Chapter 82

Sinead put her phone away and made sure not to bite her lip or smile or do anything with her face. She also prayed to God that she wasn’t blushing.

Jules looked over at her with a raised eyebrow. “Anything you need to tell me?”

“No?” Sinead said.

Her partner snorted softly and shook her head. They were on a cold stakeout watching Victor Barisha’s warehouse - there wasn’t really anything left to do until Marc was able to shake loose some information for them to act on, but they needed to know if those crates got moved or joined by more of them.

“What?” Sinead asked.

“You need to get laid,” Jules said.

“Fuck off,” Sinead sighed. “This again? When was the last time you got laid?”

“I’m not the one who’s letting it affect her,” Julia defended herself. “Who were you texting with just now?”

“A guy,” Sinead said. “Maybe someone who I’m going to get laid with, I don’t know yet.” That was all true - she hoped that Marc was going to use their meeting that night to fuck her, but she didn’t know. He was a tricky French fuck.

“How did you meet him?” Jules asked.

“He’s an international criminal mastermind,” Sinead said with sarcasm dripping through her voice. “We fell in love when we got into a fender bender, and we’re deciding whether we should run away together and open a bakery in his hometown, or a dog grooming business.”

“OK, fuck off and leave my love of Hallmark movies alone, first of all,” Jules chuckled. “They aren’t supposed to be good, they’re supposed to be heartwarming. Second of all, you’re supposed to run into each other while you’re both out of town so you’re not in your element. And third, bitch, you can’t distract me from the question. Who were you texting?”

“I actually was texting a guy,” Sinead said, deciding to lean into as much of the truth as she could. Jules would know if she was blatantly lying. “And I actually am thinking I might get laid.”

“Was that guy Marc?” Jules asked bluntly.

Sinead glared at her, having nothing else she could say.

Jules looked back at her pointedly, and they settled into an uncomfortable, challenging silence.

Sinead blinked first, mostly because she’d started glaring first, and Jules smirked just a little. But then they both broke the staring contest because the gate from the warehouse yard started opening.

“It’s 11:17 AM,” Jules said as she quickly scribbled in her notes. “Gate opens. Delivery truck arrives from the west. U-Haul rental, license plate G-Y-F-M-4-2-2, I think that’s an Idaho picture on the side. Looks like two men in the front, another one working inside the yard. Wait- a dark grey town car is pulling in behind it. Tesla. Ninety per cent sure that was Victor Barisha driving, couldn’t see the plates due to snow.”

“Fuck,” Sinead growled. That would have been a good reason to make a traffic stop, but she couldn’t show her face around Victor.

“Yeah, well, your fault,” Jules muttered. “Alright. Gate is closing, looks like the rental truck is pulling up to the main doors and- we’ve lost visual at 11:18 AM. Fuck. We don’t know if they’re loading or unloading.”

“Alright,” Sinead sighed. “Um - OK. I think we wait to see if the Uhaul truck leaves, then follow it and see if we have a reason to make a stop?”

“Better than nothing,” Jules agreed. A beat later she snorted softly. “Unless you’ve got plans.”