“No,” Nolan answered, but as I started to argue with him, he stopped me. “Let’s brainstorm about this with the team. Technically, Paradise Cruises is an open investigation. Maybe we can figure something out that doesn’t involve you quitting, or using up all your time off.”
We’d invited the rest of the team to the conference room to join us. Nolan and I had just finished explaining everything, and we’d asked for their input, which they were happy to give.
“Have you considered just arresting her for something? That will keep her from going on the cruise,” Gabe said, and with his dry sense of humor, I wasn’t sure how serious he was.
“What are you suggesting I arrest her for?” I asked sarcastically.
“Well, let’s see,” Gabe answered. “So far, she’s planted bugs in someone’s car and office, and who’s to say if she got those legally. Then, she went through Paradise Cruises’ property without permission, on more than one occasion. I’m still debating on whether we could charge her with obstruction of justice, for all the interfering she’s done in our investigation. And don’t forget, she also attacked William Reeves with a wine bottle—.”
Apparently, he was very serious about arresting Kassidy.
“That was self-defense!” Kate interrupted.
“I know that, but we could still arrest her for assault, and hold her until the cruise leaves without her. Hell, we don’t even have to arrest her to just detain her for a few days,” Gabe replied smugly. “Instead of a cruise, she could spend her vacation in a jail cell.”
“You’re an asshole,” I told him, fighting the urge to cross the room and punch him in his smug face.
“Hey, man, I was just playing devil’s advocate,” Gabe said with a smirk, raising his hands in the air innocently.
“Devil’s advocate my ass,” I replied, my fists clenching. I was furious with him. Our team typically got along really well, including Gabe and me, but I wasn’t going to sit there and allow him to disrespect Kassidy in that way.
“Stop it, Gabe,” Ally interrupted with a frown, and I chugged from my bottle of water, trying to calm down. “Evan isn’t going to arrest her. He clearly has feelings for her.” I started to choke on the water I was drinking, shocked at her statement. The liquid burned as it went down the wrong windpipe, and I couldn’t stop coughing as Ally looked over at me with a mixture of humor and disdain. “And yes, you are that obvious. We saw how you looked at her on Friday. At a crime scene with a dead body, no less.”
I started to speak, but Kate cut me off. “Just ignore Gabe. He’s in a bad mood because he’s in love with Evie, and she’s friend-zoned him.”
As if rehearsed, nine people’s heads turned at exactly the same time, all of us focusing on Gabe, as if seeing him with fresh eyes. For just the smallest fraction of a second, his normal poker face was gone, and I saw hurt and embarrassment in his eyes, before his face became blank once again. We’d all seen Gabe and Evie, Harper’s best friend, make an inexplicable connection at last year’s Christmas party, and since then, a friendship had developed between them. But Kate had obviously been paying closer attention to their current dynamic, or she had insider knowledge, since her comment seemed to hit a nerve.
“That still doesn’t give you the right to be an asshole,” I said, mostly to myself, but the anger was already starting to diminish. I hated seeing my friend hurting, so it didn’t take too much effort to forgive him.
“Are we ready to move on?” Nolan asked, and once everyone was quiet, he continued. “Arresting Kassidy is off the table. I’ll agree, she hasn’t made the best decisions. But as far as I can tell, she hasn’t committed any crimes, and everything she’s done has been in an effort to help our investigation and to rescue trafficking victims. I’m not throwing her in a holding cell and leaving her at the mercy of corrections officers and actual criminals. I’d like to keep my conscience clear.”
“Plus, she’s a foreign diplomat, so she has diplomatic immunity,” Ally pointed out. “I’m pretty sure that if we arrested her, unless she’d flat out murdered someone, we’d start an international incident with Finland.”
“Exactly,” I said, glad that Nolan and Ally were on my side. “Do we have any other ideas?”
“No ideas yet, but I have a question,” Mason interrupted. “Is this going to be a solo mission for Evan, or will more than one of us be going?”
“I’m open to either,” Nolan said. “I think it depends on the strategy we come up with.”
“How is it going to work to go on a cruise ship, accompanying a civilian playing detective, when we’re actual law enforcement officers?” Ally asked, and she appeared to be contemplating her own question. “If Kassidy gets caught sneaking around—as long as they don’t realize she’s trying to bring their entire company down for trafficking people—she might get a slap on the wrist, maybe a lifetime ban from their cruise line. But if we get caught sneaking around without a warrant, and they figure out we’re FBI, it’s going to be a big deal. Like a national news, Lifetime movie made about us, kind of big deal.”
“What are the other options?” Knox asked. “There must be something.”
“We don’t have enough for a warrant?” Kate questioned.
“Only if we called in a favor or had a corrupt judge,” I said, “or if we suddenly found a jackpot of evidence. But if we serve a warrant, then there’s no reason to go on the cruise. It would probably be cancelled.”
“We don’t need to go on the cruise if we’re serving a warrant,” Wes pointed out. “And if it’s cancelled, Kassidy isn’t in danger. Problem solved.”
“Let’s operate under the assumption that we don’t have enough for a warrant,” I suggested, since getting one quickly seemed highly unlikely. “Honestly, this would be a lot easier if we knew the dates of the cruise. Then we’d know if we had time to get more evidence and get a warrant.”
“Can you call Kassidy and find out the dates?” Knox asked.
“I can try,” I said, but when I dialed her number, she didn’t answer. I hoped that she was just busy, and that she wasn’t ignoring me, or actively in danger.
“Did she tell you anything about the cruise that could help us narrow down the dates?” Liam asked.
“No,” I said, shaking my head, and then an idea hit me. “Maybe Tex could find out?”
“I’m sure that would be a piece of cake for him,” Nolan responded. More than anyone else on the team, Nolan was familiar with Tex, and the magic that he could work. “I’ll text him.”
He did, and had just set his phone back down on the table when it rang.
“Hello?” Nolan answered, putting the phone on speaker.
“Hey, Nolan. What do you need?”
“Hey, Tex. It’s Evan,” I interrupted, surprised at how quickly he’d called. “It’s actually me who needs the help. Sorry to ask for your help again so soon, but it’s important.”
“It’s no problem. What do you need?”