Murder on the High Seas - The Devereaux CaseFiles Book 3

Chapter 21

Things were going much smoother back at the apartments in Ashfield. Murray had finally arrived to discuss the insider trading case that Raidon was dealing with. He apparently, didn't want to talk about it over the phone because he would be in town for business anyway, and wanted to check and see how the team were getting along without Reed being involved. They started off by discussing Reed and the team, with Raidon mentioning the trouble surrounding the cruise ship and all the investigation work he had gone through to sort out the lies from the truth. He didn't much like the smile that Murray had while he explained the situation, or the way he passed it off. "That's all taken care of, Raidon. I's nothing you need to worry about." He claimed. It told him nothing and he was really beginning to wonder if Reed had gone through the same thing when he was in charge, being kept in the dark about other jobs. He wouldn't have been surprised.

"So how involved were these two suspects you interrogated?" Murray wondered, hoping to get their business over with quickly. He wanted to start inspecting the team and the apartments, and maybe think about staying for one of the new recruits, Isaiah's slap up meals. Raidon took a few moments to explain the evidence that Amilo and Fred had found while Gerry came in with their coffee, sucking up to the boss as best he could. He told him of the files they found at the office, the e-mails and messages they had sent to each other, the phone logs and every piece of information they had found to connect the two to the embezzlement. Once that was done with, he explained his interrogation technique for Justin and Mary, and that he had gone into it with no information, only to get everything they needed from Mary.

"And is she a reliable witness? Can you be sure she's not just implicating this Justin character because he abandoned her?" He asked, taking a sip of his coffee as he thought about the possible repercussions if Mary wasn't as legit as she seemed. He knew that Raidon was still relatively naïve and green when it came to being in charge of a whole team, despite the time he'd had to get used to it. Frankly, though he didn't approve, Murray knew that the team would never truly forget that Reed had once been their boss. They would hold an allegiance to him until the end.

"I think that's the only reason she told us. But she seemed credible enough." Raidon confessed, hoping his decisions weren't going to be trodden on. Or have Murray demand that he find Mary and have her prosecuted for her part in the crime, however minor it had been. When he questioned whether he had let her run free or not, he felt an explanation was in order. "She barely did anything except get used by other people. She won't be a problem. She's been betrayed and scared enough that I'm sure she'll never commit another crime." He assured him, unsurprised when Murray decided he was going to keep tabs on her anyway, taking his phone out and making the necessary call to have her tracked down immediately, before returning to his coffee.

"Are you going to tell me anything about this job you know about? The one that Reed's got involved in? Do you even know if he's safe?" He just wanted to make sure that nothing had happened to his best friend and his wife. But he could see by the look Murray gave him that he didn't want to tell him anything, even a simple yes or no.

"Reed is a civilian now. Whatever trouble he gets into, is his own business. He's smart enough to get himself out of it again." Murray explained shortly, sounding annoyed with having to talk about him. Raidon knew he had never liked Reed. He always found him unpredictable and a loose canon but it didn't mean that he had to relish the fact that he was retired from the agency and defend their right not to keep him safe. He had dedicated so many years to them, giving up his family, his kid brother and his entire life, just to work for them. All they could do was act like a bunch of heartless shits who didn't give a damn whether he lived or died. All because he wanted to get married and stay safe.

"He's traveling with his pregnant wife. Or did you forget that." Raidon wondered whether the agency would care if a young, pregnant woman was also harmed in the event that Reed got caught up in one of their secret jobs. But it didn't look like Murray, at the very least, cared an ounce.