Lee raised his hands as if someone held a gun to him and then dropped them to his thighs. “Look. I’m doing the best I can when it comes to Fay. Or any woman in this line of work. If they don’t have kids, whatever. More power to them. But here’s the deal. Fay has a chip on her shoulder bigger than the one I have, and trust me, I know I can be an arrogant asshole.”
“The two of you play off each other, but that’s not what I’m talking about. You’re not being honest with me and that doesn’t sit right with me.” He tilted his head. “Where did you go this morning?”
“Jesus. Do I really need to answer to you when I’m not working?”
“If you’re going to lie about it, yes.”
“Fine. I couldn’t sleep, so at about two in the morning, I headed over to the casino. I got there at about two twenty. I lost about three hundred dollars. I left at around four thirty. I was pulling in when Sparrow called.”
“Why didn’t you just tell me that?” Walker hated himself for the fact that he was going to ask to see the security camera footage from the casino. But the man kept being deceitful and for no real reason.
“Because I was hoping to get laid, but that didn’t happen and that’s fucking none of your business.” He lowered his chin. “Or Fay’s.”
That was fair.
“Can you understand that lying to me—to us—only makes her distrust you more. And I have to admit, it’s not helping me want to work with you again either.”
“Can you can accept the fact that the two of you come off like judgmental jerks and I didn’t feel like facing the firing squad because I wanted to let off some steam.”
“No one is judging that.” Walker decided to turn this into a positive. “Did you see or hear anything useful while you were there?”
“Nope,” Lee said. “No one on our radar showed their face. I did overhear one of the blackjack dealers talking with a bouncer about what a jerk Chris was and how he walked around like he owned the place, but that was it.”
“Good to know.”
Lee glanced at his watch. “I better hit the road. I’ll be in touch.”
“Thanks.” Walker took a step back and watched as Lee drove off. He wanted to be satisfied by Lee’s response. Lee had always been a bit of a ladies’ man and every time the team had a few days off, Lee would disappear. He could usually be found in a hotel room with the kind of woman who wanted to brag to her friends that she banged a SEAL.
Lee was happy to oblige. He was the kind of man that used his station in life to pick up women and that always left a bad taste in Walker’s mouth.
He slipped his cell out of his back pocket and pulled up Albert’s contact information.
Walker: Can you check to see if Lee was at the casino this morning between a little after 2 a.m. to around 4:30? Thanks.
Albert: No problem. I’ll let you know what I find out as soon as I can. By the way, only Craig is here. I’ve got a guy following Pete. He’s losing his mind. He keeps driving the distance between his ex-wife’s and where his kid’s cell phone was found.
Walker’s heart went out to Pete. The more they investigated, the less he thought Pete was involved in any disappearance or murder. That didn’t mean he wasn’t doing some stupid shit with laundering money, but that was an issue for a different day.