Page 85 of Sunflower

Marcy glanced at me, then back at Leland. She chewed her plush bottom lip a little before she sighed. “He’ll be okay. He’s asleep at the moment and will probably stay that way for the next twelve hours or more.” She shrugged slightly. “I’ve been told in the past that suddenly having other people in your head can be exhausting. We have someone on their way to help him adjust and get trained. They should be here later tomorrow.”

“Good.”

Tama and Bailey were the next to arrive, entering the interrogation room and standing in opposite corners.

Leland flinched when he saw Tama, leaning as far away from him as he could get without falling out of his chair.

Tama simply stood there, his fierce face unreadable and his thick arms crossed in front of him.

Silently, Bailey crept up behind Leland while his focus was on Tama. He leaned down so he could speak directly into Leland’s ear. “He’s not the one you need to be worried about, Leland,” Bailey said at a normal speaking volume, but because he was speaking so closely next to Leland’s ear, it must have seemed like he’d been shouting.

Leland flinched, shifting the chair he was sitting on to the side in his attempt to get away from Bailey.

Chuckling wickedly, Bailey flicked the top of Leland’s ear before he stepped back into his designated corner, while Leland glared at him and rubbed his ear.

“I have rights, you fucks,” Leland said angrily, looking from Bailey to a stoic Tama and back again.

“Not in here, you don’t,” Bailey responded with an impassive shrug as he leaned back into the corner, relaxing with his hands firmly in his pants pockets.

Silence fell in the room for long minutes while we all waited, with Leland growing progressively more agitated with the fact that Tama kept staring at him without moving a single muscle.

Pippa and Dad were the next to arrive with Pippa opening the door to our room and ushering Dad in. He came to stand next to Callum and me while Pippa sat down next to Marcy.

“Where’s Erin?” I asked.

Without taking his eyes off Leland, Dad responded, “She’ll be interrogating him with George.”

I raised an eyebrow at that but remained quiet. I’d seen hints earlier about how different she was professionally compared to the fiery personality she had at home. When working, she was almost glacial in her demeanor, while at home, she was fiery and fun, and everything in between. I was curious to see how that would translate in an interrogation environment.

“They’ve worked together like this in the past many times,” Pippa said absently while she fussed with the PC and screen in front of her and Marcy. “They use footage of some of their best interrogations as part of our training.”

Huh. That meant I’d likely get to see them too when I worked through my own training.

I was broken out of my musings when the door to the interrogation room opened, and Erin and George walked in. George carried a thin manila folder in his hand, tapping it against his thigh with every step he took. Erin carried a large bottle of water.

“Has he been given any food or water?” I asked. We’d all been here for hours and had nibbled on things as we went from call tocall earlier, drinking copious amounts of coffee when we needed more energy. The way Leland had been sitting earlier made me think he hadn’t, but I could have been wrong.

“No,” Marcy replied crisply.

I nodded shallowly, wondering if the appearance of the water bottle made Erin thegood copto George’sbad.

After glancing longingly at the water, Leland’s focus narrowed on George, his eyes almost closing in fury until I was sure there was no way he could see clearly anymore. Right there in front of me was clear evidence of how much he loathed George.

“Hello, Leland. It’s been a while, hasn’t it?” George began, pleasant but with a hint of a bite to his tone, as he settled into the seat opposite Leland. Erin relaxed into the remaining seat, placing the bottle of water on the ground next to her. “It appears you’ve been busy.”

Leland sneered. “Like you’d know.”

Shrugging, George stated the time, his name and ID out loud. Erin followed suit, reeling her ID off like it was muscle memory. Even after so many years away, it probably was. Bailey spoke up last, announcing both his and Tama’s names and IDs.

“Tama doesn’t talk much, does he?” I said to Callum.

He chuckled, as did Marcy and Pippa. “He can actually be a bit of a chatterbox.”

Huh. I raised an eyebrow but stayed silent, preferring to zone back in on what was happening in front of us, rather than wondering at the enigma that Tama presented himself to be.

Erin reached across the table and rested her hand palm up. “Please take my hand, Mr Buckner.”

“Why?” Leland’s eyes snapped to hers. “So you can screw with my head like that fucker did earlier?” He pointed at Tama. “No, thanks. I’d like to keep my brain-cells precisely where they are, thank you.”

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