messages.
“You know, it sure is a small world,” she mused. “Sloane went out with a guy from Morganstern who tried to scam her by faking his own death.”
“Huh. No kidding,” Nolan said, looking pointedly at me.
“Are we done here?” I asked.
“I’ve got a grumpy chief of police to call,” Lina said. She was already pulling her phone out of her blazer pocket before she hit the hall.
“So not to be that guy, but now that we know who put Nash’s name on that list, are we still planning on giving the FBI a hand with their case against Hugo?” Nolan asked.
I shoved my hands in my pockets. “It wasn’t Duncan who had men tail Holly. Anthony made it personal.”
“I’ll move ‘destroy the fucker’ to the top of our to-do list,” Nolan said amicably.
“What are you doing for your wife for Valentine’s Day?” I asked suddenly.