“You should have told me that.”
“Really? You and Lancaster have dated. I think it’s safe to say that you have feelings for him,” he said, still looking straight ahead. “We’ve all noticed it.”
The words were slow to sink in. Was this a group decision, with Otto picking the short straw and being the one to contact J. T.? If that was the case, then she had a much bigger problem on her hands.
“I dated Jon for a month. We had a great time, and I enjoyed his company,” she said. “When J. T. put our team on this case, I stopped communicating with him because I was afraid the distraction would impair my ability to do my job. Just so you know, I rarely talk to my family or friends when I’m working an investigation. It makes for a lousy social life, but that’s my decision.”
“I didn’t know that.” Then he added, “I’m sorry, Beth.”
“If you’d known this, would you still have contacted J. T.?”
“Probably not.”
“There’s more. Would you like to hear it?”
“Please.”
“Months ago, Jon helped me catch a pair of serial killers that had been eluding us for years. I’ll never forget it. I was with Jon in his apartment, and we’d been working the case nonstop for two days. We were poring over a file when I suddenly ran out of gas, and passed out on his couch. Has that ever happened to you before?”
“Sure. The mind says yes, but the body says no.”
“That’s right. The desire is there, but not the physical strength.”
“Happens to the best of us.”
“Not to Jon.”
Otto stared at her. “He doesn’t get tired?”
“Not as quickly as you and I do. It gives him an edge when working a case.”
“I’ll say.”
“Several hours after I fell asleep, Jon woke me up. He’d cracked the case. I remember looking at him, and thinking, ‘How are you still functioning? How does that work?’ I asked him on our first date. He explained that to become a SEAL, each recruit is trained to stay awake for several days at a time. While awake, the recruits have to run mountain courses, detonate explosives, and train underwater in scuba equipment. It’s grueling, and those that can’t do it, flunk out. The navy toughened Jon’s body and also his mind.”
“That’s impressive. You wouldn’t know that to look at him.”
“Looks can be deceiving.”
Otto shifted on the bench to face her. He didn’t seem fully satisfied by what she’d told him, and after a moment he explained why. “Several of the team checked out Lancaster online. Based upon the articles we read, it seems like he never stopped being a SEAL. That’s the part none of us understand.”
“How so?”
“Were you in the military?”
Daniels shook her head.
“My older brother was in Army Special Forces and did two tours of Afghanistan,” Otto said. “When he got out, he came home, got a job, got married, and raised a family. He put on weight, and drank beer with his buddies on the weekend. He started acting like a civilian, and stopped being a soldier. That isn’t the case with Lancaster. He went from being a SEAL to being a cop, and now he’s with Team Adam. He’s always armed and doesn’t run from trouble. If you ask me, he’s fighting his own private war.”
Otto had nailed it. Jon was pushing back against the darkness, just as she was. Her battle had started when she’d been tossed in the trunk of a car by a pair of serial killers while in college, and by a stroke of luck managed to escape. She’d been fighting evil ever since, and felt like she was winning. That was good enough reason to keep going, even if she didn’t have much of a personal life. But she didn’t know much about Jon’s motivation, or what drove him to sacrifice his time to help people he didn’t know.
She rose from the bench. Otto slowly stood up as well.
“Am I fired?” he asked.
“No,” she said.
“Do you want me to resign?”
“I’d like you to stay. Just don’t betray me again.”
They went to the exit that led back inside the hotel. Otto reached to open the door for her, then said, “Are you going to bring Lancaster back on board?”
“I want to, but not at the risk of alienating you and the rest of the team. Something tells me that you’re not the only one who feels this way.”
“Everyone on the team is worried.”
So it was a group sentiment. She needed to handle this right, or risk alienating them. “Here’s what I’ll do. I’ll sit down with Jon, and voice your concerns. If I can rein him in, I’ll bring him back. If not, he’s history. Sound fair?”
“I guess. Do you really think you can control him?” Otto asked.
She stared at her reflection in the door’s glass partition. She didn’t consider herself attractive, yet knew that most men did find her attractive, and would lavish attention on her, if given the opportunity. Jon had made her feel like a princess the times they’d gone out, and she felt certain that she could use that to her advantage.
“Jon will do what I want him to do.” She didn’t believe in loose ends, and wanted to be sure they were on the same page. She put her hand on his sleeve.
“Are we good?” she asked.
“Good as gold,” he said.
Chapter 28
There was no such thing as luck. That had been drilled into Lancaster’s head over and over during his military training. Luck was a by-product of hard work, intense preparation, and showing up. As the Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen once said, “Victory awaits him who has everything in order.”
The unexpected phone call came right after he hung up with Daniels. The area code wasn’t familiar, and at first he thought it was a robocall offering him a free line of credit or help dealing with the IRS. He almost didn’t take the call, but an itch in his gut said that it was important, so he answered it.
“Hi, this is Echo.”
“Hey there,” he said, smiling into the phone. “How was your trip? Are you at the farm? Is everything okay?”
“The trip was fine. We arrived about fifteen minutes ago. The farm is more beautiful than I could have imagined. Thank you for making this happen.”
“You’re going to like it there. It’s a very special place.”
“I think you’re right. I have something to share with you. When we boarded the flight, the pilot gave me a bag with snacks. There was a package of Ritz peanut butter crackers. When I saw them, I remembered that was the name of Dexter’s new partner.”
“His partner’s name is Peanut Butter?”
“No, just Butter.”
“So it’s a street name.”
“That’s right. I asked Dexter what it meant, and he said Butter was real slippery. I think they met in prison. Hopefully it will help your investigation.”
He made a fist bump and let out a silent Hooyah.
“It does help. Thank you,” he said.
“It was the least I could do.”
“I have a favor to ask. A video was posted on YouTube of me shooting the tires of the bikers at your apartment complex. You and your baby are in it as well. More than likely, there will be a criminal investigation into what happened.”
“Are you going to get in trouble?”
“That’s what I’m trying to avoid. If a police officer comes to the farm, and asks you about the video, I want you to tell him that it was a stranger who helped you, and that you don’t know the stranger’s name. Will you do that for me?”
“Of course. You saved our lives.”