Chapter 17 November
November
Burke and Tessman brought Wilson, and Rogers up to date on what Smith had found. It was late afternoon, and it was already dark out. While Wilson and Rogers conducted their surveillance, Burke and Tessman went to the hotel and checked in. Angel had gotten them two rooms, as usual.
When they received the lengthy file from Smith, they spent a couple of hours reviewing it.
They organized the locations of the pictures from Oliveira’s social media, grouping them geographically by places of interest to investigate the next day.
There were several photos taken north of Grand Rapids in a heavily wooded area that look as though it was used for training. There could be a compound there.
There were also several taken in someone’s home east of Grand Rapids, near Lansing.
Oliveira looked quite chummy with several others, men and women, at that location in several pictures taken over a six-month period.
It was worth checking out. Smith had also identified many of the people in the photos, including the home’s owner, Roderick Forsander.
The last piece of info Smith shared was that the burner phone that Oliveira called right after Burke and Tessman met with him pinged off a cell tower near Lansing, very close to the Forsander home.
Tessman’s text chimed a new message. He glanced at the screen of his phone. “It’s from Becca. There’s no one at the DVR house. Donna, her mom, and the kids can stay there.”
“DVR house, that sounds a hell of a lot better than calling it the murder house,” Burke said. “Thank her for me.”
Tessman tapped out a reply on his phone.
Wilson called shortly after they’d been through the entire file from Smith.
The hair salon owners had acted in a very suspicious manner when they left the shop.
Wilson was following at a distance but wanted to turn the surveillance over to one of them, whom the salon owners had not seen.
Tessman volunteered to relieve Wilson. He took the car keys and left.
When Wilson came to the hotel, he brought takeout for dinner and went to Burke’s room to get the keys to his and Rogers’s room.
After they touched bases on the case and Wilson looked over the photos while they ate, he made eye contact with Burke.
“Look, I apologize for getting all over you earlier about Donna, her kids, and your role.”
“It’s okay,” Burke said dismissively, knowing that Wilson probably had more to say on the subject.
“It did give me a lot to think about. I thought I could walk this line with them and that no one would get hurt if I stayed on that line. But I know you’re right.
The kids are attached and they’ll be affected if I’m suddenly out of their lives, for whatever reason.
And if I’m being completely honest, if I had to step aside, I’d worry about them after I was out of the picture.
I’d miss them and I’d want to be sure the other man would be good for them. ”
“And Donna?”
Burke shook his head. “I don’t know if she could ever be comfortable with what we do.
Her fear of losing someone to gun violence borders on insanity.
She didn’t handle my having to leave with no notice when Saxton and Dupont needed my help last Thanksgiving.
And when she found out what went down, she lost it, as in freaked the fuck out.
There was also one time while I was there that my leave was cut short and she was not too happy about that either. ”
“Maybe Rae could talk to her and help on that front, or Lassiter,” Wilson suggested.
“Here’s the thing. She said she could handle it, but she can’t. Fuck, she knows I’m armed, but on the occasions when she’s accidentally bumped my weapon, her reaction is so wrong, off the charts. She’s actually asked if I can leave my weapon at home when I go out to Virginia because of her kids.”
“I assume you told her you can’t, that you are required to be armed at all times for your job,” Wilson said.
“Yeah, I did.”
“I get her concern regarding your weapon being in the same room as her kids. She’s a civilian and doesn’t get it, doesn’t understand that no one is taking that weapon from its holster but you. I’m sure she’s worried one of her kids will get a hold of it and shoot someone.”
“Or that it will just accidentally go off and kill one of her kids,” Burke said, rolling his eyes. “You’d think the kid of a cop would have a better understanding of guns.”
“Has she ever fired one?” Wilson asked.
“No, and she says she has no desire to, and she doesn’t want her kids to even know that I’m armed,” Burke said.
“Yeah, that’s not something you can hide from them indefinitely if you spend any time with them,” Wilson agreed.
“How do you handle that with Lilly?”
“Lilly knows that I’m in law enforcement and that I carry a weapon, especially when we’re outside of the house.
All cops do. And she knows I have a safe where I lock my weapon up when I’m in the house.
I have one in the kitchen, high in the cabinet over the top of the fridge, and a second one next to the bed.
