Page 32 of Devil's Hour
After notifying Rigby about the website, Royce followed her directive to choose a member of the cyber unit for his task force. Picking Kelsey Hightower was a no-brainer, and when he headed to her unit to bring her on board, he also found Sawyer.
So that’s where he got off to.
Sawyer and Kelsey were so caught up in conversation they didn’t notice him observing their interaction. They were two peas in a pod who had hit it off the moment they’d met, and their bond continued to grow.
Sawyer lowered his coffee cup and leaned toward her, lowering his voice so even Royce couldn’t hear him from where he stood only ten feet away. Kelsey thought whatever he said was hilarious because she started giggling, which made Sawyer smile because he loved the sound of her laughter.
“I hope you’re not talking about me.”
Two heads snapped in his direction so quickly it madehisneck hurt.
“Don’t be ridiculous,” Kels said. “Congratulations on your promotion, Sarge. I’m sorry I didn’t track you down yesterday.”
“You can make it up to me by taking me to that Mexican restaurant Sawyer hasn’t stopped talking about since his first lunch there.”
“Deal,” she said. “Let me know when you guys are free. My schedule is a lot more flexible than yours.”
“It was before today,” Royce quipped. “How eager are you to work on a top-secret task force?”
Kelsey’s eyes widened, then she looked at Sawyer. “Is he teasing me?” Sawyer just chuckled because he had no idea why Royce was there seeking her help. Kelsey narrowed her eyes at Royce. “Are you playing me right now?”
“I’m full of bullshit and shenanigans but never when it comes to work or someone else’s ambitions,” he said. “If you’re interested, Kels, you can’t discuss this case with anyone, not even your supervisor. I was hopeful you’d join me, so, I asked Rigby to call Lieutenant Delpher to inform him I’m stealing you for the foreseeable future.”
“Yes, absolutely. You can count on me, Royce.”
He smiled. “I know I can. I just wanted to point out that it might cause friction within your unit.”
Kelsey shrugged. “Seeking others’ approval about bettering myself isn’t my style. I’m so honored you considered me for the task force because there are longer-tenured techs in the group.”
“It all comes down to trust, Kels,” Royce reiterated. “Would you prefer to stay here and work in your space or join us in the MCU bullpen?”
Kelsey replied by logging off her computer and retrieving her purse from the bottom desk drawer. “I should be able to access the programs I need on any computer in the department.”
“If not, we’ll make it happen,” Royce assured her. He glanced at his watch and noted the time. “We need to get you set up and bring you up to speed quickly because Sawyer and I have an appointment with a GBI agent.”
“We do?” Sawyer asked soberly. “You’re not the only one who needs to be debriefed, Kels.”
Royce only told Kelsey what she needed to know to do her job and kept the stuff about the mayor’s personal life classified. Then he showed them both the new website with the clock ticking down.
“Oh wow,” she said, leaning closer and studying the screen. Then her fingers flew over the keyboard, logging in to her programs and doing her thing. “Let’s hope these guys are amateurs and not genius hackers like Anonymous.”
Royce glanced at his watch again and then looked at Sawyer. “We need to go. Kels, call me the minute you know something, if you have questions, or if something changes with the website. Right now, it kind of looks like a ‘coming soon’ sort of thing, but I imagine it will change when the clock hits zero.”
“You got it, Sarge,” she said without tearing her eyes away from the screen, her fingers continuing to dance over the keys.
Once in the car, Royce filled Sawyer in on what transpired in Rigby’s office—professionally and personally—as they made the short drive to the Savannah GBI office.
“That son of a bitch,” Sawyer growled.
“The Purists or Fleabag?”
“Both, but I’m furious at Felix. What did he hope to accomplish with his stunt? Did he think causing trouble for me at my new job would somehow make me regret not sleeping with him again?”
“Now might be a good time to tell me the rest of your history with Fleabag.” Royce wanted to be patient and wait for Sawyer to volunteer the information, but Felix had upped the stakes by ratting them out to Rigby.
“Felix and I go back to before I met Vic. We attended undergraduate school at Emory University. We weren’t great friends, but we were friendly. I think Felix wanted more, but I’ve never been into him like that. After graduation, we lost touch until I started investigating the Chasity Blake cold case. The press spent a lot of time making me out to be this avenging angel, but in reality, I just had old evidence retested with new techniques and re-interviewed friends, family, and witnesses. Yes, I was determined, but I didn’t invent new techniques to solve the case. I didn’t even think outside the box.”
“The camera loves your face, and the media needs a handsome hero in shining armor to be the focus of the story. The victim is never enough to hold their interest for long. Other than writing the stories about you, where does Felix come into the equation.”