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Morgan sat cross-legged on her bed, the backpack just in front of her. All she had to do is open it, and she'd know something. It had to be important to Roman, at least a little, because he talked someone into crossing state lines to get to it. That was more attention than he'd shown her or Ava in the last 15 years...
And this was about the 15th time she'd told herself all this, and she still hadn't opened the damn bag.
She groaned, squeezing her eyes shut as she dropped her head into her hands. Then she did what she wanted to do almost the entire damn time and called Karadec. Was it bad that calling her partner for comfort had started to become a reflex? Absolutely. She'd get right on that.
Tomorrow.
This time, he picked up after the first ring. "Is everything okay?"
Morgan's chest tightened even as she pretended it didn't. It should not be this much of a relief just to hear someone's voice. "Arthur gave me Roman's bag, but I can't make myself up open it."
"You don't have to," Karadec said immediately. "You can bring it into the station if you want, and we can do it together. Or one of us can do it for you."
Morgan started shaking her head before he finished. "Thanks, but I really don't want to risk Wagner seeing it. If I get it to one of you guys, I'll feel better if it's under the table."
"We can do that." His voice gentled. "Want to talk about it?"
Yes. No. The part of her brain occupied by Roman was too big, too tender, and too close to feelings she once had for him and absolutely positively did not have for Karadec. There might be a safe way to have that discussion, but she was too upset and stressed out right now to even try to figure it out.
There was something else, though. "I think Ava's actually the one who got us the bag," she said finally, forehead back in her hand. "She followed me when I told her not to, because she is terrifyingly my child, and we ended up screaming at each other over it."
He paused. "In my experience, screaming at someone isn't the best way to encourage them to stay safe."
Morgan let out a breath. "I know." She rubbed at the impending headache. "I should go back to not telling her about any of this."
"Sure. Then she'll follow you to the next whatever it is without telling you she's there."
She made an exasperated noise, but a little bit of the awfulness inside her had eased. It was just so much easier to talk about all this with someone, and Karadec was even better at calling her on her bullshit than Ludo was. "Has anyone ever mentioned you're really annoying when you're right?"
"You have. Many times." The warmth in his voice was even more of a comfort. "It's probably why we work together so well."
"Probably." She couldn't help but smile a little. "On that note, you should absolutely feel free to call me if you're ever having a nervous breakdown outside of work hours. I know you don't really do that, but if you ever change your mind I will 100 percent be there for you."
The silence that followed was longer this time, heavier somehow, and Morgan had just enough time to regret having somehow made this awkward when he finally spoke. "I saw you and Captain Wagner talking before you went home," he said finally. "Outside the station."
She blinked, surprised at the seemingly random change in topic, but at least this had an easy answer. "Yeah, I set up Wagner a little bit. He went pretty heavy on the flirting, that first time I ran into him, so I decided to do it back and see what happened. Not sure how good it's going to be for getting information, but he confirmed more than he thought he did."
If he was focused on her, he'd be too distracted to go after everyone else. And if he really was thinking with his dick, even partially, he'd be easier to manage. There was more to it than that, she was sure, but she was going to use any weapon she could get.
There was a quiet sound on the other end of the phone, like Karadec had let out a breath. "Good to know," he said finally, something in his voice she couldn't put her finger on. "I wouldn't have thought of that. I've never been good enough at flirting."
An instinctive protest rose up – he was great at banter when you got him relaxed enough – then she realized it proved his point. The kind of flirting they were talking about wasn't supposed to mean anything except a signal of interest. It was designed to be done with strangers.
Everything Karadec did had meaning. You just had to get to know him before you could translate it.
Morgan swallowed, shoving the emotion behind the thought down into the deepest, darkest hole she could find. "You're great at taking care of people, though," she managed finally, trying desperately to make her voice sound normal. "That's a lot more important than flirting in the long run."
Karadec made a small disbelieving sound. "My ex wouldn't agree with you on that one," he said quietly. "She told me once that I had a rule book instead of a heart."
Morgan hadn't given serious thought to plotting a murder in awhile, but Karadec's ex suddenly seemed like an excellent subject. Especially given how much better she'd be at it now. "Well, your ex was clearly an idiot," she shot back, anger heating her voice. "The right woman knows exactly how huge your heart really is and is grateful for it every single day."
Silence followed that, deep as the ocean, and it was only then that Morgan processed her slip. She squeezed her eyes shut, cursing herself. If she'd thought she'd made it awkward before... "Will be, I mean." She cleared her throat. "She will be."
More silence followed, too much of it, then he cleared his throat as well. "Yeah. Of course." There was a small sound she couldn't identify. "Thanks."
She opened her eyes, because the other option was imagining the expression on his face and that was not something she could handle right now. "Like I said, any time." She tried to keep her voice brisk, hoping she was doing a better job of it than she did last time. "Now, though, I should probably let you go and see if I can take another crack at that backpack."
"You don't have to." He was clearly trying just as hard to pretend she hadn't fucked up back there, and she would absolutely love him for it if she didn't already. "But if you really want to, I can stay on the phone if you think that would help."
See? An absolute fucking champion at taking care of people. His ex must have been blind. "No, I should be able to do this." She'd never be able to keep it together if he stayed with her through this. "Though I can go get some gloves if you think I should."
"No, we already have Roman's prints." His voice was so gentle. "Take care of yourself, Morgan. I'll be awake if you need to call me again."
Blind and brain dead. "I will."
After they ended the call, Morgan set her phone down in her lap instead of putting it away. Then, taking a deep breath, she reached for the backpack.