Chapter 9: Agents and Interviews

Delaney glared straight at the plainclothes State Police Senior Special Agent. After two hours of bureaucratic bullshit, she was getting more than a little testy. I would have probably been more annoyed myself, but I had the amusement of watching the agent trying to figure out how to deal with Delaney.

Some of his training had been specific to dealing with minors, and I had to choke down laughter every time he tried to appeal to her as if she was a normal teenage girl.

He was one of those clean, button-up types — one of those quarterback and prom-king types that seem to pop up in high-level law enforcement. The exact kind of guy that instantly grated on Delaney’s nerves. He smiled in what I think he meant to be a friendly manner but just managed to look condescending. “Just relax. We’ll keep you safe.”

Delaney’s face twitched, then settled, and I was impressed with her self-control. For just about two seconds. “Safe?” She snorted. “Safe? With you idiots? Seriously? Holy shit. I should just throw myself off the nearest roof.”

He looked over at me. “Do you think you could...”

I echoed her snort and shook my head. “No ... no. Keep going. You’re doing great. Really. I think she’s warming up to you.” I gave him what I hoped was an encouraging two thumbs up.

The door popped open, and Tara walked in, gripping her briefcase like a weapon.

The agent looked up. “I’m afraid you can’t be...”

“Tara Dawes. I’m here as Mister and Miss Dawes’ attorney.”

He blinked as she handed him her card. “I’m Senior Special Agent Benjamin Stratton.” He glanced at the card. “Miss ... Dawes?”

She gave a terse smile. “Yes, we’re related, and yes, it is perfectly legal.”

“Normally, victims don’t need attorneys present.”

“Nothing about these two is normal.” Tara glanced at me, then Delaney.

He looked at her card. “Lodestone? We had a briefing on your organization. High-powered charity that fights human trafficking, right? What are you doing here?”

“That’s my day job. This has nothing to do with that. The card is just so you have my contact information. These two are eternally ongoing pro-bono.”

“We’ve been at this for two hours and my patience is starting to wear a little thin. They aren’t exactly cooperative.”

Tara choked out a laugh and shook her head. “Only two hours? They haven’t even gotten started. Just wait.” She looked over at me with a raised eyebrow, an unspoken question.

“We’ve told him everything we know. We just don’t know shit. 2008 Chrysler M300 in dark blue. No plates that I could see. Revolver. Magnum. I’m guessing a .357, but they should have the slugs by now. Six shots into Delaney’s door from about four feet away. That’s it. No matter how many times they ask, that’s it. Maybe if they rolled up the shooter instead of the victims, we’d know a fuck-load more.”

Stratton sighed. “I’m more interested in why.”

“If your people had the sense to go after the fucker, maybe we’d know why.” Delaney outright sneered at him.

His mouth tightened into a grim line. “I should probably separate these two...”

Tara cut him off and held up an open hand. “Don’t. Just don’t go down that road. She has to have a guardian present. Besides, the last time a special agent separated these two, Delaney broke his nose, stole his car and crushed it in a car crusher. I think it took her less than fifteen minutes. If you keep them together, she kind of behaves.” She gave Delaney a withering stare that had absolutely no impact. “Kind of.”

The special agent stopped and slowly looked us over with dawning suspicion. “Wait. These two are part of Stein’s fucking mess?”

“Not anymore.” I looked him dead in the eye. “Stein doesn’t have a mess anymore.”

Delaney cocked her head to one side. “Last time I saw him, he was pretty fucking dead. Big fucking chunk of his brain was blown out.”

I watched as he thought it through. “That explains why you had boilerplate armor in the doors.”

“We’re kind of cautious these days.”

“You think this shooting is related to Stein?”

“If it is, I don’t know how.”

He held a tablet up and looked at it. “I never really bought into that whole ‘Stein lost it and became obsessed with a kid’ story. He was a jerk, but he wasn’t nuts. I could see him doing shit for money though...”

He fell silent for a moment and scanned whatever was on his tablet.

Delaney’s smile twitched darkly. She suddenly stood up and began checking her pockets frantically.

I watched her for a second. Asking was a bad idea, but not asking would probably be worse. “What the fuck are you are doing?”