Page 16 of The B-Team

“The whole team’s been arrested,” Claire said. “Everyone who was at the conference.”

There was a moment’s silence before Katy’s angry voice replied, “How can I help?”

“We need you to dig up everything you can on a man named Garrison Fitzwater.”

“Ew, is that his real name? Doesn’t he have any self-respect? I’d totally change my name if the ’rents had called me that.”

Ryan caught Beast’s eye, and they shared a smile. The kid wasn’t wrong.

“Focus, Katy,” Claire said in her best teacher voice. “The man is a…” She glanced at Ryan. “What’s his title?”

“Hey, Katy, this is Ryan Granger. He’s commander of the Metropolitan Police’s Special and Organized Crimes Division. You got that?”

“Hey, Ryan, I wrote it down. Why aren’t you in jail?”

“I don’t work for Benson Security anymore.”

“Guess a bullet to the head will do that for you,” she said with all the wisdom of a teen. “What else do you need?”

“Check on his history with Lake because, apparently, he’s holding a grudge over that. Also, we want to know about Fitzwater’s family and connections. Who’s backing him or protecting him. Got it?”

“Got it,” she said firmly.

“And you’re not allowed to hack,” Ryan added.

“That’s what people tell me,” she replied in a sing-song voice. The line went dead.

“She is so going to hack,” Isobel muttered.

Ryan decided that was a problem for another day. “Better call your brother,” he said to Claire. “And has anyone called Lake’s wife… and Noah’s?” Remembering belatedly that his American colleague had recently tied the knot.

“I did,” Julia said. “Noah’s wife sounds lovely. She offered to help, but she’s got her hands full looking after Noah’s boys, so I told her we’d be in touch if we needed her. As for Kirsty, she’s at Disneyland Paris with the girls and her mum. I told her to focus on that, and we’d keep her updated. She said Lake’s never mentioned this Fitzwater man, but she also said that there’s still a lot of stuff in his past he legally can’t speak about. I’ve also messaged everyone’s families and started a group chat to keep everyone in the loop. So don’t worry about anyone not knowing.”

Of course she was on top of it. This was why they needed Julia. Even at nine months pregnant, she was still an organizational genius.

“Good job, Julia,” Ryan said before turning to Claire. “You dialing your brother yet?”

“This is a waste of time,” she grumbled as she made the call.

CHAPTER SIX

Detective Inspector Singh ensured her black hair was tight in the bun at the base of her neck and her charcoal pantsuit was speck-free before approaching her boss. Commander Fitzwater was very particular about his team’s apparel. He’d even interrupted important briefings to reprimand officers for their unkempt—in his opinion—appearance.

Satisfied that she’d meet his exacting standards, she knocked on the door of the small office in the custody suite that he’d claimed as his own for the duration of the interview period. He sat behind the old desk, ramrod straight, perusing some paperwork.

“Sir,” DI Singh said, “do you have a second to go over how you’d like to proceed with the interviews?”

“Of course.” He clasped his hands in front of him on the desk, his beady eyes assessing her. Apparently satisfied with what he saw, he nodded to the wooden chair on the other side of his desk. “Please be seated.”

She had no clear evidence, but DI Maya Singh suspected Commander Fitzwater didn’t approve of women on the force. Either that or he didn’t approve of ethnic minorities on the force. Or in general. It was there in the tight almost-sneer that tuggedat his mouth whenever he addressed her. Which wasn’t often. He preferred to address whichever white male officer happened to be nearest.

Maya didn’t speak again. The commander knew why she was there, and he didn’t like reminders.

He cleared his throat. “I want to leave interviewing the Benson Security owners until we’ve gathered information from their subordinates. That way, we’ll be able to confront them with more evidence. You and DI Stark can start interviewing staff lower down the totem pole while I work on those higher up. The women on the team might find it easier to open up to a fellow female, so please split the list between you with this in mind.”

Her jaw clenched briefly; however, she knew her expression betrayed none of the anger she felt. Usually, she took lead with all suspects, as she had more experience with interviewing than Stark. Or the commander, for that matter.

“We should call in some more detectives to help with the interviews, sir,” she said evenly. “We’re going to run out of time to hold the suspects and may not get around to talking to all of them.”