Chapter 10
Chapter Ten
Ty walked into the hole-in-the-wall diner sixty-five miles west of DC, spotting Danny Hill, the case agent in charge of their small part of the Boston field office’s much larger operation into targeting and dismantling the uptick in organized crime in the Northeast. He headed Danny’s way in the mostly empty restaurant despite the lunch hour, sitting across from his co-worker in the scarred booth. “Hey.”
“How was the drive?”
The waitress walked over in a slightly pathetic version of the clichéd pink diner outfit. “What can I get you?”
“Just a glass of iced tea. Plain, not sweet, please,” he said, not interested in eating whatever they might be serving on the menu.
“Sure thing.”
Danny sipped at his coffee as the waitress walked off. “How are things going down in Oliver Heights?”
Ty nodded. “Pretty good. Lydia and I have eaten a few meals together. There was a movie at the local park last night, so we went to see that. I’d say it’s slow, but it’s coming.”
“Has she said anything to you about the senator and her cousin?”
He shook his head. “We’re definitely not there yet.”
“It would be great if you could get her to talk. The brass is already up my ass.”
That was nothing new. The higher-ups always wanted answers yesterday. Unfortunately, it rarely worked that way. “I need to take my time—or as much as I can. She’s very protective of her family. If I push too hard, she might walk away.”
The waitress brought over his tea.
“Thanks,” Ty said.
The waitress nodded and walked off.
He nudged the glass farther to his right, not particularly interested in his drink. “For the most part, Lydia and I are sort of dating, if that’s what you want to call whatever this fucked-up situation is.”
Danny huffed out a laugh as he picked up his coffee again. “It’s definitely fucked up, but it sounds like you’re making progress.”
He nodded. “She’s stopped looking at me like she hates me, and I got her to hold my hand last night…” He shook his head, scrubbing at his face. “We’re really having this conversation right now.”
Humor twinkled in Danny’s blue eyes as he grinned. “My advice to you is to be careful. That’s one beautiful woman you’re spending time with.”
Ty shrugged. “There’s no denying that Lydia’s gorgeous. She’s funny and kind, too, but she and I are strictly business. We’re trying to build some semblance of a friendship so we can make this thing work.”
“Be careful anyway.”
He nodded, not at all worried about his current “romantic relationship.” “I’m hearing you, but Lydia and I have a job to do. When this is over, she’ll go her way, and I’ll go mine. I’m hoping I’ll be able to hop into a new case right away.”
“We’ll have to see how it all plays out.” Danny grabbed a larger yellow envelope off his bench, sliding it in Ty’s direction on the table.
Ty picked it up. “What do we have here?”
“More of the same.”
He reached in, pulling out two more pictures of Will Monroe talking to Richard Russo at The Tap Room. “Lydia’s certain that there’s nothing going on here.”
Danny huffed out another laugh. “I’m sure that’s what she wants to believe, but I don’t see how you can work in one of Boston’s top law firms and not know that Richard Russo is bad news.”
Ty frowned as he studied Will and Russo grinning as they ate their meals at the bar. “Isn’t Will a corporate attorney? It’s not like he’s spending his days in the trenches of criminal law. He’s not even a litigator.”
Danny shrugged. “It doesn’t matter. Most people know that Russo’s a bad apple.”
Ty tucked the pictures back into the envelope, sliding them Danny’s way again, not planning to mention anything about them to Lydia. They were finally getting somewhere. Bringing up Will and Richard Russo was bound to send them backward.
Danny tipped his empty cup upside down on the saucer. “Is there anything else we need to discuss?”
Ty shook his head. “Nothing’s coming to mind.”
Danny reached into his pocket, pulled a twenty out of his wallet, and tossed it onto the table. “Then I’m going home to my wife and kids.”
Ty grabbed a twenty from his wallet as well, tossing it next to Danny’s, figuring that their waitress wasn’t bound to get many more tips throughout the day.
They both stood and walked outside, heading for their vehicles.
“Keep me up to date if Ms. Monroe mentions anything.”
Ty nodded as he unlocked his truck. “If something develops, you’ll be the first person I call, but I feel confident that we won’t get our answers until we head up to Mass. If something is going on, Lydia doesn’t know anything about it.”
“That’s good information to have,” Danny said, opening his door. “I’ll reach out in a couple of days, and we’ll figure out when we want to meet up again.”
Ty nodded, opening his door as well. “Sounds good.”
“See ya,” Danny said, wasting no time closing his door and turning over his engine. He made fast work of backing up and tossing up a wave before he took a right, heading back toward the city.
Ty got in and left, glancing at the dashboard clock as he drove toward Route 66, noting that a good chunk of his afternoon was now free. He would be back in Oliver Heights in an hour and ten minutes, which left plenty of time to give Lydia a call.
Maybe they could take a walk and grab an ice cream cone at the stand if she didn’t already have plans. Or maybe they could meet up for dinner, so she could pepper him with a million more of her endless questions.
He smiled because even though they were still figuring things out, he couldn’t deny that the last couple of nights hadn’t been half bad.
He chuckled now, remembering the many times that Lydia had laughed while they watched their movie and the way she’d turned her head and grinned at him when they both attempted to reach into the box of popcorn, then the bag of gummy bears at the same time.
But his smile faded as he realized that Lydia tended to be on his mind a lot, whether she needed to be or not.
He glanced at the clock again as he thought of Danny’s warning, figuring that an afternoon by himself wasn’t a bad way to go, either. Grabbing a workout at the gym was definitely an option.
He and Lydia were doing okay. When he’d backed out of her driveway last night, they’d left things on a good note. Dinner tomorrow night was good enough. Seeing her tomorrow would be soon enough.