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Laura glanced up from her drink. “I don’t know yet.”
“You want to actually get some food?” Nate asked. “It’s late. Would save us having to grab something at the motel later.”
“If you think it’s a good idea,” Laura said. “What have they got?”
Nate passed the menu over. “Grilled cheese sounds good right about now.”
“Alright, we’ll get two,” Laura said.
“I’m just going to the men’s room,” Nate said. “You know, do a sweep. You order while I’m gone.” He put his drink down on the bar and shoved his hands in the pockets of his black jeans, glad that they had dressed like civilians and not like agents this morning, and walked across the bar.
He looked around with wide swings at first, like he was trying to spot the bathrooms. He spotted them and then did one more sweep before letting his eyes rest on them, just to extend his ability to check out the room.
Once he knew where he was heading there was more opportunity to glance around, always keeping it casual, never lingering on one face for too long. He’d been an FBI agent for a while, after all. He knew how to watch people without letting it seem like he was watching them.
He made it to the bathrooms with a good idea of where everyone was in the room – and with a strong idea of a couple of suspects who fit the description they had been given of Ellis Long.
By the time he’d come back to Laura, with one more sweep across the room, he had narrowed it down to one very likely fit, and that person just happened to have an empty table right beside them.
“Over there,” Nate said, using his head to point as he picked up his drink. “We should go and sit before someone else gets the table.”
Laura looked, nodded, and followed him across the room. Nate kind of hoped those grilled cheeses were still going to be able to find them, because now that he’d thought about food, he was very aware that his stomach was empty.
Laura clocked the guy he thought was Ellis Long immediately – he saw her do it as they sat. The thin, sallow man was seated at a table in the corner on his own, nursing a pint of what looked like soda. He was watching the bar around him, not looking down at a phone or anything else, which made it all the more difficult to surveil him. With proximity, however, Nate was hoping to overhear anything he might say – and maybe even tempt him to engage them in conversation, thinking they were just patrons like him.
“You think he’s going to know to bring the grilled cheeses over?” Nate asked, because they had to pretend to engage in normal conversation in order to fool their mark. And, also, yes, because he was hungry.
“I gave him a nod as we moved,” Laura said, setting her glass down after another sip. “He knows.”
“Good, good,” Nate said. “So, uh. How’s Lacey doing with school?”
Laura gave him a blank look for a moment, then seemed to look inside herself for a moment as she changed gears. “Yeah, she’s doing good. I mean, it’s her first proper year of school. It’s all new. But it’s not like they have big grade milestones to pass yet. I think she’s doing fine.”
“That’s good,” Nate nodded. “Does she go to the same school as Amy?”
“No,” Laura said, then laughed. “God, no. Marcus has her in a school near his home. Neither of us would be able to afford the school Chris put Amy in.”
“She could probably move, though,” Nate said, glancing at Laura sideways and keeping Ellis Long in his peripheral vision.
“Why would she move?” Laura asked.
“Because, you know,” Nate shrugged. “You and Chris are getting pretty close, I thought. You told him everything and he accepted it, right?”
“Yeah…” Laura frowned, as if she was troubled by what he had said.
“I shouldn’t have said anything,” Nate backtracked hastily. He didn’t actually want to distract her from the task at hand – it was just supposed to be small talk. “I’m sure you guys will figure everything out in your own time. Marcus might not want Lacey to change schools, anyway. I’m babbling.”
Laura flashed him a smile. “You are babbling,” she agreed.
“Two grilled cheeses,” a waitress announced, swooping by their table with two plates. Nate’s eyes almost jumped out of his head at the size of the meals: dripping in stringy, hot, melted cheese, they looked just a little like heaven. He was going to have to spend some time in the gym to make up for this, but it looked like it was going to be more than worth it.
“Thanks,” Laura said, and Nate mumbled in agreement, unable to take his eyes off the feast that had been set before him. In retrospect, maybe he should have had more than a snack on the road for lunch.
“How you doing, Ellis? Need a top-up?” the waitress asked.
Nate tried very hard not to go still and give the game away.
“Nah, I’m fine,” the man at the table behind them said.
