Skin Puppet by Jeffery Craig

Author:Jeffery Craig [Craig, Jeffery]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Jeffery Craig Books
Published: 2017-04-27T23:00:00+00:00

***

“That was Nancy,” Thorton told him when he put down the phone. “Feds are here, and Kelly wants us in his office ten minutes ago.”

Mitchell stood from his desk and grabbed the case file. “We’d better break the sound barrier, then. Maybe we can turn back time.”

“I always liked that song,” Thorton commented as they threaded their way through the jumble of occupied desk, showing his appreciation by humming a few bars.

Nancy looked up as they approached and shook her head in warning of dangerous waters ahead. “Go on in, Detectives. He and his guest are waiting.”

As they entered, a tall man clad in a stereotypical black suit stood from his chair in front of Kelly’s desk. Even given the suit, he looked more like outdoorsman than a Fed. His dark, wavy red hair was brushed back from his forehead and the sides were liberally streaked with gray. His outdoorsy tan set off hazel eyes, and Mitchell noticed a generous sprinkling of freckles across the bridge of his nose.

“Introduce yourselves, dammit!” The Chief barked. “Don’t you have any manners?”

They hurriedly obliged, and Mitchell found himself wondering why the small, almost private smile suddenly appeared on the agent’s face. He clasped the offered hand as he introduced himself, and Mitchell decided then and there this guy might not be so bad.

“Nancy!” The Chief shouted. “Drag another chair in here, then shut the door. Hold all calls.”

Once the chair materialized, Mitchell felt tiny beads of sweat gather underneath his arms when Chuck unexpectedly turned the responsibility for the briefing over to him. He opened his files and passed around the notes he’d prepared just that morning. Nancy shut the door with a soft click, and he went about the business of bringing Special Agent Edmondson up to speed.

An hour and a half later, the door opened to let them out for air. “Shut the door behind you,” was Kelly’s only farewell.

They started toward the hall, but Edmondson stopped them. “Hold on guys. I need a second.” Knowing he all but owned their asses until this was put to bed, they complied.

“Hey, Nancy, I need to commandeer a conference room, and Chief Kelly says you can make that happen. I’m going to need a data line, a printer, and a couple of secure phone lines. Any idea how long that’ll take?”

“I’ll take care of blocking out the room right now. It should already have a data port, as well as wireless. The printer will just take a few minutes, but the phone lines will take longer. It might be tomorrow morning before it’s done, but I’ll try to get them installed by this afternoon. There’s a whiteboard in there.” She opened her bottom desk drawer and pulled out a small box and handed it to him. “Here are some markers. Hide them someplace, because they disappear faster than coffee around here.”

“Thanks. Speaking of coffee, any chance of getting a coffee pot in there?”

“There’s a big one in the breakroom.”

“Would you drink that crap? One thing I’ve learned—cop coffee sucks no matter where I go.

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