Page 62 of Overstaying His Welcome

I grimaced. While I hated all forms of death, something about the elderly and children always got to me. Women too. I think it had to do with the fact that they were so rarely able to defend themselves.

For someone to come in and take their lives so violently…

It never sat right with me.

“I’ll get on the road now. Will take me a bit of driving. Do you want me to snag someone to take with me? I know you prefer pairs.”

He nodded slowly. “Yeah. See if anyone volunteers. If not, let me know, and I’ll assign them.”

Leaving him with a quick wave, I made my way to the one person I thought might help me best. Mindy Strong was a fantastic officer. She often got overlooked because she was the only woman in our department. Unfortunately for the others, they didn’t see the power she held.

Mindy could convince a camel to buy sand in the middle of the desert. She was that persuasive.

Which meant an interrogation from her never felt like one. You’d walk away wondering when you’d get to see her again rather than questioning why you’d just told someone your entire life story.

“Strong,” I said when I reached her desk.

She looked up at me with a bland expression. “Stabler. How can I help you?”

“I need someone to go out into the field with me. Pratt had a family emergency. Possible serial. You in?”

“Yes!” Her eyes were wide as she answered. She slid on her jacket, then grabbed her phone and keys. Next came her badge.

I smiled at the precision. “Let’s go catch some bad guys, shall we?”

“Sounds like a good plan,” she agreed.

CHAPTER 20

CHANCE

By the timewe got back to the office, it was late evening and moving into night. Not that this really meant anything. NightShade’s security division worked all hours. There wasn’t a clock for the kind of shit they dealt with.

Tank was exhausted. I only knew this because he didn’t argue when I asked someone to get a wheelchair for him to ride upstairs in. Without any of the normal staff around, it wasn’t a big deal for him to come in this way. I knew he’d have hated it during normal business hours.

Once we were upstairs, I tried to steer him to his room so he could rest. Instead, he grabbed the wheels outside of the war room. The men walking with us laughed at the heated glare he shot my way.

“You want to be stubborn? Fine then. Go check it out.”

As he rolled himself through to the door Arick held open, Orion approached me. “Don’t be mad at him. He’s trusting you with lots of stuff, but he’s still the stubborn bull we all know and love.”

“I get it. I only want what’s best for him.”

“We all do,” he replied as he patted my shoulder.

I stayed in the hallway for another moment as they shuffled inside. Today had been a lot to take in. My heart ached for the experiences Tank had to go through, as well as the loss the Linds had felt when he ran away. Life wasn’t fair. What should have been a happy home was tainted by grief and a need for justice.

Still, I couldn’t help but be thankful for how it turned out. If it had gone any other way, I wouldn’t be here now. I wouldn’t have been able to see how a real family supports one another.

Watching the guys with Tank at the Lind home only furthered that knowledge.

Shouting tore me from my thoughts and drew me into the room. Tank’s arms wove through the air as he yelled at Memphis.

“Why the fuck didn’t you call to tell us? That’s something we should have known. It changes everything.”

Memphis huffed, crossing his arms. “We had other shit to take care of. I was deep in it trying to find out more about this guy. It’s hard considering how buried his life is.”

“We called Stabler to warn him though he didn’t have time to talk. He’s supposed to call when he can get away,” Archie added.

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