Free Sanctuary 02 - The Only Easy Day (CMS) (MM) by RJ Scott Page B

here and now, he focused on another photo—an older guy posing in front of the US flag. Senator Bullen smiled out from the eight-by-ten dressed in a dark suit and his steel gray hair immaculately styled.
    "Bullen is a name my team has come up with. The senator she worked for." He turned some of the photos upright and placed them side-by-side. Very quickly, he pulled together a picture of what they had. "Who is this?"
    He pointed to a photo of a young guy that seemed out of place against the images of Thomas Bullen and two others who looked like him. His brothers, Gregory and Alistair.
    Morgan leaned forward.
    "That's Robert Bullen; he's the senator's nephew, Gregory's son."
    "He's a person of interest how?" Apart from being a member of the Bullen family, of course.
    "He only just reconnected with his father—the middle Bullen—after being adopted when he was very young," Morgan said.
    "He contacted us to say he has evidence Greg Bullen ordered Elisabeth's murder," Nik added carefully.
    The words cut straight into Joseph. 

    "I need to talk to him," Joseph said quickly.
    "No, you won't," Dale snapped. "I'm his handler in this." In a flurry of motion, Dale had grabbed at the photo and held it away from Joseph.
    "Unbunch your panties, cop," Joseph snapped. "I'm not stepping on your freaking case—" Dale was up in Joseph's face, using his few inches of height advantage in an attempt to intimidate.
    "Fuck you," Dale said succinctly.
    "Guys." Nik was between them, a hand on each chest. Patiently he waited until Joseph relaxed, and then when Dale took a step back, he began. "Robert is living in the mansion where the Bullen brothers hole up. He's been there six months—since he found out that Greg was his dad—and he is the best lead we have on anything the Bullens may have done."
    "The sailor doesn't need to know any more information about Robert," Dale snapped.
    "I'm her brother. I think that puts me way into the category of 'need to know'." There was ice in his tone. He could hear it, and he had no control over it. If Joseph hadn't been looking for it, he might have missed the flash of something in the cop's eyes. Empathy? It was gone as quickly as he had seen it. Joseph shook the image from his thoughts and was back on the case. He had to isolate what Morgan, Nik, and Dale had discovered so far.
    "So like me, you think there is a connection between the Bullens and Elisabeth? One that goes past the employer role?"
    "We don't think," Morgan offered gently. "We know."
    "You know?" Joseph was confused. If these people knew a kill order had come from one of the Bullens, why wasn't the information with the cops?
    It was Nik's turn to add his take on all of this. "We know what they've done, hell half the alphabet
    organizations out of New York know the Bullens are family with a capital F. They don't have the proof; we don't have the proof. The Bullen family has a history of wriggling out of any and all shit that gets thrown at them.
    This time, though, we may have something that will actually stick. Robert went to an ADA with information and says he can provide evidence of a link in the next few days in exchange for protection."
    "So why is it that Robert, this nephew, wants to roll on the senator and his brothers?" Joseph wasn't a great believer in the purity of a soul. There had to be an angle somewhere. No one answered him, and blinking, he looked up from the photos to see Morgan's expression of discomfort. "What?" he said quickly. What wasn't being said? It was Dale that finally answered.
    "Robert was Elisabeth's boyfriend." 

CHAPTER 9
    Nik drove him back to his Jeep, but they didn't exchange much in the way of conversation. Joseph had to get his head around everything that had been told to him.
    Elisabeth had never mentioned Robert in any of her emails; well, those that got through anyway.
    "The offer of a room still stands," Nik said as Joseph climbed out of the car. He stopped and took a few seconds to consider then