shouldn’t, Grace is going to be devastated,” Michael said with a long sigh.
“Hopefully he’s just a dude who likes to jog. He didn’t meet anyone?”
“I couldn’t follow him closely at that time of night,” Michael admitted. “Don’t you have a tracker on his phone? Give me access.”
He did. Hutch opened his laptop and did not like what he saw. “He must have a second cell because according to my report, he didn’t leave his room all night. Damn it. I do not want to tell Sean Taggart his stepson is doing shady shit.”
“Have we considered he’s an Agency plant? He was Navy. It would have been easy enough to recruit him, and they would look at him because of his ties to Big Tag.”
Well, it hadn’t taken Michael long to get there. It didn’t surprise Hutch since Michael used to be on the same CIA team he’d been on. They knew all the hallmarks of an undercover operative. “I hope that’s all it is. I hope he’s reporting back to the Agency and that’s the extent of it. But we need to know.”
“All right. I’ll follow them and then Jamal can take over this afternoon. I’ll see you at the office?”
“Yeah, I’m coming in with Theo.” Hutch pulled up his security system. His shower was going to be a quick one. “We can talk more there. I’ve got a tracker on Noelle’s car, but Kyle knows about it.”
“I’ll let Jamal know. See you in a couple of hours.” Michael hung up the phone.
Hutch set down beside his laptop and stared at the report on the screen. According to that report the system had been engaged all night with no disruptions. Either Kyle had found a way out without setting off the alarm or he had some skills he hadn’t mentioned when he hired on.
Had he hacked the system and changed the report? He hadn’t told Kyle the password to disarm it. He’d taken care of that himself. The system had been locked down tight when he’d gotten up this morning.
He would have to look into the reports but he could do that from the office. He could access his home server from there. A shower was necessary, and he needed to talk to Tag. Things felt like they were getting dangerous, and he didn’t want Noelle in the way.
He shut his laptop and started for the bathroom when he heard the doorbell ring. He considered ignoring it but caught a glimpse of who was standing on his porch through the half-open drapes.
He caught sight of a blue uniform. Police.
What had happened? He rushed to the door, a million bad thoughts going through his head.
“Officer?” Had something happened to Noelle? Had there been an accident? He wasn’t being reasonable, but he couldn’t in that moment.
So much of his life had been a tragedy. He couldn’t handle it if something happened to her. She was the one thing he needed. He knew it in that moment. He was in love with Noelle LaVigne, and it wasn’t going to go away. This feeling couldn’t be placated by sleeping with her a thousand times. She was in his heart, and she would be there forever.
“Greg Hutchins?” The officer stood in front of him, his partner close. His squad car was parked on the street.
“Yes, what’s happened?” Please let her be okay. He could handle anything if she was all right.
“Greg Hutchins, you’re under arrest. You have the right to remain silent,” the big officer said.
Yeah, he hadn’t expected that at all.
* * * *
“Where exactly are you taking me? I want to talk to my lawyer.” Hutch was still in shock twenty minutes later as he was ushered through the hallways of the Jack Evans Police Headquarters. It wasn’t where he’d expected them to go. There was a district office far closer to his house, but they’d blown right past it and come to the main building downtown. If this was about what had happened with that asswipe Jeffrey, they should have gone to the nearest district to book him.
“Where you need to go,” the smaller of the two officers said.
And now that he thought about it, something was wrong with his arrest. He’d thought he was getting hauled in because he’d beaten the crap out of an overly privileged douchebag, but now he suspected something else was going on. “What exactly am I under arrest for?”
No one had mentioned that. They’d simply thrown handcuffs on him and hauled him out to the car.