Walter asks why I am there and not out here answering phones, you can explain it to him.”
“With pleasure, sweetheart. Let’s go, they’re waiting on us.”
They walked in the conference room hand in hand while Susan was worrying her bottom lip over what she was sure was going to be an embarrassing situation. Turned out she was wrong. Other than a few ‘good mornings’, no one even questioned her being there. Nathaniel kept her hand locked in his the entire time as if he were afraid she would bolt out the door if she had half a chance. Smart man.
He walked over to a pair of empty seats and sat down, pulling her into the seat beside him. On her other side, Meredith sat.
“Hey, Susan. You doing okay today?” her friend asked her with concern.
“Besides the fact that I seem to have picked up a magnet somewhere I can’t shake,” Susan rolled her eyes theatrically at her friend. “I’m doing fine.”
Both women heard the responding growl from deep within Nathaniel’s chest.
Meredith leaned over to her friend. “I don’t think you picked up a magnet, hon. Seems more like a grizzly bear.”
Susan smiled and nodded her head in agreement as she turned her attention to the front of the room where Walter was waiting for everyone to settle.
“Alright, gentlemen,” Walter began, his eyes scanning the room and landing on both Susan and Meredith, “and ladies,” he added with a wide smile. “For those of you who might not know, we had an incident last night involving one of our own. Someone vandalized Susan’s house, spray-painting a rather vulgar, derogatory comment between the hours of seven and eleven p.m. I can confirm that it was one of our kind that did the crime, but we have very little else to go on.” He stopped there and braced his hands on the podium. “I want to know who did this and I want to know why.”
He took a moment to shuffle through some paperwork in front of him. “Zack, I want you to start doing some digging around to see if this is possibly linked to one of our ongoing cases. Donte and Kade, you two help Zack dig into the current, and even recent, prior cases. Ethan, check into Susan’s financial records. Dig back and see if there is something we missed from when Joe was around. Specifically look to see if he had any hidden debts or anything of that nature. Lucas, I want you to work with Nathaniel to track down any old friends of Susan and Joe’s, especially Joe, and see if you can uncover anything. We also need to check with the neighbors. Make sure you do it subtly to make sure that no one saw anything suspicious last night. If we get lucky, maybe the idiot was clumsy enough to let someone catch a glimpse of him. Let’s do some digging and shake some trees, people. Someone knows something. My gut is telling me that this is not just some random incident. It is not acceptable that this is happening to one of our own.”
Susan just barely held back her gasp. Had she just heard Walter correctly? Had he just announced that she was part of the Elite Ranger family? Nathaniel wrapped his arm around her shoulder and gave her a light squeeze, pulling her a bit closer to him in the process.
“Until we can nail this bastard, Susan will be staying at my place with me. Just in case anyone needs to get ahold of her after hours, you know where to find her,” Nathaniel added.
*****
Soon after the meeting had adjourned, Nathaniel and Lucas left to check out some leads. Meredith stayed in the office, and at lunchtime, Sissy and her sister, Betty, came by. The four women went to lunch together. Susan was glad she wouldn’t have to worry about Nathaniel carting her out of the restaurant, caveman style, like he did the last time she went out to lunch with the girls.
As soon as their food arrived, Sissy wasted no time in digging for details. “So, what do you think of Nathaniel’s home, Susan?”
“Oh, it is gorgeous!” she exclaimed. “I love the wrap around porch. And that pool! It
“With pleasure, sweetheart. Let’s go, they’re waiting on us.”
They walked in the conference room hand in hand while Susan was worrying her bottom lip over what she was sure was going to be an embarrassing situation. Turned out she was wrong. Other than a few ‘good mornings’, no one even questioned her being there. Nathaniel kept her hand locked in his the entire time as if he were afraid she would bolt out the door if she had half a chance. Smart man.
He walked over to a pair of empty seats and sat down, pulling her into the seat beside him. On her other side, Meredith sat.
“Hey, Susan. You doing okay today?” her friend asked her with concern.
“Besides the fact that I seem to have picked up a magnet somewhere I can’t shake,” Susan rolled her eyes theatrically at her friend. “I’m doing fine.”
Both women heard the responding growl from deep within Nathaniel’s chest.
Meredith leaned over to her friend. “I don’t think you picked up a magnet, hon. Seems more like a grizzly bear.”
Susan smiled and nodded her head in agreement as she turned her attention to the front of the room where Walter was waiting for everyone to settle.
“Alright, gentlemen,” Walter began, his eyes scanning the room and landing on both Susan and Meredith, “and ladies,” he added with a wide smile. “For those of you who might not know, we had an incident last night involving one of our own. Someone vandalized Susan’s house, spray-painting a rather vulgar, derogatory comment between the hours of seven and eleven p.m. I can confirm that it was one of our kind that did the crime, but we have very little else to go on.” He stopped there and braced his hands on the podium. “I want to know who did this and I want to know why.”
He took a moment to shuffle through some paperwork in front of him. “Zack, I want you to start doing some digging around to see if this is possibly linked to one of our ongoing cases. Donte and Kade, you two help Zack dig into the current, and even recent, prior cases. Ethan, check into Susan’s financial records. Dig back and see if there is something we missed from when Joe was around. Specifically look to see if he had any hidden debts or anything of that nature. Lucas, I want you to work with Nathaniel to track down any old friends of Susan and Joe’s, especially Joe, and see if you can uncover anything. We also need to check with the neighbors. Make sure you do it subtly to make sure that no one saw anything suspicious last night. If we get lucky, maybe the idiot was clumsy enough to let someone catch a glimpse of him. Let’s do some digging and shake some trees, people. Someone knows something. My gut is telling me that this is not just some random incident. It is not acceptable that this is happening to one of our own.”
Susan just barely held back her gasp. Had she just heard Walter correctly? Had he just announced that she was part of the Elite Ranger family? Nathaniel wrapped his arm around her shoulder and gave her a light squeeze, pulling her a bit closer to him in the process.
“Until we can nail this bastard, Susan will be staying at my place with me. Just in case anyone needs to get ahold of her after hours, you know where to find her,” Nathaniel added.
*****
Soon after the meeting had adjourned, Nathaniel and Lucas left to check out some leads. Meredith stayed in the office, and at lunchtime, Sissy and her sister, Betty, came by. The four women went to lunch together. Susan was glad she wouldn’t have to worry about Nathaniel carting her out of the restaurant, caveman style, like he did the last time she went out to lunch with the girls.
As soon as their food arrived, Sissy wasted no time in digging for details. “So, what do you think of Nathaniel’s home, Susan?”
“Oh, it is gorgeous!” she exclaimed. “I love the wrap around porch. And that pool! It
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