It was lucky for him his door locked automatically or his house and all its contents would have been vulnerable.
Was that what was going on here? Was he being drawn away so someone could attempt to get a look at his system?
“I think they’re calling it impeding a federal investigation,” a familiar voice said as they rounded the corner. “They got me as I was dropping off the oldest kids at the middle school. Tash and Kenzie got real upset, but Kala taped the whole thing on her phone and laughed her ass off. Do not have kids.”
Ian stood outside a door marked Conference Room, his hands cuffed. Unlike Hutch, someone had been nice to Tag and his hands were in front rather than behind his back.
Still, someone was probably going to die. Big Tag had deep ties to DPD. The chief was a member of Sanctum.
The conference room door came open and another familiar face walked out. Chris Taylor was dressed in a suit this morning, his badge around his neck. He didn’t look like he’d slept much, but then he wouldn’t have if he’d actually worked a full shift at his “second” job. He glanced down at the cuffs and sighed. “Get those cuffs off them. Who the hell told you to bring in Ian Taggart in handcuffs?”
The officer standing near Ian immediately went to work. “It was not my idea, Detective. I realized who I was supposed to arrest and damn near crapped my pants. Luckily, the big guy was in a pretty good mood.”
“My arresting officer showed up with coffee and lemon donuts,” Ian said as the cuffs came off his wrists. “What did you get?”
“Potentially syphilis, since I don’t think anyone’s cleaned the back of that squad car in forty years.” Hutch winced as his arms were free to move again. It was so unfair. He hadn’t even gotten a cup of coffee this morning.
“Donuts?” Taylor asked.
The officer shrugged. “Everyone knows the big guy likes them, and I am hoping he understands I was merely following orders. The fed told us we had to arrest them and put them in handcuffs. She wanted to put the fear of God in them. I tried to tell her about Big Tag, but she did not get it. Hence the lemon donuts, and you should know I let him call his wife. Write me up if you want to but this whole assignment stinks.”
“What does my guy have to do with McKay-Taggart?” The officer who’d arrested Hutch put his cuffs back on his belt.
“He’s my cybersecurity expert,” Big Tag explained. “He’s the guy who your cybercrimes head calls when he needs help. Hutch, are you going to feel like helping the next time the lieutenant calls?”
It sucked that almost no one was scared of him. Tag got donuts and phone calls, and Hutch got a stain on his jeans that might never go away. “Definitely not, and I will mention why. I’m also feeling a little hack coming on. Maybe it’s a cough from whatever I picked up in that car, or maybe it’s the kind of thing that gets an officer’s name on a no-fly list.”
The officer held his hands up. “Man, I was following orders and I will clean the car.” He looked to the other officer. “Donuts? You’re an asshole, Jones.”
“I’m a motherfucking genius, since I know not to piss off the dudes who work with brass,” Jones replied. “You were trying to show off for the feds.”
The officers walked away, still bickering.
“Please don’t hack him, Mr. Hutchins. I’m sorry it went down this way, but you stepped in the middle of something big, and I can’t have you busting up a six-month multiagency investigation,” Taylor explained. “Come on in. We’ll do what we should have done the minute you walked into the building with Noelle LaVigne.”
Finally they would get a debrief.
It struck him forcibly that this meeting was him and Ian, and only him and Ian. He walked into the conference room and sat down at the table, leaning over to whisper Ian’s way. “Why didn’t they bring in Kyle?”
Ian’s jaw tightened. “Because I suspect they’re investigating him, too.”
Taylor sat down across from them. “I am truly sorry she decided to bring you in this way. You need to understand that DPD isn’t the lead in this investigation.”
A whole lot of things fell into place. “Cara is the fed, right? She’s got impeccable credentials. We even looked up her socials and they go back