The Same Place (The Lamb and the Lion #2) - Gregory Ashe Page 0,53
my sorry ass.”
“I didn’t dump you,” Tean said gently. “We weren’t dating.”
“I miss you so much.”
“Ammon.”
“I know. I know. I want you to know that I’ve figured out some stuff about myself. I’m a sex addict, and I’m going to a twelve-step program.”
“Wow.”
“I’m going to make myself a better person, Tean. You deserve the best person in the whole world. I don’t know if I’ll make it that far, but I’m going to try my hardest.” Ammon cleared his throat and said, “I need to express something to you, and I hope you’ll hear me out and validate what I’m saying.”
“Ok.”
“This is a police investigation. Your . . . friend is dragging you into something that you shouldn’t be involved in.”
“Jem isn’t dragging me into anything.”
“What you’re doing, talking to people, you’re jeopardizing my investigation. This is my career, Tean. I have professional responsibilities. I’m not going to look the other way while you compromise an important case.”
“Hannah is missing too.”
“Hannah is an adult who has chosen to walk away from her husband. She’s not a missing person.” Ammon didn’t say yet, but the word was a ghost at the end of the sentence.
“You didn’t tell me Joy Erickson was an ecoterrorist. You just said you were worried about finding her.”
“There was no need to tell you. We’re not looking for her to arrest her; this is a missing-person case. And Hannah knows something. She and Joy go way back. Did you know that?”
“It came up.”
“Well, you should think about what that tells you. Hannah might not be doing this to protect Joy. She might be trying to protect herself.”
“What do you mean?”
“She and Joy weren’t exactly traveling the country planting daisies, Tean. They did some bad stuff. People got killed.”
“No, she didn’t have anything to do with that.”
“Very funny,” Ammon said. “Tell me another. Come down here one day and I’ll show you what they have in the file on Hannah Lackey from the mid-2000s.”
“This is a misunderstanding,” Tean said.
“I want you to stay away from this investigation. You’re putting me in a difficult situation where I’m going to have to choose between my feelings for you and my profession. That’s not fair.”
And, Tean realized, it wasn’t fair. Not at all. “Jem and I just need to find—”
He cut off when he heard the shift in Ammon’s breathing. Then Ammon said, “Can we go five minutes without you bringing him up?”
“I wasn’t—”
“We’re talking about us right now. You and me. Why are you even saying his name?”
“I’m trying to tell you—”
“I know perfectly fucking well what you’re trying to tell me. You’re trying to tell me to go fuck myself, you and your boyfriend are going to do whatever you want.”
“He’s not—”
But Ammon was shouting, and then a series of thunderous claps came across the call. It took Tean a moment to realize what he was hearing: Ammon pounding the receiver of his office phone against the desk.
Tean disconnected and threw his phone on the dash. It buzzed a moment later, Ammon’s name on the screen. Tean ignored it.
At the apartment building, Tean hurried past the bulletin board and took the stairs two at a time. He stopped on the second-floor landing and jogged back down to the main floor. This time, he read the notices more carefully. He grabbed one and ripped it free from its tack, and then he hurried upstairs.
As he got through the door, Scipio bounded off the couch. The Lab crashed into him at the knees, whining and dancing with excitement, and Tean scratched his ears and greeted him and then said, “He’s got nacho cheese on his muzzle.”
“It’s not nacho cheese,” Jem said. “It’s queso.” The blond man had obviously showered after Tean’s phone call, and he was dressed in acid-washed jeans and what he was currently claiming was his favorite t-shirt: purple cotton embroidered with three old ladies wearing giant hats and the words THE BIGGER THE HAT, THE BETTER IT GETS. He grabbed his windbreaker, checked the pockets, and said, “Ready.”
“Remind me to talk to you about this when we get back,” Tean said, dropping the flyer on the counter.
“What is it?”
Tean locked up the apartment, and they headed for the truck. “They’ve got apartments to rent.”
“Where?”
“Here.”
Jem didn’t say anything.
“I know you just got your new place,” Tean said. “But I thought maybe you’d still have some flexibility.”
“Yeah,” Jem said slowly, and Tean could sense Jem studying him. “Maybe. That wouldn’t be weird for you?”