Cain laughed again. “That would make me sort of an asshole if I piled on a lot of work on a date night, Agent. If that’s the type of person you’re dating now, you could do better.”

“Thanks, but I could do without the dating advice.”

“Your loss, and call if you need something warm. I’ll have one of the guys bring you out a hot toddy.”

The line went dead, and she finally had to laugh as she lowered the window. “Hey, the Caseys just landed in one of the open pastures. According to Cain, they were in Chicago for a date night.” She spoke into her phone but loud enough for Dylan to hear.

“Wait, she called and told you that?” Dylan asked.

“She did, and if you’re ready, I need to go and meet Joe. Do you need anything?” She waited for Dylan to shake her head and then drove off when she didn’t say anything else.

“She called me too, and I have no idea how she got my number,” Joe said when he got in her car. He couldn’t leave until his replacement showed up. “It’s always surprising to hear her voice.”

“It’s called poking the bear with a stick,” she said.

“You see us as the bear in this scenario?” Joe asked and smiled. “That’s the true definition of optimism. Let’s go pick up the rest of our team. I see my backup driving up.”

He got back in his car and followed her to the hotel. They had a couple of hours, so they decided to have a cup of coffee before they drove to the airport. The café was open, and they noticed Cain sitting alone at a booth with a steaming cup in front of her. There’d been no call from Dylan, so they could only assume she’d followed Cain into town. It was strange to see her out alone without Lou’s large presence behind her.

“Is it against the law to buy you a cup of coffee?” Cain asked, pointing to the other side of the booth when they stared a moment too long.

“You got here fast,” Shelby said, sliding in first. “We spoke to you like forty-five minutes ago.”

“Your friend sitting outside followed me here, so I kept to the speed limit. God forbid I break the law when I’m under your microscope. And I’m only in town because my father-in-law is buying feed and introducing his girlfriend and showing off his grandchildren to all his old buddies. I have some time to kill. Seeing you, though, reminds me that we need to have an off-the-record conversation.”

“Agent Gardner is recording this, which means I can’t guarantee it’s going to be off the record,” Joe said.