I did on Laughlin.”
Stockton sipped his Scotch and didn’t break eye contact. Sean had run the search quietly; there shouldn’t have been any flags thrown up, unless the FBI was already watching Laughlin. Most of Sean’s research was passive—except for the credit reports.
“You flagged his financials,” Sean said. “That’s the only way you would know that I ran his credit.”
“Who hired you to investigate a sitting FBI agent?”
“No one.”
“Stop bullshitting me.”
“I did it because I wanted to.”
Stockton stared at him, a tick in his jaw, and Sean realized there was something bigger here.
“What did he do?” Sean asked.
“I want the truth, Sean.”
“So do I.”
Stockton slammed his glass down. “Why the games? Why won’t you just tell me?”
“I’m not playing games. You asked me who hired me. I told you no one. I’m not lying. Is he a suspect in Hans’s accident?”
“No.”
Sean believed him. “What do you want?”
“If no one hired you, why did you run a background?”
Sean decided to give him most of the truth. “He’s harassing Lucy.”
That response seemed to surprise Stockton. “Lucy asked you to do it?”
“No,” Sean lied. “But when she told me he was making her nervous, I decided to dig around and find out why.”
Stockton reached over and retrieved the Scotch, poured a finger, and sipped. “And did you find out why?”
“More or less. As much as I could find out legally.”
“You have a theory.”
“I do.”
Stockton didn’t say anything. Sean decided it didn’t matter if Stockton knew or not. “Lucy wants to handle it herself. She doesn’t want me, or you, or anyone butting in.”
“But you ran a background check anyway.”
“And again, I ask, why do you care?”
“Agent Laughlin has been undercover for the last year in a major drug and money-laundering sting in a joint operation with the DEA. We sent him to Quantico as a class mentor until the trial.”
“As protection?”
“It was a dicey op, but we have the bad guys in custody. Just wanted to make sure one of them hadn’t hired you.”
Stockton wasn’t being completely honest with him, but Sean let it slide for the moment. “I’m stunned you’d think I wouldn’t check out my clients,” he said.
“Point taken.” He sipped. “Why does Lucy think Laughlin is harassing her?”
“I said, she wants to handle it.”
“I’m not getting involved. Just curious.”
Sean didn’t believe that, but it couldn’t hurt for Stockton to know that one of his agents held grudges. He told him what he knew about Laughlin’s and Kate’s shared work history.
Sean put his beer down. “Now my question to you is, how does Laughlin know Lucy didn’t pass her FBI panel, and why would he tell her Hans got her into the Academy?”
Stockton kept a poker face, but his eyes told Sean the information came as a surprise.
“I’ll answer that,” Sean continued. “To demoralize her. To make her doubt herself. He doesn’t know her; he doesn’t have any connection to Lucy except through Kate. So I think Laughlin was buddies with Standler and he blames Kate for Standler’s death.”
“That’s weak.”
“Maybe it is, but unless you have other information, that’s what I’m going with.”
Stockton drained his Scotch and put the glass down. “Thank you for the Scotch, and the truth,” Stockton said.
“Anytime. You’re practically family.” Sean trusted few people in law enforcement; Rick Stockton was an exception. In addition to being close to RCK, Stockton had proven to be both discreet and smart.
“Learn anything in New York?”
“Already gave the intel to Noah.”
Stockton nodded. “You’re still searching for Peter McMahon?”
Sean walked Stockton to the door. “That’s the last thing Hans asked me to do, as I explained to Noah. He never legally changed his name to Peter Gray, but he was using it for years. Peter Gray disappeared six years ago. My guess is he either went completely off the grid or changed his name, this time legally. I’m working on a couple angles from his time at SU.” Sean had a buddy in Syracuse who would be pulling files at the police station first thing in the morning.
“Kate’s also working on tracking down McMahon. A little competition never hurt.” Stockton smiled and left.
Sean ran up the stairs and logged in to his computer. Lucy was online. He called her.
“Rick Stockton just paid me a visit. I think he’s looking at Laughlin for something completely different than we are.” He told her about the case in Detroit and the “protection” by being put at Quantico. “There’s something fishy about the whole thing.”
“It’s Stockton’s job to protect his agents. It makes sense to me.