Page 36 of Nightcrawler

“What? It was kind of snotty, that’s all I’m sayin’, darlin’,” Jarrett replied, looking at his husband.

“Sorry,” Miguel said. He looked right at Cassidy. “Itwaskind of snotty and I didn’t mean it to sound that way. I just didn’t like anyone taking a pot shot at me or him.” He nodded at me, sitting across the table.

“It’s fine,” Cassidy said. “So, moving on to other business.” He stopped when the waitress walked over holding a tray of drinks. She began setting them down in front of everyone before turning to me and smiling brightly. “Can I get you something to drink?”

“Iced tea. Thank you.”

“Good.” She pulled a pad out of her apron. “Is everyone ready to order?”

“Pie!” Jarrett’s hand shot up.

Thayne elbowed him. “Really? Didn’t the doctor tell you to watch your sugar?”

“Ow!”Jarrett said, rubbing his arm where Thayne had nailed him with a sharp elbow. “She said I should watch the pounds. She said nothin’ about sugar. You make me look like a pussy.” He looked up at the waitress. “Sorry.”

“It’s okay. We do have a sugar free pumpkin pie which my customers swear by,” she offered.

Jarrett looked down at the menu. “I don’t see that on here.”

“It’s on the back, in the senior citizen section, next to the early-bird dinners. Right there,” she said, pointing helpfully.

Cassidy burst out laughing and so did Mike. I grinned at the look on Jarrett’s face as he flipped them all off before turning the menu over. He made a show of looking over the whole back of the menu and then pointed to it. “Yeah, I guess I’ll have that. I’ll take it with a side of Ben Gay and a hernia truss, please.” He grinned up at her and she laughed. Everyone else did too. Even Miguel’s icy façade had melted, and he was watching Evans with amusement painted all over his face. When Thayne leaned in and kissed Jarrett’s cheek, he blushed before leaning his head on his husband’s shoulder. She took all our orders for dessert since it was between lunch and dinner, and then left the table.

“So, tell us about this bad guy you’re supposed to be chasing,” Thayne said after she walked away.

“He’s a big guy,” Miguel said.

Jarrett snorted. “Look around.”

I looked around the table. Jarrett and Thayne were the tallest men there, on par with Miguel and myself at around six-three, and Cassidy was only an inch or so shorter than that. Mike Williams had to be about six foot and everyone but Mike, who was probably in his mid to late fifties, was in tremendous shape.

“Connor Ray Howell Jr. is six-nine and tops off at a little over 300 pounds which is unusual since he’s a big fan of crank,” Miguel said.

“Ooh,”Jarrett said, biting a bent finger. “Beefy.” He looked at Thayne. “We should call Mac Mac Mac.”

Everyone but Miguel laughed. He turned to look at me but shrugged. I smiled and looked back at them. “Who’s Mac Mac Mac?”

“Mac McCallahan is our buddy in the FBI. He’s close to six-eight and more than 250 pounds of pure muscle. He’s a former Green Beret and is highly skilled. His husband, Nico Devecchio, works on our team at the ATFE,” Thayne said.

“Nico’s kind of awesome,” Jarrett drawled with a big grin. “He’s one of them bona fide genius-types…has an eidetic memory. I ain’t never seen nothin’ like it.”

“They sound capable,” Miguel said with a smile. He looked over at me. “I’m glad Raven called you all to help out.”

They all nodded as the waitress returned and started setting down our desserts before topping off my tea and my friends’ coffees. I didn’t indulge in dessert very often but I hadn’t eaten anything except the eggs Miguel cooked for me this morning, soI’d followed his lead and ordered a homemade, chocolate fudge cake topped with whipped cream that looked so good, I thought I was going to die. My fork sank into it like butter and as soon as I brought it to my mouth, the scent filled my senses. The taste exploded on my tongue, and I was pretty sure my eyes rolled back in my head. It was incredibly good. We ate and drank our coffees for a few minutes before coming up for air and sitting back in our chairs. Everyone turned to look at Miguel.

“So, tell us more about this goliath fugitive you’re supposed to be going after and why law enforcement isn’t already on him,” Cassidy said. “I mean, I understand why there’s a bounty out for this guy and why you want to cash in on it, but there has to be some reason no one has caught up to him yet.”

“He’s working down at the Long Beach docks as a longshoreman,” Miguel said, “most likely under an assumed name.”

“But dock workers are all unionized,” Thayne said. “How is it possible he’s getting work without a card?”

“I’d guess they’re easy enough to forge,” Mike said, looking at his partner.

“They could be but that’s not the problem as I read it,” Miguel replied. “This monster baddie is a career criminal. You should see his rap sheet. It reads like a novel of bad acts beginning when he was very young with petty crimes and then gradually getting worse. He’s currently out on parole for aggravated assault and rape. He beat a dealer so badly he ended up in the hospital and then raped the dealer’s girlfriend, viciously beating her too. He was sentenced to eight years but you know the system. He did less than half his time up in Corcoran and came out even meaner than before.”

“So, he’s probably back to being an addict too?” Jarrett asked.

Miguel nodded. “He loves meth and since he’s clearly prone to violence already, you understand what that combination means for anyone going after him. I think he’s working as a longshoreman on intimidation alone. If he is somehow threatening the foreman or bullying the other men he works with, he could be there earning his pay just like everyone else. He wouldn’t necessarily have to be working with a forged union card if he knows what buttons to push down there. And I’m sure his parole officer hasn’t pushed the drug test issue. I just got the file from my boss, Jamie, a few hours ago and I haven’t formulated a plan on how to go about putting him in restraints.” He looked over at me and furrowed his brow. “Raven jumped the gun by calling you all in.”

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