Chapter 2-1
624 Words
Chapter 2IN THE MORNING, NOELLE dragged D out of bed and put him to work in Ma's garden. She needed him occupied for the next few hours while she went to Warren's workshop. While he gave everyone else in the family lip, there was nothing he wouldn't do for his nana. Ma was thrilled to spend time with her only grandchild. Hell, maybe she could talk some sense into him while he raked leaves.
She needed time to think, so instead of driving, Noelle took a train and a bus to get to Red Hook. The hour commute gave her a chance to map out how to get Warren and Derek to meet while sniffing out what faults Warren might have that wouldn't show up on paper. Was he too clingy? Jealous? Obsessive?
The scent of fresh cut wood surrounded her as she stepped into the open space of Warren's workshop. A rhythmic sawing sound led her to him. He was shirtless, guiding pieces of wood through a machine. Sweat glistened his back as muscles moved under smooth skin. She stood back a few more moments admiring the view.
“Agent Briggs. Nice to see you again.” He took off heavy gloves and shook her hand.
“You passed. Should probably slow down, though.”
Warren smiled like a schoolboy caught in an act of mischief. “You're right.” He led her farther back to a small makeshift office. It was neatly sectioned off with two rough benches in an L pattern. Two file cabinets served as a third wall. “Please, sit.” He sat on one bench. “What did the principal say?”
“What you predicted. He's suspended for three days. I talked them down from a week.”
“Impressive.” He nodded. “Can I get you a water? Coke?”
“Water, please.”
He pulled a bottle from a cooler in the bottom drawer of one of the file cabinets. Clever. No way to get fingerprints off a soggy wrapper. Stop it. Act like civilian for once.
“What kind of mentoring do you have planned? Wanna teach him carpentry or something?”
“If he's interested. For starters, I'd like to take him to the UFC match tomorrow night.”
“You got tickets for that?” Carlos had wanted to take him, but couldn't pull any strings and tickets were way above a Fed's pay grade.
“Brother from another mother works security. We'll watch some professionals fight. Get burgers and wings. It'll be a regular guys' night out. I'll figure out what's really bothering him and we can go from there.”
“You seem confident he'll talk to you.”
“Before the Marines, I was him. I'm good with teens.”
Warren's certainty was refreshing as the cool water from the bottle. “Okay. Good call with the tickets. He likes MMA. He's grounded so fight, food, then home by midnight.”
“Yes, ma'am.”
“I'm not that old.”
“Sorry, I'm a little old school.”
They talked a bit more and by the time Noelle left the shop, she was optimistic about the match. Could he be any more perfect? A little old school discipline, minus the switches, would be good for D. Her inner Gloria Steinem whined. She shouldn't hand over the reins to a man so easily, but Warren was the first who had made her feel D wasn't a lost cause. He wasn't. He needed guidance.
She left Warren's with more than high spirits. She snagged an open water bottle from his workstation. It would take weeks for DNA results to come in, but in the meantime she'd run his fingerprints through AFIS to see if any criminal aliases appeared. What if something comes back? She shoved the federal agent aside. If it did, she'd deal with it then. No sense stressing out ahead of time. She'd done her due diligence. Besides, Derek wasn't stupid or helpless. If the night with Warren didn't work out, they'd never see him again and she'd do something else. Please work out. Instead of worrying, Noelle decided to listen to the small voice inside that had grown louder. Trust him. So be it. For almost forty years her gut hadn't been wrong. No reason for it to fail her now.
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- Writer
