Maritime Caper (Coastal Fury Book 12), Matt Lincoln [good books to read for beginners TXT] 📗

“You’re trying to convince me that it’s better to not even try to use your time off to… I don’t know, take time off?” Holm asked, raising both eyebrows at me this time.

“I guess that wasn’t the best retort,” I chuckled, realizing how this must’ve sounded. “But either way, this won’t be like New York. Just a research expedition. No funny business.”

“I’ll believe that when I see it,” Holm scoffed, rolling his eyes at me.

“I guess I deserved that,” I muttered.

“No new breaks then, I take it?” Holm asked, gesturing at the front doors to our MBLIS office.

“Actually, there was,” I admitted, feeling more than a little guilty that I was running off to look for the Dragon’s Rogue with Tessa when my colleagues might need me on the Holland case. “A possible sighting at the Atlanta airport a couple of days ago. The picture’s pretty fuzzy, though, so we can’t be sure that it was them. And they only really got a decent look at the man, if that.”

“Damn, really?” Holm asked, his eyes widening slightly at this news as he fiddled with his car keys between his fingers. “And you’re running off on us now, Marston? More leads for me, I guess, with Birn and Muñoz on desk duty. Still, I’m surprised you’d leave all the good stuff for me.”

“Well, the lead’s not that great, actually,” I said quickly. “And Diane promised to call me the second any new information came in. I’ll just be a short flight away. You’re not stealing any cases from me. Mark my words there.”

“I guess I’ll just have to keep sharing the glory with the likes of you, then,” Holm remarked with an exaggerated sigh, examining his fingernails.

“I guess you’ll just have to figure out how to manage it,” I laughed, shaking my head at him.

“So tell me about this lead,” he said, his eyes wide and his demeanor suddenly serious again. “You said they were seen two days ago? Why are we just hearing about this now?”

“Don’t ask,” I sighed, rolling my eyes. “Or at least don’t ask Diane. She’s been complaining about it all morning, and she wasn’t exactly happy about it when she was on the phone with the FBI guy.”

“Wait, are they trying to stiff us again?” Holm asked warily, placing his hands on his hips. “They’re keeping intel from us just so they get this case for themselves? Even I’m surprised at that.”

“No, no, no,” I said quickly, shaking my head. “Nothing like that. Their process is just slower there because they cover more ground. Diane explained it to us. Just because she’s not happy about it doesn’t mean she actually blames them. Didn’t stop her from yelling at the guy on the phone, though.”

“Classic Diane,” Holm chuckled, rolling his eyes. “So are we sure it was them?”

I quickly got Holm up to speed on the whole situation, and his reaction was no different from mine or Birn’s had been.

“And yet you choose this troubled time to leave us to look for buried treasure,” Holm said in mock disappointment when I was finished, shaking his head at me and putting his hands on his hips.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” I sighed. “Look, you joke, but I don’t feel great about it either. But I already told Tessa we were going, and she’s on her way to Virginia now! Besides, Diane kept telling me that it was fine and I should go, even when I kept offering to stay.”

“I guess you won’t be that far away,” Holm shrugged. “But don’t think for a second that I won’t hold this over your head for the rest of time.”

He pointed at me and broke out into another grin, and I laughed and shook my head as I clapped his shoulder.

“Hold down the fort while I’m gone, okay?” I asked. “And call the second anything interesting happens. I mean it. Even if Diane doesn’t want to bother me with it, I’m counting on you to keep me updated. I don’t want to miss a thing.”

I gave him a stern look.

“Alright, alright, I promise,” he assured me with another laugh.

“I mean it,” I reiterated, pointing at him this time. “No hanging out on me just because you want all the credit for yourself. This case is too important not to have all of us on board.”

“What do you take me for?” Holm asked, pressing a hand to his chest and acting as if he was offended, but he was smiling.

“Do you really want me to answer that question?” I asked him.

“I guess not,” he chuckled. “But seriously, I’ll call you if anything happens, I promise. And I’m sure that Diane will too.”

“I don’t know. She’s been angling for us all to take a breather for a while now,” I pointed out. “And like most perfectionists, she has a tendency to think she can do it all on her own.”

“That is true,” Holm relented. “Though, to be fair, she could probably run the office all on her own if she wanted to.”

“I don’t know about that,” I chuckled. “But she might certainly try. Anyway, yeah, I won’t be that far away, and I can meet you anywhere if we catch a case.”

“Just watch, the second you land in Virginia, you’re just going to have to turn back around and fly somewhere else to go after the Hollands,” Holm teased. “Or some other weird drug lord who turns up.”

“There has been a lot of them lately,” I chuckled. “But yeah, that would be on point for me, wouldn’t it? To land and then just have to turn around.”

“It would,” Holm laughed. “Or to run into a bunch of trouble when you get to Virginia. Either one.”

I laughed along with him, but this still did concern me, especially after my strange phone call with the museum manager that morning. I didn’t want to get Tessa in any more trouble than I already had, and Holm wasn’t wrong that it