Page 67 of Overstaying His Welcome

“Good.” I gave Tank a look. “Do you need to ask Stabler anything else?”

“Not right now.”

His reply was all the other man needed to hear. “You know how to reach me. I’ve got to go now.”

As soon as the call disconnected, he reached for the device again. I held back from giving it up so quickly.

“What do you need it for now? Who else is there to call?”

Tank huffed. “Ricardo, for one. I was supposed to have checked in by now. The confession of my past kind of railroaded everything. Plus, I need to check on my brother. If anything has happened to him too…”

I placed my hand over his. He needed to focus or else he’d panic all over again. With him finally coming back to himself, I didn’t want to risk it.

“Let me call him. You can talk and ask questions. Let me lead for you right now, ok?”

He shook his head. “I’m not weak.”

“No, baby. You’ve never been weak a day in your life. But sometimes you have to let others help. That’s all I want to do.”

His eyes held mine. An eternally long moment passed before he nodded.

“Call him. I need to know. Both of them, please.”

I dialed Ricardo first since I knew he’d likely have good news for us. He answered on the second ring. “What the fuck, dude? Where have you been hiding?”

“At the hospital,” I replied. “And now that we’re back in the office, I’m helping him out. This is Chance.”

“Chance?”

“Yeah, his partner.”

Ricardo laughed. “Tank has a boyfriend? Oh, this is interesting. I can’t wait to hear how this happened.”

“Now isn’t the time, Ricardo. I need to know if you found anything from the search I asked you to run. Anything at all.”

“Ugh! You’re no fun. I guess if you want to talk shop, then we can for now.” He paused, the sound of echoing steps coming across the line.

My guess was he was getting somewhere private. I appreciated him doing so. Especially if he actually had helpful intel.

“To answer your original question, I didn’t find anything. This guy has his shit sealed up tight. Every trail I went down came to a dead end. In some cases, quite literally.”

“What do you mean?” I asked before Tank could.

“I mean the companies and or names listed on the accounts were people long gone. If I had to guess, it’s identity theft level stuff. He’s using people that can’t speak up to complain to funnel his funding. It also means we can’t really pin him down.”

Tank jumped at the news. “Can you send the names you found to Memphis? Maybe there’s an overlap somewhere. We’ve had a few new developments since I first reached out.”

“No shit!” Ricardo said. “You’re in a relationship now. What the hell, man? I figured you’d be single for life.”

“He hasn’t been single for a long, long time, Ricardo. You were all just too oblivious to notice.”

At my words, he started sputtering. I ended the call before he could pry too much. Tank would deal with him when he had more time. For now, I knew it was best to get his brother on the line.

With the way the Linds were killed, it was possible someone could make the connection. Bellport was across the country. Hopefully, we weren’t too late.

“Yes, brother dear?” The sassy voice answered.

Tank sighed deeply. “Oh, thank goodness.”

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