Chapter 18
Coop drove with one hand on the wheel, the other gripping the gearshift, his mind cycling faster than the engine.
He’d left her at first light. She’d been half awake when he kissed her goodbye, her fingers curling around his wrist, not wanting him to go. He hadn’t wanted to. That was the problem.
After years of keeping work and anything that mattered separated by a clean line, Erica didn’t blur that line. She erased it.
He replayed what she’d told him, plugging Kedrov into the vision even though she hadn’t seen him. It wasn’t hard. He was only beginning to grasp how vast his crime network was. But how did Shannon Carter figure into it? Was the vision a warning?
Her fragmented visions left too few answers. The questions kept grinding in his head as the station came into view and he parked.
O’Reilly was already at his desk, shuffling papers with obvious annoyance. No one he knew minded the job, except for all the paperwork. And the junior partner got stuck with most of it as a rite of passage.
He kept his tone easy. “Good turnout yesterday.”
“You mean for my game-winning walk-off double?” he smirked.
“What else?” Coop said dryly.
O’Reilly whistled an off-key version of “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” as he sorted the stack of forms in front of him.
He took his good mood as an opening. “Did Shannon enjoy her first Ranger Roundup?”
He grunted, shaking his head. “McNabb’s ridiculous name for it. Yeah. She had fun. Said she liked everyone.”
“Did she say anything else?”
That got his attention. “She said Erica felt sick. Is she okay?”
“She’s fine. A little tired from everything.”
“You two are getting close,” he observed. “Think that’s a good idea?”
“Maybe not. But it’s too late now.”
O’Reilly huffed a laugh. “Understood.”
“You and Shannon seem tight.”
The shift was immediate. His shoulders stiffened, and his expression snapped tight. “Why are you asking about her?”
“No reason.”
“Then why do you keep circling back to Shannon?”
Coop didn’t answer.
O’Reilly stiffened visibly. “You think I’m the leak.”
“If I thought that, we wouldn’t be talking like this.”
“Is that supposed to make me feel better?”
“It’s the truth,” he said, meaning it. He trusted his instincts, and O’Reilly wasn’t the type to leak intel, intentionally or otherwise. If he had a weak seam, Coop would’ve seen it long before now.
O’Reilly shot to his feet and insisted, “I didn’t talk to that reporter.”
“I didn’t say you did.”
“You didn’t have to.”
He kept his tone even. “Justin, I’m trying to figure out why you’re suddenly dating a woman who works for a U.S. Senator, who sits on the Judiciary Committee, able to investigate organized crime.”
“What the hell does that mean?”
“How well do you know her?”
“Well enough,” O’Reilly snapped.
“Do you?” he challenged quietly. “She looked tight with Burnside the other day.”
“She told me last night she has been working on a special project for him. It’s confidential.”
It seemed too convenient. “She never mentioned it before?”
“She didn’t think it mattered.”
“Then, why tell you now? Is it because she saw me with Agent Morgan at Burnside’s office?”
O’Reilly’s expression hardened. “You’re putting more stock in your new girlfriend than in mine.”
“Erica has proven herself more than once. Has Shannon?”
Uncertainty crossed his face, but he shoved past it. “You think I’m too stupid to know if I’m being used.”
“That’s not what I think at all.”
“Then, spell it out,” O’Reilly demanded.
“I think someone may be pulling her strings. I don’t know why. But if that’s true, you could end up as collateral damage.”
O’Reilly stared at him, breathing hard.
“I’m not accusing you,” he continued, quieter now. “I’m trying to protect you.”
“You don’t know her.”
“Can you say you do? Really?”
Silence hung heavily between them.
O’Reilly grabbed a file off his desk. “I’ve got to go check on something.”
He didn’t storm out, but he walked fast, spine rigid.
Coop powered up his computer, fingers tapping as he waited for the login screen to blink on. “Let’s see who else I can piss off this morning.”
He searched public records until he found Darren Holt’s number. It rang to voicemail.
“This is Lieutenant Cooper with the Rangers. We need to talk sooner rather than later. Call me. I’d rather not have to track you down today.”
After hanging up, he scrubbed a hand over his face. “I need coffee.”