“Thank you for stopping by. I really appreciate the company and the food.”
I’m not just making nice because I’ll be working with these guys in less than two weeks; I really appreciate that they thought of me like this.
I take a bite of a chicken breast and realize how hungry I am. “Mmm. This is good.”
“It’s from Kelly’s. They make good food there,” Rover says.
CT laughs. “You’ll use any excuse to stop in there.” Turning to me, he says, “He has a thing for Kelly, the owner.”
Rover shrugs. “She’s hot.”
“And wants nothing to do with you,” CT adds. “But we all have to go in there sometime so Cody can enjoy the show.”
“Show?” I ask.
“The Rover getting shot down show.”
Rover grabs another piece of chicken. “Okay, enough of that. What I want to know is what happened to that Joseph guy. Stormy said our assignment to protect him ended?”
I finish chewing, trying not to moan—it’s seriously that good. “According to Vince, his debts were paid off and Joseph is living in paradise. He even has a postcard from Joseph to prove it. And the university says Joseph stopped showing up for work and they fired him.”
Rover stops mid-bite. “A postcard? Do you believe it?”
I shrug. “He’s either in paradise or someone killed him and covered it up.”
Rover stares at me. “I don’t know how you can do that. Not knowing would drive me nuts. I’d have to find out for closure.”
“And that right there is why we call him Rover. He’s like a dog with a bone. About everything.” CT shakes his head. “Drives me crazy.”
“Oh yeah? Well, if it weren’t for my persistence, we never would have wrapped up that last assignment so quickly, would we?”
CT stops chewing to consider his point. “Okay, I’ll concede it helped in that one case.”
Rover scoops the rest of the mashed potatoes onto his plate. “One case my ass. It’s helped a hell of a lot more than that. That’s why I get the primo assignments.”
“Yeah, like babysitting a college administrator?” CT jabs as he grabs the mashed potato container. “What the hell? You finished it?”
Rover throws a chicken bone at him, and CT jumps up with a scream.
“Did you just scream?” I ask.
CT’s eyebrows shoot up. “Did you see what he threw at me?”
“A small chicken bone.” I point to it on the ground.
“Yes, but he chewed on that. It has his saliva all over it!”
“And that makes you scream like a girl?” I ask.
“Sit your ass down, CT.” Rover grabs another drumstick and digs in.
“What does CT stand for?” I ask.
“Camel Toe,” Rover says, grinning.
I set my chicken down and turn to CT. “Is that your call sign?”
“Unfortunately, yes.”
