Thomas found himself developing reservations after he ended his phone call to Endicott. He didn't feel he told the man anything that should have sparked the reaction from him it did.
All he told him was that the Whitly kid and his girlfriend left Major Crimes and were now outside the office building of his overpriced shyster of a lawyer.
It isn't so much what the man said, he told himself as he watched the couple talk in front of the building, but how he said it that has me twisted into knots.
How else was he supposed to take a statement like, "Don't worry, Thomas, I'll take care of the situation personally."
Thirty-three years on the force screamed at him the man had something planned for in case the kids showed up at his lawyers office.
Thomas tried his best to ignore his gut.
Told himself to not think about what a man like Endicott could have in mind for the oblivious couple.
Told himself he couldn't get involved no matter how much he might want too.
Whatever Endicott planned for the Whitly kid and his girlfriend was none of his business.
The reason he didn't dig into the affairs of Nicholas Endicott was because of the repercussions an investigation could cause.
Ian Turner found out the hard way about looking into Endicott's business.
Thomas didn't want to end up like the former chief of detectives.
Found in a hotel room with a dead call girl from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot to the head.
So the report went, anyway.
Many, Thomas included, suspected there was more to the situation than brass wanted revealed.
Owen Shannon, Turner's former partner getting killed right before the Whitly kid got kidnapped never sat well with him.
The official report said the Junkyard Killer had slashed Shannon's throat before luring the kid into a trap.
Thomas suspected he killed Ian Turner on orders from Endicott because he got too close to discovering the truth about the man's criminal empire.
Turner's career ruined, reputation shredded, his life over meant he was no longer a threat.
Yeah, Thomas absolutely could see Endicott ordering Turner murdered by this Watkins.
He wasn't the sort of man to cross, after all.
He not only had powerful allies down at 1PP, but he also had a rolodex of killers he could send after someone at a moment's notice.
Men and women who'd gladly take the money he offered.
Men and women who'd not blink as they took care of whoever Endicott told them too.
Thomas had no desire to find himself or his daughter on the wrong end of those men and women.
He saw what happened to those who ended up as one of their contracts.
Dumped in the river, an apparent suicide, just another dead girl people forgotten about soon as phones buzzed or newsfeeds updated.
He couldn't get involved, he again told himself as he watched the kid bury his face into his girlfriend's hair.
His gut refused to heed his request, though.
More he watched the two, the more he realized he couldn't sit by and allow something to happen to either one.
Thomas ran a hand over the back of his head and released a weary sigh.
This assignment wasn't supposed to have been complicated.
Follow the two around, snap some photographs of them, mark down where they went and who they saw, call Endicott, get paid.
Easy, peasy.
The longer he sat there, though, the more bothered he became by what Endicott said.
How he'd "take care of the situation."
That could mean only one of two things in his mind: he'd either have the Whitly kid or the Corbin girl killed.
Neither something Thomas wanted to see happen.
Much as the Whitly kid caused chaos wherever he went, he was a good kid. He helped clear some difficult cold cases. Found clues that eluded other detectives. Put away some serious scumbags. Animals like John Watkins and Robert Harwood.
And the Corbin girl?
Thomas couldn't allow any harm to come to her.
Not without feeling like an even bigger pile of dog shit than he already did.
He graduated from the Academy with her uncle, Jamie. Worked under her uncle, Hoyt before he was made Chief of Detectives. Hell, her mother, Erin was one of the nurses who helped save his partner after she got shot in a robbery gone wrong.
No way was he gonna sit back and let Endicott snuff either kid out.
Murder wasn't what he signed up for.
Surveillance, yes.
Photographing the pair, yes.
Allowing any physical harm to come to them?
Hell no.
Thomas Gray was a scumbag for agreeing to work for a class-A asshole like Nicholas Endicott, but he was still a cop under it all.
And cops take care of their own, he decided as he shoved open his door and exited the vehicle.
...
A rap on his office door broke Gil from the fugue he sunk into after leaving Edrissa.
He straightened in his chair and waved them in, knowing it was JT by the way he knocked on his door.
"What is it, JT?"
Please, he silently prayed, have something we can work with here.
Because as it stood, they had a whole lot of nothing.
Well, he amended as JT crossed to his desk, we have a whole lot of nothing that points at Bright as prime suspect in a homicide.
"I just got done checking the traffic cams like you suggested."
Intrigued at what JT might have found, Gil set down the pen he had been using to fill out the mountain of paperwork the higher-ups demanded he do before leaving the precinct.
