Tolerance Book IiI

Chapter One Hundred and Sixty-Six: Assessing A Dark Partnership

AC Hotel

After the trio had showered and changed they regrouped in Collins' room as arranged. Jay and Al were sharing a room down the corridor. They had all been eager to wash away the dust from the burial ground. Al was the first to speak once they were seated at the table by the window and immediately brought up the main issue on all their minds.

"You find out what Willis is up to with the Profiler?"
"According to my friend, Jameson Moriarty, Andrews is a stellar guy. Willis however would not be adverse to using him ...,"
"To what purpose?" Jay asked.
"Jameson says he could attribute your findings to Andrews and claim credit ...,"
"Not worried about credit!" Jay rolled his eyes in disgust.
"I understand that," the Agent acknowledged readily, "but Willis apparently has embellished profiles before ....,"
"If Andrews is a good guy he won't agree to any lies ...," Al pointed out.
"True but this means we need to thread carefully. Anything goes awry Willis will try to pin it on Halstead here ...,"
"You don't know that for certain," Jay argued, "why single me out anyway?"
"You're the one who could be most beneficial to him," Collins suggested after contemplating the situation, "your insights could propel the investigation forward ....,"
"That's an exaggeration."
"It's the truth," the moustached Detective put in with his usual frankness then addressed the Seattle man, "maybe Andrews could meet Halstead out of the office? The sooner the better to circumvent any agenda Willis might have."
"And we would be able to say we were complying with Willis," Jay added with a shrug.
"He won't be happy," Collins cautioned but there was a gleam in his eye betraying his lack of concern.
"Can your friend arrange a meeting with Andrews?" Al smirked.
"I'll make the call," the Agent retrieved his cell from his pocket and rose, "tonight suit?"
"Sure," Jay confirmed as Al nodded.

---------------------------

It turned out Moriarty didn't just know of Andrews he was in fact a good friend of his. That evening sitting with the Profiler in the hotel bar once introductions had been taken care of Collins had been upfront about their trust issues with Willis and the lean framed, bespeckled blonde had validated their concerns without going into detail.

"So any idea why Willis is pushing Halstead to meet you?" Al decided to ask outright after deciding the younger man could be trusted.
"Well apart from overtly undermining me ....,"
"I would never ...," Jay hastily interjected.
"Oh I know you wouldn't," the Profiler assured, especially as he had done his homework and was well aware of the green eyed mans' great reputation, "Willis however would."
"You in his bad books?" Collins felt compelled to ask.
"Yes," Andrews frankly acknowledged with a shrug then elaborated, "about a year ago I completed a provisional profile in a case. A successful Businessman at the time was the sole Suspect in two high profile murders ....,"
"So what went wrong?" Collins probed when the blonde lapsed into silence.
"I made it clear I didn't have all the facts and my assessment was not conclusive as to the mans' guilt." Andrews sighed, "but the SAC went and obtained a Warrant and brought him in for questioning making sure the media covered everything."
"I'm guessing it didn't end well," Al commented, high profile murders brought pressure for quick results.
"It didn't. As the Suspect was being questioned another murder occurred."
"Willis hung you out to dry," Collins guessed in disgust.
"He tried," the Profiler smirked, "he was unaware I had sent a copy of my profile, marked 'provisional only', to his Superior, the Special Agent in Charge. Apart from anything else I had made it explicitly clear I didn't attribute the profile to the Businessman in question but to the Killer. Willis was anxious to please the Higher Ups and wanted the Businessman to be guilty. It backfired."
"The guy should have been demoted at the very least!" Collins growled.
"In a perfect world yes," Andrews agreed, "but he has connections and called in some favours ....,"
"Hence he still has his job," the Seattle man spoke with disdain dripping from each word, office politics should have no place in their line of work but it did and that sickened him.