Love in the Shadows

Chapter Thirty-One

(Lucy's POV)

"You wanted control of this case. Seems like you're doing an ass backwards job. We haven't had a double murder in Lake Ridge since...oh that's right ever." The chief's face was a molten colour of purple and I was torn between complete and utter offence and anxiety over the fact how his colouring led me to believe that we were in for an imminent heart attack.

Then he started talking again and my compassion dissipated. "Doesn't really seem like you being here is helping, does it?"

The door to his office stood open and his secretary was working away out there. If she wasn't concerned, I figured that I wasn't either. What I needed to do was shut down his nonsense as fast as I could. Maybe then, I could actually do my job.

"Sir, I'm not really interested in anything but the present right now. And presently you have two missing girls and two dead bodies. My superiors would like me to take over this investigation fully. So, that is what I am going to do. If you don't like it, take it up with them."

"You and who? Sam?" His scoff as he said his son's name made my teeth mash together, offended on his behalf.

Your son is fifty times the man that you will ever be.

Biting the words back, I poked my head out of his door and looked around before laying eyes on the person I needed. "Lee, you want to come in here for a second?"

The look of shocked disbelief that crossed over Brian Taylor's face as Lee entered his office had my cheeks itching, wanting to break into a smile. "Chief Taylor, this is Lee. My second in command. He will be in charge of hand picking a few of your officers to help us." I turned to Lee and asked, "Will you let the Chief know as soon as possible who we want and what their rotations will be."

Lee nodded his head, letting me know that he understood his instructions. Brian looked surprised that we would consider using any of the Lake Ridge staff. I still wasn't convinced we should be, but Lee was adamant that it made the most sense. If we could find a couple good locals, they would have their ear to the ground more than we ever could.

I updated the chief further, "We also have a team of technicians on route from Toronto. They will be in charge of collection and clean up at the Lawson house."

Sam's dad started to puff up again but I ignored his anger, continuing on as gently as I could. "I also have more team members on their way. You won't know who they all are, some will work out of the station. Some won't."

He sighed and ran a hand over his face. "I would like to know who is working this case, considering it's in my town."

"I understand that. But, that's not how we work. It is apparent that there is something criminal happening here. If there is any chance it stems from here, from your police, I'll need some officers that haven't set foot here, that haven't interacted with your staff. It's just how we do things."

He had fully deflated, no longer arguing, instead Chief Taylor looked exhausted. And somehow, despite everything I found myself feeling bad for him. It wasn't easy when shit went sideways anywhere, but everything always felt extra in a small town where you knew everyone.

"We'll need your conference room, it should do well for us. Lee and Duncan will be my officers in charge when I'm not here. The others will stay in the background. Silent, until we need them." I kept my voice calm and kind, knowing that you catch more flies with honey and I was going to have to work next to this man for the foreseeable future.

"The conference room is yours." His tone had lost the anger and resignation had taken its place.

"Thanks for your support Chief." I didn't miss the amused look that Lee sent me as he followed me out of the office and into the conference room.

I closed the door behind us and asked him, "You okay to ride it out here? I want you to set up our board. As of right now, we'll keep any extra information to ourselves."

Lee ran a hand over his face. "So you want me to make a decoy board."

I thought about it. "Not a full decoy, no. I just don't want them to know everything that we know. There are too many eyes around here. So, we'll have one at home." He raised an eyebrow and I laughed before responding,"Okay, yah. A decoy board."

"What are we hiding?" I considered his question.

Not a whole lot, yet.

"Not much. But what we do have, we're going to keep close to our chest." I waited a moment and then explained, "I talked to the cop in Halifax this morning, she let me know that Luke had a falling out with his parents. I haven't had a chance yet to look through her notes because I got the call from Sam about the Lawsons."

He cleared his throat, "Seems like an awful lot of family riffs."

"My thinking too." I pointed out at the station through the glass. "I want you to think about who you want to pull in from Lake Ridge and do a deep dive on them. We don't want anything funky in their past and we want to know who we're working with."

"Got it. I know the drill. I'll worry about here, what's your next move?"

"We've got to assume that Tanya and Brie are together and there's some kind of connection. Once you have some local officers that you think we can use, I want them talking to the girl's friends. Let's see if we can find a connection other than familial disappointment."

Lee had his tablet out and was typing away. "I can do that."

I nodded my thanks. "Top of my list is to interview Tasha's parents, but I would really like Sam to be there. He knows the family and can maybe get a better read than I can. So, I'm going to head to the Lawson's place until relief gets into town. Then Sam and I will head over to the Sanchez house."

"Will you send me a copy of the information on Luke? I'll take a run through it too."

I pulled out my phone, shared what I had and then waved it in the air, as I made my way to the door. "We'll keep in contact. Be safe, Lee. Something stinks here."