Loving Night: Dream Catcher Series ~ Book 2 (17 page)

They discussed a few details that
it might be okay to divulge to Stephanie before driving to a nearby pizza place
and ordering lunch. Each man was deep in thought as they ate their meal in
relative silence. Each man was trying to anticipate how Stephanie might choose
to participate so that they would be ready for whatever role she would suggest.

As Chaz had said earlier, he wasn’t
totally comfortable with what was coming, but his wife had made it clear that
this would be her choice to make.

When Stephanie brought dinner, she
and Chaz sat alone in a conference room while he explained fully the situation
that he and Steve were facing. Stephanie listened carefully before agreeing,
without hesitation, to help in any way possible. Chaz showed her pictures of
all of the suspects so that she would be able to quickly identify in her
visions who was significant and who was an unknown entity.

“Obviously, until this problem is
proven to not exist or Watkins is arrested, we need to be as careful as
possible about where we go and who I’m seen with,” Chaz explained. With it
being so late in the day, very few agents were around. Still, they were in the
conference room, behind a closed door, and speaking quietly.

“Okay. Right now, we don’t have a
lot of outings scheduled except for a couple of dinners with friends. There are
a few things I was planning, but we can have them at home or at another
friend’s house.” Stephanie reached across the table and held his hand. “Whether
it means anything or not, I’m not getting any vibes from looking at these
photos that indicate any of these people are immediate threats.”

Chaz nodded.

Stephanie sent him a small smile. “We’re
going to need to make sure that my helping doesn’t consume all of our time together.
When you get home each day, you’ll have half an hour to bring me up to speed on
what happened that day, if it involves me. Other than that, we need to be the
same hot-for-each-other couple as always. Deal?”

“Deal.”

Stephanie ate dinner with her husband
before heading back home. It was nearly 10:00 before Chaz joined her.

“Let’s go to bed, sweetheart,” he
said after taking off his suit and tossing his shirt into the hamper in their
walk-in closet. “It’s late and there is nothing I’d like more than holding you
while we fall asleep.”

Like Stephanie, Chaz knew that
every night washed away the distance of any day. Their relationship was always
refreshed in the morning as if being in each other’s arms rejuvenated the
connection they always felt. He climbed into bed, joined their hands together,
and pulled his wife against him.

His free hand moved beneath the
t-shirt she’d worn to bed and stroked the slight swell of her belly. Warmth
flowed through him. The woman he loved more than his own life was carrying his
child. Their baby. In less than a year, his life had changed dramatically, but
nothing felt more right.

As Stephanie always said, this was
the way their life was supposed to be.

She was his destiny.

That sentiment followed him through
the night and into the next morning while they got dressed and set off to their
respective routines. She loved her job at the investments company and he loved
his job as an FBI agent. Their separate lives during the daytime only brought
them closer when they were together during the nighttime. He sincerely hoped
that her becoming involved in his cases wouldn’t negatively impact that.

This is what was on his mind as he
sat at his desk looking over document after document in one of the folders that
had been sent to his email account. These reports were from the Cleveland field
office and outlined many of the charges they wanted to eventually bring against
Paul Watkins. Chaz made notes about what pieces of information were missing
that might strengthen those pending cases. After about three hours, he clicked
out of the file of notes that he had protected with a password, closed the file
of reports, and went to the gym.

While running laps around the
indoor track, he processed the information he’d read and tried to determine how
much of it was relevant. He turned his notes over and over in his mind,
searching for commonalities, patterns, and admissions that might identify what
he was overlooking that was niggling in the back of his mind. Unable to figure
it out, he ate a quick lunch in the cafeteria before heading back to his desk
to pick up where he’d left off.

Once again, he didn’t leave the
office until after 9:00. Stephanie was spending a few hours with one of the
women she’d met last fall at one of the football parties thrown by his friends.
They had formed a book club with other friends of the hostess, Donita.

Chaz heated the baked chicken and
brown rice casserole and settled at the kitchen table with a note pad and a
cold beer. Half an hour later, he was still there—doodling absentmindedly while
his brain continued to churn over the details of several investigations he’d
read about during the day. Paul Watkins was a clever criminal. Bringing him to
justice wouldn’t be easy.

At 10:00, he took a shower and
climbed into bed. He’d intended to watch the evening news while waiting for
Stephanie to come home. Sleep claimed him first. When he awoke, it was the
middle of the night and his arm was loosely wrapped around the warm body
wrapped around him. He kissed Stephanie’s forehead and went back to sleep.

Ten minutes later, her eyes popped
open and she snuggled closer against her husband. She’d had a dream.

Chaz and Steve were in a small room
with another man who sat opposite them at a metal table. They were
interrogating him. She heard little of the conversation as he answered
questions about Paul Watkins and carefully observed the expressions of the two
FBI agents interrogating him. She wasn’t sure she’d ever seen Chaz look so
intense. After a few minutes, Chaz nodded and relief poured from him. Without
another word, he rose and left the room. Steve joined him in the hallway a few
minutes later. Stephanie felt a very strong sense of smugness that wasn’t
coming from either of them. Immediately, she knew that whatever they’d been
told, the other man was holding out on them. He was sure that he had a final
bargaining chip.

As she and Chaz drank coffee a few
hours later, Chaz listened closely to what Stephanie said. She opened the file
of photographs they had discussed previously and pulled out the one of the man
in the interview room. Chaz and Steve weren’t scheduled to interview Brian
Pleasant, but anything was possible. Perhaps Steve had discovered something
that he thought Pleasant could clarify.

One thing he was certain of was
that the dream would happen either that day or the next. Stephanie had
described it in too much detail for it to not happen soon. He sent a text
message to Steve asking whether he had any plans for such an interview, but he
didn’t need a reply to tell him that Stephanie was on the right track. When she
set her coffee cup on the counter and said, “Déjà vu, Chaz,” that was all the
confirmation he needed.

