Page 68 of His Forced Irish Mafia Bride

“Which local channel?”

“Sector relay.”

I watched him. He didn’t crack under pressure. That wasn’t new.

We continued. Every answer came out clean. Every detail was accounted for.

The file stayed open. I went back to the section on timing discrepancies. All was not well. There were still inconsistencies in these reports.

I leaned back. The chair didn’t creak. I remembered when it used to. Colt had recommended the replacement last year.

I wasn’t sure why I remembered that. I dismissed Colt and walked to the window. I stayed there for a while, then returned to my desk.

One thing was becoming harder to ignore: someone close to me wasn’t just efficient; they were clever. And they were working against me.

Dilligan was the second man I brought into the room. He walked in knowing exactly why he was here. That confidence told me more than anything in the file.

I didn’t greet him. I didn’t ask him to relax. I just pointed at the chair and he sat down. I opened the file in front of me and let the silence settle before I spoke.

“Two days ago you were seen in the south district,” I said. He didn’t respond. I turned a page slowly. “You were also seen later that same day in the west transit zone.”

His posture changed slightly. Not enough for most people to notice, but enough for me to see. I finally looked at him.

“You weren’t assigned to either location,” I said. “Explain why you were there.”

“Routine checks,” he answered.

I nodded once and kept my eyes on him. “You were seen in two separate districts on the same day, and both places are outside your assigned perimeter.”

He didn’t answer immediately. I leaned back in my chair and studied him.

“Tell me what you were doing,” I said, “because right now your explanation doesn’t match your movements.”

He shifted slightly in his seat. “Operational support,” he said.

I held his gaze. “You are describing movements that should be logged, reported, and assigned, but I can’t find any record that supports your actions.”

His jaw tightened. I closed the file halfway, taking my time as I spoke again.

“Men who start appearing in places they weren’t sent to usually fall into two categories,” I said. “They either stop following my instructions or they start following someone else’s.”

Dilligan stayed quiet. I stood up slowly, not in a rush, and walked closer to his chair.

“Look at me,” I said. He did. His expression stayed controlled, but the tension in his shoulders was clear now. “I want a direct answer,” I said. “Who asked you to be in those locations?”

His hesitation was enough to confirm that there was more to his answer than he wanted to give.

“No one gave me direct instruction,” he said.

I watched him for a moment before responding. “Then you moved on your own judgment, across two restricted zones on the same day, without reporting it.”

He didn’t correct me.

That silence changed the shape of the room. I closed the file fully and placed it on the desk. “Start again,” I said. “And tell me the full reason you were there.”

Dilligan didn’t rush his answer. He leaned forward slightly, like he was choosing each word before it left his mouth.

“I understand how it looks,” he said. “Two locations, same day, outside my assigned perimeter. But there’s context you’re not seeing in the report.”