But he wasn’t leaving here without a few minutes of personal interaction. He had career decisions to make, and while he’d ruled out any more undercover fieldwork, he did have to decide where to establish a home base.

And that decision depended on Cate.

After all the years he’d been away from St. Louis, she was his sole tie to the city. If she intended to cut him out of her life once their cases were over, working out of this office could be awkward down the road if an assignment brought them together again.

He took a seat on the couch.

Business first.

“We got a tip that there’s a sizeable drug shipment coming our direction from Mexico, heading for Chicago. We think they could detour to Ivy Hill en route, sometime this week.”

“What’s your plan?”

“Observe, as we’ve been doing—and hope they use the school as a drop spot. Now that my cover’s blown, they have to know we’re watching the place. They may change locations—unless it was too late to make other arrangements.”

“What if they do switch drop sites?”

“Our ace in the hole is Jackson Jones. We can also pull Fischer in for questioning. I doubt he’ll be of much help bringing the ring down, but if he realizes he’s going to be charged as an accessory, I expect he’ll tell us what he knows. He may offer a useful nugget.”

“Speaking of Fischer”—she took the towel off and finger-combed her hair—“we did more digging into his credit card charges . . . and we’ve uncovered the source of his financial issues. Online gambling.”

“Ouch.” He winced. “That can rack up debt fast—which could have set him up for extortion.” He leaned back and tapped a finger on the cushioned arm of the couch. “It may be time to reel him in. If he’s the Ivy Hill inside connection, he’ll know when the delivery is going to happen. That would be helpful information to have.”

“As long as you aren’t concerned he’ll alert his contacts.”

“Once he knows he’s on our radar, he’d have too much to lose by doing that. Keeping his mouth shut will be safer for him all around.”

“It’s worth a try.” She gingerly crossed her legs. “I also have an update on Evans. The lab confirmed that the package did contain a joint. We’ll be launching a separate investigation into his drug dealings—but we’re holding off taking any action until you’re finished at Ivy Hill.”

“Are you still thinking he may have been involved in Stephanie’s disappearance?”