With renewed determination, he took
a brief look over the notes he’d made the previous night while eating dinner. There
was something he was missing that should have been obvious. 

Interestingly enough, Steve had
written down some of the same questions as Chaz, even though they were looking
at cases in different states. Did Paul Watkins have a pattern for how he operated?
At the very least, there must be some commonality. The two men compared notes
and decided that it was time to speak with the traitorous technician, Brian
Pleasant. Maybe he would say something to indicate in what direction the FBI
should be looking.

“What do you think?” Steve was
smiling as he stepped out of the interrogation room and closed the door. He and
Chaz headed down the hall toward the elevators.

“He just gave us the money man and
doesn’t even realize it.”

“That’s right,” Steve agreed with a
nod. “Robert has to be Robert Noble.” They said his name at the same time.

“We don’t have plans to file
charges against him, and most of what we come up with will probably be dismissed.
Of course, he won’t know that, so we can use it to our advantage.”  Chaz
stepped onto the elevator. “When he sees how many cases he’s implicated in, it
might not be hard to get him to talk.”

“Especially when he knows that his
boss is going to jail anyway.” Steve let out a short chuckle. “Pleasant still
thinks he has something to negotiate with, which means that Stephanie is
probably right about him feeling smug, Chaz. He could corroborate the charges
on the prostitution case, but already gave us the key to proving Watkins’
connection to several cases. Let’s go back through the reports and see where Noble
was mentioned. If I’m not mistaken, we have enough information to locate him.”

Chaz agreed.

That afternoon, he worked late
again, but now he knew what he was looking for and was sure he’d seen the name
on numerous occasions. That fact must be what had subconsciously been bothering
him since Granger’s arrest. By 7:00, Chaz had documented four cases where
Robert Noble’s name was mentioned several times. Now, all he needed to do was
go through surveillance tapes to see whether they captured an image of him
during any of the investigations—he’d request those in the morning. Steve had
checked several databases and had an address for Noble’s home and office, along
with some of his relatives in Chicago. Steve had requested all of the information
other field offices had on this person. Other members of the task force
assigned to bring in Paul Watkins were more than happy to cooperate.

“Your lady came through for us,
again,” Steve admitted as he and Chaz walked to their cars that evening. “I
hadn’t planned on interviewing Pleasant.”

“So, what’s our next step?”

“After we conclusively document Noble’s
relationship with Watkins, we’ll set up surveillance for a couple of weeks to
see whether we can catch them together. From there, we should be able to keep
up with both men until we’re ready to file charges. I’m pretty sure that
Watkins will show up soon because most bosses don’t like to stay away from
their money for very long. Once we find him, I’ll fly to Chicago to oversee the
surveillance, arrest, and interrogation.” Already anticipating what the answer
would be, he asked, “Do you want to come along.”

“Not if I have a choice. After
having been infiltrated by Brian Pleasant, I’m a little skittish right now
about showing myself to agents outside of our office where it comes to Watkins.
The fewer people that know me, the safer I am until he’s convicted.”

“Good idea.” Steve opened his car
door, said a quick goodbye, and left Chaz to head home to his very talented
wife.

~
~ ~ ~ ~

“Hey, baby.” Chaz walked into the
family room and plopped onto the sofa. A second later, he lifted Stephanie to pull
her onto his lap. She giggled as he smoothed her hair aside so that he could nibble
her neck.

“You’re home earlier than you have
been.” Her hands rubbed up and down the front of his shirt.

“Thanks to you.”

“Me?”

“Yep. Steve hadn’t considered
interviewing Brian Pleasant until I mentioned your dream. That interview gave
us the information we needed. Pleasant might be holding on to a wild card in
order to save himself, but he unknowingly gave us what we need to catch his
boss.”

“Paul Watkins?”

“Uhm hmm.”

“Good! So that means you’re safe?”

“Almost. That’s going to take a
little more time, but we know how to find him now. Once we do, charges against
him should be filed fairly quickly.” He rested his forehead on hers. “I love
that we were a team in this. And Steve is grateful, too.” His arms tightened
around her. “Of course, he can’t show his appreciation in the same way that I
can, but he’s happy.”

“He can show his gratitude by not
taking you away from me again,” she softly said.

“He already knows that. In fact, he
didn’t even balk when I asked not to be included in the final phases of this
investigation that will probably happen in Chicago.”

“Good.” She sighed and kissed her
husband. “Are you hungry? I cooked pecan-encrusted salmon, sautéed spinach, and
corn.”

“Hmm. That sounds wonderful, but I
would rather hold you for a while.” He kissed the side of her face. “How was
your day?”

“Great!” She gave him a huge smile.
“Cherise announced that she’s turning over the day-to-day running of the
company to James temporarily while she takes time for personal reasons. She
plans on checking in at least once a week and will be available if a crisis
occurs; other than that, she’ll be out of touch. Then, she called me into her
office and said that while James is performing her duties, I’ll be performing
his—and yes, she’s aware that I’ll be taking maternity leave in a few months.
She’ll return before then.”

“Really?” Chaz laughed and gave his
wife a hearty kiss. “I’m so proud of you!”

“Yeah, but when everyone else finds
out that she skipped over them in favor of the newest member of the team, I’ll
probably have lots of attitudes to deal with, but that’s okay. I’m learning to
be tough, right?”

“So, she didn’t announce that
today?”

“No. She wanted to give James his
moment in the spotlight. She’ll send a memo next week about my temporary
promotion.” Stephanie shifted so that she could straddle Chaz and wrap her arms
around his neck. He held her close and kissed her shoulder while rubbing her
back. “We have a good life,” she whispered against his neck.”