Once again, Lavender watched as another stranger regarded his house from across the street. This time, Lavender had warning and wasn’t surprised as the sharply dressed agent got out of his sensible dark blue sedan and headed up Speed’s driveway. The tall, handsome Black man knocked on Speed’s door and Lavender both braced himself for a fight and an amusing tantrum. He had a feeling he’d find Speed in an absolute snit.
Speed’s door opened and Blake looked as alarmed as one would expect when finding oneself face-to-face with a senior agent from the FBI’s Chicago field office. Lavender calmly made his way across the street and strolled over Speed’s lawn.
“Sure! Come on in!” Blake insisted. He spotted Lavender just as he stepped aside and the agent turned to regard him. The agent’s dark brown eyes sparkled as he offered his hand to Lavender.
“Hello! It’s a pleasure to finally introduce myself!” His hand pumped Lavender’s firmly and the other man’s focus was sharp and lightning quick as he stepped closer. “My name is Agent Beesley and I’ve been studying you for a long time.”
“How very…clinical,” Lavender replied with a bright smile but it became brittle and flicked to Speed as he joined them. Speed’s glare was severe and suspicious as he sized the agent up.
“What’s going on?” Speed asked, reading the card the agent had passed to Blake. Lavender raised his brows at Speed and hummed so everyone would know that they were in the presence of A Consequence. And that Speed was about to tow a very heavy line.
“My name is Agent Beesley,” the other man informed Speed. He smoothly pulled his credentials from inside his coat and shared them with everyone. “I’m a good friend of Agent Sloan’s and I’ve been assigned Frank Leary’s case.”
“Whoa!” Speed shook his head and took a step back. “I’m giving Francis to Sloan, not some stuck-up suit that I don’t know from Adam,” he protested but Lavender snorted at him.
“You’re not in a position to make demands.”
“I’m not givingthat guythe collar for bringing Francis in,” he said, turning to Agent Beesley. “No offense but I know Sloan can be trusted. How do I know that you’re not working for Francis or that you’re not part of some plan the FBI has to make me the fall guy for this once you’ve got Francis quietly tucked away?”
“Why would I take any offense to that?” Beesley asked with a warm laugh. “Paul Sloan trained me when I was a baby agent almost fifteen years ago. He hand-picked me to take over the Chicago field office and to help him keep an eye on things in Lake Cliff.” He hissed sheepishly as he leaned toward Blake, already sensing who was most sympathetic. “The bureau also wanted me to keep an eye on Sloan and make sure he wasn’t in over his head out here,” he whispered loudly. Speed and Lavender exchanged loaded looks.
“Paul did warn me that you’d be checking in while he was away,” Lavender said, causing Beesley to regard him again with the sort of wonder a child might have when meeting Santa Claus.
“He said to proceed with caution because you wouldn’t be thrilled about having another FBI agent sniffing around.” His large, seeking eyes revealed just as much as they gathered and Lavender was wary. The cheerful, energetic agent was an open book but Lavender would get nothing past Beesley. Which was why Paul had hand-picked him. Paul warned that Beesley wouldn’t be intimidated once he decided to introduce himself and that he was just waiting for the ideal moment. He must have sensed that Lavender and Speed had come to some sort of truce.
“When is anyone thrilled to have an FBI agent sniffing around?” Speed countered, still defensive and ready to send Beesley packing. “I don’t want to work with anyone but Sloan.”
“Sloan doesn’t want to work with you,” Beesley said simply. Lavender nodded and sighed at his shoes.
“It’s for the best, Speed.”
“Excuse me?” Speed asked angrily and Lavender held up a hand, signaling for him to remain calm. “When did you start agreeing withthe bureauand you’re pushing it, telling me thatthisis for the best,” he said, flinging his good hand at Beesley. Lavender coughed softly as he rubbed the end of his nose, pretending to be amused. But he became serious as he stepped up to Speed, dismissing Beesley and Blake for a moment.
“Becausethisis what’s best for Paul and for Reginald. Paul is recusing himself because of his relationship with you in order to protect his career and because his husband nearly broke himself, chasing after you.”
“I didn’t tell Marston to—” Speed started but Lavender cut him off with a hard, threatening look.
“He will never stop if he believes I’m at risk or Paul is in danger. Enough is enough,” he said with a firm tip of his chin. “Paul’s handed this to Agent Beesley because it’sthe rightthing to do and you will cooperate unless you want Paul and the FBI to wash their hands of this and exposeyou.They’re fully capable of flipping this around and signaling to Leary that this was allyour idea.”
Speed rubbed his lips together as he nodded. “Fine. You’re right about Sloan and Marston. I thought Sloan would want this but if he doesn’t and they’re ready to get out, I gotta respect that,” he agreed. “I trust Sloan, and if he says that we can trust Beesley, then it’s good enough for me.”
“Thank you,” Lavender said, then bowed as he began to back through the door, excusing himself. “It was nice to meet you,” he said to Beesley, making the agent blush.
“It was…surreal,” Beesley replied with a laugh as they shook hands again. Speed’s smile grew wide and hollow before he gave Blake a nudge.
“Why don’t you take Agent Beesley out back and offer him a drink? I want to have a quick word with him before he takes off,” Speed said as he pointed at Lavender.
“Sure!” Blake smiled at Beesley, waving for him to follow. “I was about to start lunch. You should join us.”
“That would be great if Mr. Speed doesn’t mind.”
“Why would I mind? And just call me Speed. All my friends do,” Speed said, smiling brightly as he waved them off. His face fell as soon as they were out of sight and Speed was disgusted as he turned back to Lavender.
“Tell me you didn’t mean all of that. What’s your real plan?” He asked quietly. Lavender groaned and rubbed his temple, hoping to soothe away the throb behind his eye.
“This is the real plan. And how many times have I told you that I’m not pretending here? I’m truly concerned about Reginald and this is best for Paul.”
“Right! I get that and I agree but that doesn’t mean we have to cooperate with the rest of the FBI and Agent Beesley. I know I can trust Sloan if he tells me Francis won’t get set up for the hit on Mickey but I don’t know aboutBeesley.”