Free Above the Law by Carsen Taite Page B

to process what she was hearing before Dale shoved her phone in her pocket and turned toward her. She didn’t miss a beat. “You get everything you needed in there?”
    Despite Dale’s quick reaction, Lindsey thought she spied a hint of suspicion in Dale’s eyes. She wasn’t about to confess she’d been eavesdropping, but this might be the perfect moment to engage Dale about how this little project they’d both been assigned to was a colossal waste of time. “Can I be honest with you?”
    Dale looked into her eyes and her mouth slid into a lazy smile. “Honesty is always welcome.”
    “I’m not even sure why I’m here. I mean next on my list is to ask you to introduce me to everyone who will be working the event, including the local cops. I get the impression all the people I meet are going to tell me what a great project this is and how it’s a huge benefit to the local community and a valiant effort in the war on drugs.” She paused and Dale raised her eyebrows and nodded for her to continue. “But you and I both know this project isn’t going to make a real difference in anyone’s life, and you’re probably going to end up with buckets full of old antibiotics and expired ointment, but not much in the way of drugs that have any real street value.”
    She paused again, hoping Dale would riff off of her words and offer her own opinion about the negligible effect of the program, but Dale merely said, “If there’s a question in there, I’m not sure what it was.”
    “I guess I’m wondering if you can think of something more worthy of an hour of prime time on a Friday night. I mean if you had the chance to reach twenty million viewers, what story would you tell?”
    For a brief moment, Dale’s eyes were bright and her expression was eager, but just as quickly, the mask of nonchalance returned. She turned the key in the ignition. “I don’t have any stories to tell. If you’re not interested in this project, maybe you should fly back to New York and I can get back to the cases waiting on my desk.”
    The words were delivered in a flat tone without a trace of malice, but the message was clear: Dale wanted her to know she didn’t care if she stayed or left. Lindsey’s instincts told her there was more to it than that. She replayed the words she’d heard earlier: We should talk in person. We may need to work off the books for a while. What Dale really wanted was for her to report this silly story and get the hell out of her way for something way more interesting. The resistance only made her more curious about what Dale was up to and more determined to find out.
    *
    Later that afternoon, Dale knocked on Peyton’s office door. She’d rushed over to the federal building as soon as she ditched Lindsey back at her hotel, and as much as she dreaded hearing the upshot of Peyton’s meeting with Gellar, she was relieved to escape Lindsey’s probing questions.
    “Come in.”
    She opened the door and stopped abruptly one step into the room. Peyton was behind her desk, and sprawled on the couch off to the side was her boss, United States Attorney Herschel Gellar. Dale could tell by Peyton’s furrowed brow that her patience was wearing thin. “I’m sorry. I didn’t realize you were in the middle of a meeting.”
    Gellar motioned for her to come on in. “Agent Nelson, glad you’re here. Stick around. This involves you too.”
    She took a seat in one of the chairs facing Peyton’s desk and waited for one of them to start talking.
    “I’ve decided to make some changes around here,” Gellar said. “Be more efficient. I’m not convinced this task force is a good use of resources. I’ll be handling the Gantry investigation myself.” He waved a hand at Peyton. “For obvious reasons, you’ll be walled off from the case.”
    Peyton nodded, and Dale couldn’t fault him for that part of his decision. Considering Peyton’s relationship with Lily, it was the right call, but she couldn’t help but ask,