My weapon’s always within reach. I don’t feel compromised by having my weapon locked up.
A press of my finger to the biometric lock and it pops open, two additional seconds to respond if something were to go down.
I have the same biometric gun safe everyone else on the team with kids has. ”
“Is Rae afraid she’ll get a hold of it?” Burke said.
“Nah, Rae knows I’d never let that happen. Besides, we’ve both told Lilly repeatedly that it’s not a toy. I’ve also told her that she cannot ever touch a gun, period and full stop. I did promise her, though, that when she’s older, I’ll teach her gun safety and how to shoot if she wants to learn.”
“So back to your question about Donna, yeah, if she wasn’t in my life, I’d miss her too. We talk or text almost every day. There’s a close friendship there. But I survived without anyone in my life before last year, I’d be fine.”
“And what about her without you in her life?” Wilson posed.
That was why Burke continued the relationship.
“Yeah, it’s not the same for her. She’s had a shitty run with men.
They’ve all left her, proving she can’t count on any man, not that her father dying was his conscious choice to leave her like the other assholes.
I want to be the exception. I thought being just a friend would keep me in it for the long haul to prove to her that she’s worthy of a committed man in her life, but if I’m honest, we step over the friend’s line slightly from time to time. ”
“But you haven’t slept with her,” Wilson said, trying to understand if Burke was even sexually attracted to her.
“I’ve stopped it before it’s gone too far, but damn, it could very easily,” he admitted.
Wilson clasped him on the shoulder. “It seems to me you’re deep in this relationship with her, whether you want to be or not.
Denying a physical relationship isn’t keeping anyone from getting too involved like you think it is.
I think you need to stop preventing that natural progression and you’ll probably be a hell of a lot happier.
And talk to her about everything we’ve talked about.
Keep re-iterating what the job is and what that means if you two are together.
And Lassiter will tell you to call her out when she acts like she’s not handling it well. ”
Burke burst out laughing. “Jimmy Wilson, relationship expert!”
Wilson grinned. “I have some experience with a woman and a kid, you know.”
“Thanks,” Burke said sincerely.
“I’m going to my room; I'll try to get some sleep. You should do the same. I have a feeling we may be relieving Rogers and Tessman later tonight.”
“Couldn’t you get a tracker on the salon owner’s car?”
“No, it was right out front of the shop all day, and one of them was in the window at all times.”
“Do you think they made you while you surveilled them?”
“No, there’s no way they did.” He shook his head.
“They were paranoid, very paranoid. Even though we know Oliveira drove Zoe away from her dorm and he’s a Bona fide prepper, there’s definitely something wrong with the salon owners.
If they hadn’t acted as they did, we probably would have halted our surveillance. ”
After Wilson left, Burke checked the time on his phone.
It was nearly twenty-one hundred hours, much later than he thought it was.
Time had gotten away from him. He’d meant to call Donna hours ago, so he’d be able to say goodnight to the kids before they went to bed.
Unfortunately, they’d been in bed for hours.
He hit dial. “Hey,” he said when Donna answered. “How are you tonight?”
“Good. It’s been quiet, no visitors,” she reported. “The kids were hoping you would have called before they went to bed.”
“Sorry, we got hung up. Anyway, I’m glad it’s quiet. Whenever he drops by, just dial me and play the long-distance girlfriend.”
“I will. I have to wonder, though, if he buys it,” she said.
“Won’t matter in a few days. You’ll be out of there. I received confirmation on where you all can stay when you’re in town. You can borrow a friend’s three-bedroom house.”
“That is so nice of whoever owns it,” Donna said. “I promise, I’ll make sure my kids don’t mess it up or anything.”
Burke laughed. “Don’t worry about that. The place is child proof.
” He wouldn’t tell her why. “I want to give you my credit card and have you book the flight tonight. I figure you have everyone’s info to enter.
Just book one-way flights for now. We’ll figure out the return date after you’re here.
And Donna, don’t worry about the cost. Just book a direct flight that has four seats open at a time that’s convenient for you.
Jeriah’s still young enough to be considered a lap infant. ”
“Rich, it isn’t going to be cheap.”
“No, it isn’t. That’s to be expected when booking a last-minute flight at Christmas time.”