“No. That’s not it at all.” Fay stepped to the side, giving the medical examiner’s team more room. “Your assessments are intriguing. However, I struggle with them.”
“Because they’re mine.” Lee pinched his lips together.
“Oh, please. That has nothing to do with it.” A tightness filled her chest. This constant push-pull between her and Lee was making it difficult for her to keep her mind sharp and for her to do her job.
“The two of you need to stop this,” Walker said before she could gather enough coherent thoughts to speak her peace. “You both take two steps forward, and then this shit starts again.” He ran a hand across the top of his head. “Lee, she’s trying to put everything you said into proper perspective. It’s not that what you’re suggesting isn’t a possibility, because it is. However, it’s convoluted and still doesn’t answer the question of why.”
That’s exactly where she was going to go with this conversation, but Lee got her all fucking flustered.
“I gave you the motivation,” Lee said with gritted teeth.
“Lee, your theory only works if this isn’t a serial killer.” She looked him directly in the eye and shivered. She didn’t like the coldness that stared back. It wasn’t so much the hostility he harbored. That she could handle. But there was a darkness that lurked inside Lee. Something had happened to him, and whatever that was tormented his soul. “If this perp’s motivation is to push Sparrow out of her current position or make her look bad because he’s pissed off, he’s not doing this because he has to. A serial killer doesn’t have a choice.”
Lee dropped his hands to his sides as if he’d been defeated. “In my desire to solve this, I suppose I didn’t think it all the way through.”
Walker gave him a brotherly slap on the back. “This is why we talk things through and get each other’s take on things. It’s one of the reasons Hank decided to bring Beck’s girls into the Brotherhood Proctors for special assignments like this one.”
“I’m not always the kind of person that plays well in the sandbox under certain conditions,” Lee said half under his breath. “I’m sorry. I am trying.”
“I know,” Fay said. “So am I.”
“So, what do you want to do now?” Lee kept his focus on Fay. His darkness lifted slightly, as if he were giving in to the way the world really worked, instead of the way he thought it should.
She knew it was a fleeting moment.
But she’d take it.
“There’s about to be a ton of paperwork to comb through.”
Lee actually rolled his eyes.
“Why don’t Walker and I tackle that,” she said. Not because she wanted to placate Lee, but because she really wanted to see what Tuck sent over. “How do you feel about taking a road trip and checking out what Randall has been up to. And then taking the list of people we know have a grudge against Sparrow and find out what they are doing.”
“I can handle that,” Lee said. “Am I allowed to make contact?”
Fay could tell he struggled with that statement, and while his tone wasn’t sarcastic, it wasn’t completely even.
“If you can do it without them knowing you’re fishing for something,” Walker said. “We’ll text you what we have and please, text us updates regularly.”
“You do the same.” Lee did an about-face and headed toward his vehicle.
“I’ll be right back,” Walker said.
“Where are you going?”
“I need to ask him a few questions about something.”
“And what’s that?” She tilted her head and arched a brow.
“I’ll fill you in after this conversation.”
* * *
“Hey. Wait a second.”Walker jogged in Lee’s direction. “I need to talk to you about something.”
Lee stretched out his arm and pointed his key fob at his car. The brake lights lit up. “What’s up?”
“Did you go somewhere this morning?”
“No. Why?” Lee opened the driver’s side door and casually leaned against it.
“I saw you get out of your vehicle and walk to the front door. I was surprised to see you awake.”
“I’ve always been an early riser.”
“It wasn’t even five in the morning and we were up pretty late working,” Walker said.
“So?” Lee shrugged. “Your point?”
“You were dressed like you had somewhere to go, and I could have sworn I heard an engine right before I looked out the window.”
“It’s not like cars don’t drive up and down the street,” he said with annoyance dripping from his lips. “If you must know, I left the cord to my tablet in the center console. I was just getting that.”
Walker couldn’t put a finger on why he distrusted Lee. Or what he thought Lee wasn’t telling him. Something felt off. It was like the mission that went upside down and then subsequently the extraction that cost him his career.
Everything about those two events was riddled with problems.
Ones he couldn’t solve and that still haunted him.
“What’s up with the third degree?” Lee asked with a narrowed stare. “I almost expect it from Fay. But from you? What the hell is going on?”
“I don’t know. You tell me.” Walker ran a hand over his mouth. A brick dropped to the pit of his stomach. Never in a million years had he ever thought he’d have distrusting feelings toward one of his men. But why? He needed to figure that part out and put an end to it once and for all.