TimeBlink: Dragonfly by MJ Mumford

Author:MJ Mumford [Mumford, MJ]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Tiny Blue Dragonfly Press

Chapter Nineteen

September 11, 2024, 6:50 a.m.

Agent Jimmy Lopez

Sam drew in a long, deliberate breath of the salty air, maintaining his attention on a band of pink clouds on the horizon. When he turned to Lopez, his expression was serious. “All right. You win. It’s obvious we need to start working on this thing as a team.”

“Weren’t we already?”

“I haven’t been totally up front with you about the Christopher situation.”

“No shit.”

Lopez watched a middle-aged couple amble by, their laughter punctuating the quiet morning. The lighthearted sound made him long for his wife, Darlene, back in DC. By now, Darlene would be heading out the door to her part-time gig at the garden center down the street, having taken Buster, their old, decrepit bulldog out for a last-minute pee. God, he hoped Buster would still be there to greet him when this was all over.

Sam waited until the happy couple was out of earshot before addressing Lopez again. “Syd has this ex-boyfriend who’s been getting increasingly unstable. Uttering threats, driving by her properties. Telling her he’s going to sue her for custody now that she’s under investigation for terrorism. You know, all the typical intimidation tactics. The jerk’s not even Christopher’s father.”

“I wasn’t aware she had an ex…other than the asshole who abducted her sister. What was his name? Viktor?”

“No, not Viktor. He’s in prison. This is someone else.”

“She doesn’t have much success in the love department.”

“Not at all. It’s terrible what she’s going through with this loser.”

“Sounds like something your team might be able to help her with.”

“I tried to talk her into making a formal complaint—getting a restraining order, the whole nine yards. But she was adamant, no cops. Well, except for me. And Jarett, of course.”

Lopez licked his lips and waited for Sam to continue digging his hole.

“She doesn’t trust the process. She’s been burned by the system before and wanted to handle things off the books. To be honest, I can’t really blame her.”

“To be honest? Damnit, this is bullshit, and you know it.”

“It’s not. She just wanted to put the kid in hiding for a little while…a month, tops, and see if she couldn’t persuade this dick to lay off.”

“I don’t know. It’s still not sitting right with me.”

“Look, I told her I was going to take it to the next level if things didn’t simmer down. She wasn’t happy about it, but she agreed. Just give her some time.”

“So you lied to me. About why she hadn’t reported the boy missing.”

“No, I didn’t. I said she didn’t want to end up in the limelight again. It would take one reporter on a slow news day to blow this up.”

Lopez scratched his chin, wishing the detective would just come the fuck clean, but it seemed that wasn’t going to happen today. He decided not to point out the obvious: that if what Sam was saying was true, then why hadn’t the FBI noticed this stalker jerk hanging around? No, it was just more evidence of Sam’s duplicity and that he was doing his best to cover up the Brixton kid’s disappearance.

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