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Nate smiled at his grilled cheese. He’d been right. That was Ellis Long. Now they had his identity confirmed, the only thing left to do was watch his behavior.
Nate grabbed one half of his sandwich and took a healthy-sized bite, almost rolling his eyes back into his head at the flavor. He tasted at least three types of cheese, and the bread was soaked in butter before it was grilled – he could sense just how much.
It was so good, he almost forgot for a minute that they were there to do a job, not just to have dinner.
“This is so good,” he said out loud, knowing again that it was a good idea to keep acting normal and having a conversation. People didn’t just sit in silence when they were having dinner together, not unless there was some serious source of awkwardness between them.
“Yeah, it’s really nice,” Laura said, but he noticed she was only picking at it.
“You want to order anything else?” he asked. “I mean, we could get fries or something to go with it?”
“No, no,” Laura sighed, taking another bite as if to prove that she was fine. “This is good. You’re right.”
Nate felt like he was being pulled in too many directions. There was the grilled cheese, which his stomach and tongue loudly demanded he pay attention to, since it was both necessary and delicious. There was Laura, who seemed to be struggling a little – and he hoped it wasn’t because of what he had said about Chris.
And there was Ellis Long, sitting in silence right by them, who was too observant to be observed and yet wasn’t doing anything to give them more of an in.
Nate took a few more bites in silence, hyper alert to everything around them. A couple from a nearby table got up and left. He glanced around at the other patrons of the bar, wondering if there was anyone who fit Long’s type, but there didn’t seem to be any drunk women on their own. Then again, if they were alone when they left, that was a different issue.
Then another movement to the side caught Nate’s attention, and he realized very fast that it was the worst possible thing.
Ellis Long was leaving the bar.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Laura looked up and felt her heart drop at the fact that Ellis Long was standing up, picking up his coat from the chair beside him and putting it on.
He was leaving.
She glanced at Nate.
“Do you want to go?” Nate asked, which was about as clear as he could be without actually saying it out loud.
Laura didn’t answer him; there wasn’t time. He’d made it clear that he would go with her decision. She turned instead, as if she was just casually trying to get someone’s attention.
“Ellis Long?” she asked, in a voice that was low enough for only him to hear it. The less of a fuss they caused here, the better.
He nodded, frowned, and looked at her with what she could only describe as the deepest possible level of distrust.
“Could we have a chat?” she asked. The table that Nate had chosen had four chairs, and they were only taking up two of them. “You can have a seat.”
“Who are you?” Long responded, his frown deepening further.
“It’s just an informal chat,” Laura said. And she took a chance, because she couldn’t see any other way to get him to sit down at the table and talk to them. She showed him her badge.
“What the hell?” Long exploded, his voice loud enough to make several people around them turn and stare. “Is this some kind of entrapment?”
“No, it’s an informal chat,” Laura said, trying to remain outwardly calm as her heart pounded in her chest. In her head, she began running scenarios. The worst case would be if everyone else in the bar was pro-Ellis Long and anti-FBI, and things turned violent. “We’re just here having dinner, and I happened to overhear your name. Well, we’re in town taking a review of a couple of cold cases, so we just wanted to check up on whether you had given a witness statement to the initial investigation.”
“Well, I can answer that for you right now,” he snorted. “I’ve never given a witness statement to any investigation. Now, I’m leaving.”
“Just hold on,” Nate said, holding out a hand as Ellis Long tried to pass by. “We’d like you to make one if it’s not too much trouble. It’s very simple. A few yes or no answers. It won’t take up much of your time.”
“I’m not letting you do some fit-up job on me,” Long snarled, backing away.
“I really think it’s a good idea that you have just an informal chat with us now,” Laura said. There was a fine line between spooking him and making him feel like it was in his best interests to stay, and she was losing confidence that she could walk that line. “I don’t want to have to do this down at the local precinct, and neither do you.”
“Screw you, pigs,” he snarled, and made a move towards the exit.