"Where did you find them?"
Because there was no doubt in his mind that JT wouldn't find Bright with Sorcha. If there was one thing Gil could be absolutely certain of, it was that those two wouldn't be far from the other.
Least of all while the kid's neck is in a noose.
One thing had become abundantly clear during both of his conversations with Sorcha: the two had their Batman & Robin act down pat.
If he wanted to bust his Dynamic Duo?
He'd have to outsmart them.
Checking traffic cam footage for Sorcha's Mustang, a car easily as recognizable as his LeMan's until Bright used it as a cushion, occurred to him right after they left the morgue.
A picture was not something either Batman or Robin could casually refute.
Though he expected they'd try.
He'd be disappointed in them if they didn't.
The only thing keeping his anxiety and frustration under control was knowing the two were working together. If Bright had been out there and working this alone, Gil wouldn't be half as calm as he was.
No, he'd be out there hunting the kid down so he could forcibly drag his ass back to his mother's.
Sorcha wouldn't let anything happen to Bright. She'd make sure he didn't do his usual and run headfirst into danger. If they did happen to find themselves in trouble, he was confident she'd actually call for backup. Either from him, her uncles or her brother and his friends.
"Got 'em as they pulled into the parking lot around the corner." A glimmer of mirth crossed the younger man's face as he set a couple of glossy photographs on Gil's desk. "And again as they left."
"You didn't find them before they reached the parking lot?" One brow tilted as he stared at the two captured in the still photos. "How did they manage that?"
"Bright-Lite is smart."
The level of respect and admiration in JT's voice amused Gil. Few ever earned that level of regard. Not because JT had trust issues, but because he reserved that for people who truly deserved it. Sorcha won it by staunchly defending Bright from Colette Swanson and everyone else who doubted him.
"She'd have been smarter not to drive that Mustang."
Not that Gil could blame her for driving it. Not only was the convertible a connection to her father and days gone bye, but it was also one sweet ass ride.
"Thinking she drove it 'cause it is so recognizable."
"As a way of letting Endicott know she's helping Bright?"
"Girl ain't subtle when it comes to Bright."
Gil made a low sound of agreement as he picked up the photographs to study them. Bright hadn't even bothered to try and disguise his features.
Not that it overly shocked Gil he hadn't.
His kid had seemingly forgotten everything he learned during his ten tears working for the FBI.
I'm to blame for that, he realized as a phone rang outside his office. I opened Pandora's Box when I went to him with the Quartet case. I knew he wouldn't say no. That he'd want in on the case once he saw how the victims had been killed. I'm why he resumed seeing his father. Why he ended up kidnapped by John Watkins. Why he's in the mess he now is.
Bright had scored a direct hit when he said he was the way he was because of his father. Watkins. Him.
That was why it was up to him to fix things.
To see the kid cleared of these ridiculous charges.
To get him to finally make a life for himself outside of murderers and murder.
"Did you see if they headed back to Jessica Whitly's after leaving here?"
"Can already tell you they weren't heading back to Bright's mom's place." JT set a few more photographs in front of him. "Camera caught them about five minutes ago outside the office of Everett Sterling."
"Everett Sterling?" Gil's brow furrowed. "The scumbag attorney who got Martin Whitly his plea deal?"
Opening the door for Endicott to give him his nice, cushiony cell in exchange for his silence about Sophie Sanders.
The former Girl in the Box.
Sister of Eve Blanchard.
Bright's dead girlfriend.
Murdered by Eddie Smith.
A man who worked for Nicholas Endicott.
Who framed Bright.
"One and the same."
"Why are they going to see Everett Sterling?" It made no sense. Unless... "They're trying to track down who owns Corbell Laboratories."
A frown creased the skin between JT's eyes.
"Why would they be trying to track down who owns Corbell Laboratories?"
"To see if it's one of the subsidiaries owned by Nicholas Endicott."
Dawning realization crept over JT's face.
"If they can prove that Endicott owns the labs where the blood was tested than they can prove the blood on Eddie Smith wasn't Bright's." JT grunted. "Fits what Bright-Lite was saying to me and Dani before you came in."
"Get Powell." Gil pushed to his feet. Reached for his jacket. "We need to get to Sterling's office before those two get in trouble."
If they aren't already, he thought as he followed JT from his office.
These were his kids, after all.
Danger magnets.
Both of them.
A/N: Hello, all! Hope this finds you well!
I just want to send a special thank you to Rookblonkorules for their lovely reviews!