Page 37 of Duplicity

His new boss wanted to put that all in jeopardy.

Bob said, “Regardless of how the PD feels about me, Vanguard can help add resources so the police department isn’t using theirs.” The older man shrugged.

Simon spun to him. “If the police department has a problem with you, then they have a problem with the whole of Vanguard.”

At the edge of his vision, Romeo shifted. He did have a problem with Bob—and Vanguard.

That wasn’t good.

It also wasn’t Simon’s job to convince Romeo they were good people. The guy would either see the truth and believe it, or he would continue believing the worst with no evidence. Yet another prejudice? Romeo Alvarez seemed like an interesting guy with a whole lot of opinions that he might do better to keep to himself.

Bob shifted slightly. “We all know what we’re up against.”

Cat raised her hand. “I don’t.”

Simon said, “Bob made a mistake, and he did his time. Either the system works or it doesn’t, and what are cops even doing arresting people and forcing them before a judge if there’s a flaw in rehabilitating criminals?”

Bob looked at Cat and said, “It wasn’t a violent crime. It was police corruption.”

Cat said, “Ah. I wonder if you knew our father, Warren Alvarez.”

Bob nodded. “We have lunch once a month now at the diner on Fifth Street. Your father is a good man.”

Romeo spun around and wandered off, pulling out his phone.

Bob asked, “Are you sure you’re all right?”

Cat nodded. “Thank you.”

“Let me know if there’s anything Vanguard can do for you.” Bob walked away also.

Simon wanted to tug Cat against his side and give her a hug. Instead, he glanced at the clock. Only minutes before lunch was over. “Did the person you met with give you any intel?”

“Maybe the person that convinced Arlo to testify.”

Simon’s brows rose.

“He gave me the name Hayden.”

FIFTEEN

Cat didn’t need her brother wading into her life, despite the fact that he did it frequently. If he hadn’t shown up so quickly after she’d pulled over, she would have called dispatch and asked for a black-and-white to her location.

Since she’d been on the phone with Romeo at the time that paint splashed across her windshield, there had been no point. Cat could easily file the report later. No one needed to miss another call that could be more important just to take down information from her.

Then again, given the way he reacted, maybe she should have called dispatch and told her brother not to come.

She shook her head. “I really can’t believe Romeo sometimes. I’m sorry. He can get hotheaded.”

Simon glanced up at her. “Huh?”

What had his thoughts so occupied? Between Bob, her brother, her lunch meeting, and what happened to her after, it could be any of those things that Simon was currently absorbed with. “What is it?”

Hopefully, it wasn’t about her brother. Romeo wanted to protect her, and the idea she was even close to regular police duties seemed to flip a switch in him. He believed in the policedepartment. He lived by the sense of justice they’d been raised to put their faith in, almost as much as the Bible, and it ran blue when he bled for the department.

Like when he’d been blown up a couple of years ago. Some incident in a house involving the FBI here in Benson, one of whom was Bob’s daughter. That had taken her a second to piece together. The connection between Bob, the FBI, the detective Lucas, and Vanguard.

Romeo probably liked that she was as much out of the loop as she found herself to be. But Cat would ask the questions so she wasn’t blindsided by things she should be privy to.

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