“Oh, please.” Casey rolled her eyes. “Your life is about as private as a celebrity’s.”
“Touché. Okay, I had a great night. Now, what were you going to call me about?”
Casey filled him in on what he needed to do regarding the Lexingtons.
“It’ll be in place this morning. What else?”
“Morning.” Marc strolled over, interrupting them and glancing at Ryan. “Did you do the gym today, or were you too wiped out?”
“I don’t get wiped out.” Ryan didn’t even blink. “Just recharged. I’ll go for a run later and the gym tonight. Okay by you?”
Marc chuckled.
“What happened with that sleazy kid you were eyeballing last night?” Ryan asked.
“What sleazy kid?” Casey turned to Marc.
“There was a young guy hanging out near Conrad’s place,” Marc replied briefly. “I got a bad feeling from him. Turns out he was about to mug a woman and snatch her purse. I took care of him.”
“What do you mean, you took care of him?” Casey knew there was something missing. She just didn’t know what. And she wasn’t happy with the expression on Marc’s face. It was too intense. He looked...emotionally involved.
“I roughed him up a little. Scared him a lot. Ended the problem.”
That definitely was an understatement. When Marc spoke in short, terse phrases like that, the situation was worse than he was saying.
“Did you do any permanent damage?” she asked, folding her arms across her chest.
Marc shrugged. “Maybe I choked him a little too hard. He’ll live.”
“What did this woman look like?”
“Is this an interrogation?” Marc asked. “She was a woman. Mid-thirties, dark hair—I couldn’t make out her taste in clothing in the dark.”
That description was enough. And it explained why Marc had gone overboard in his actions.
Now was not the time to get into this.
“Getting back to what we were discussing, I was just filling Ryan in,” Casey said instead. “I’m about to call Conrad and then Madeline. Time to make the necessary arrangements to set up a meeting with Conrad. We need to know more about what happened during Ronald’s surgery to understand whether that could be a motive for targeting Conrad.” She gave Marc a questioning look. “Wanna drive up to Crest Haven with me?”
“Absolutely.” He didn’t hesitate for an instant.
“Good. Also, I’ll be making that phone call to Janet Moss. Hopefully our lunch will happen in a day or two.”
“What about Bitch Doctor?”
Ryan blinked. “Bitch Doctor? Ah, you must mean the charming Sharon Gilding.”
“None other. Marc will explain my plan to you. It involves Claire. I need to talk to her.” Another pointed look at Ryan. “Any idea when she’ll be coming in?”
“I’m here.” Claire walked over and joined the group, looking puzzled. “Why are we meeting on the sidewalk?”
“Good point.” Casey punched in the alarm code and opened the front door. “Let’s go up to the conference room.” She walked past Emma’s empty desk and headed for the stairs. The other team members followed suit.
“This will be a quick update to get us all on the same page,” Casey said as they rounded the landing. “Followed by a one-on-one between Claire and me.”
“Good morning, Casey, Marc, Ryan, Claire and Hero,” Yoda greeted them politely as they opened the conference room door. “The room is set at seventy-two degrees. Is that sufficient?”
“Perfect, Yoda.”