Page 27 of Mongrels United
“I had a busy few years around then,” Nash said shortly. “I didn’t notice much beyond my own affairs for a while.”
Grady nodded, as if she had known that. But she could not have, unless she had burrowed deep into his personal records. Or someone else had handed her a report on him.
He couldn’t have made that much of an impact on her. Or had he?
He pushed away the intriguing question, to focus on the one she wanted answered. “The problem is, you see, if I’m frank and open about the Bellish, other people get hurt.”
“You’re hurting yourself by not answering,” Lieutenant Westcott said. “You’re the son of the very last Skinwalker, Hyson. What would your father think of you impeding an investigation that will save lives? He risked his neck every time he walked outside, just so we would be safer in here.”
Nash had to breathe steadily once more. He considered Westcott, his gaze steady. “Believe me, Lieutenant, when I say that attempting to use my father as leverage is exactly the wrong thing to try with me today.”
Westcott sat back. Her expression didn’t change, but he knew he’d perplexed her. She had assumed that standard emotional appeals would work with him.
Grady put her hand on the table once more. “The lieutenant intends no offence. We’re not here to strong arm you, Hyson—”
“You couldn’t, even if you wanted to,” Nash retorted.
Grady returned his gaze, hers just as steady. Westcott merely crossed her arms. Neither of them had backed down by a centimeter.
“Will you tell us where you got the Bellish?” Grady said.
Nash sat back. “I’ll have to think about that.”
Westcott snorted. “He’s playing around. Let me arrest him, Chief.Thenwe’ll get answers.”
“No,” Grady said flatly. Her gaze didn’t shift away from Nash. “Why do you need to think about it?”
“I don’t need to think about it. I just need time.”
“To warn people, perhaps?”
“There’s not much point in that, is there? They can’t leave the ship.”
Grady smiled. “True. “
Her smile slid into his middle and strummed intangible tension wires that reached into his extremities and made them tingle. The smile was genuine. She was laughing at her own short-sightedness. The unexpected touch of humility and honesty had unlocked his defenses.
The unexpected, pure human touch allowed him to say, “I want time and you want answers. I think we can compromise—”
“We’re not here to make deals,” Wescott ground out. “You threatened Rim. Threatened his partner, if he dared speak up. If Read wasn’t sitting here, I’d arrest you right now.”
Nash jerked his thumb over his shoulder. “That’sAnnyout there?” He considered. “Sonotwhat I thought Rim was protecting…”
“You didn’t threaten her, then,” Grady said. It was a statement, not a question.
“Rim was so hopped up about standing within spitting distance of Bellish,anythingI said would have sounded threatening to him,” Nash replied. “He has an overblown opinion about my role in his life.”
“I’m damn sure he doesn’t,” Westcott said, but it was more to herself, than to Nash.
Nash looked at Grady. “I need time. You need answers.” He reached into his jacket and paused when Westcott launched to her feet. He held up his other hand toward her. “It’s not a weapon.”
“The scanners wouldn’t have let you enter the station if you’d had one,” Grady assured him. “The lieutenant is highly trained, with quick responses.”
Grady, though, hadn’t twitched, he realized.
He pulled out the brown bag and put it in the middle of the table.
Both women stared at it as if it was made of metal and irradiated with gamma spectrum waves.
