2020-08-06 - Rundowns and Playbacks

It's hard to put your professional life on hold just because a corrupt cop is looking for ways to fuck your fiancee over. The fact that he has other corrupt cop goons makes it even more difficult. But Byron brings some of those issues here to his place of work: His office at the Grand Olympic.

The room is large with a wide open view of the bay via wall-sized windows. Byron's at his desk currently with his laptop set up in front of him as he's typing away at a few memos while his eyes constantly shift to stare at the time. He'd told Ruiz to come and meet with them here. It should be any moment now.

"Were you able to get into contact with Abitha yet?" He asks Lilith, gaze lifting to regard her from his post. "I'm sure Alexander will want to know about this incident," He says as he types, "I'll send him a message at some point." Meaning, not at this moment.

"I've called, but she might be screening her calls or just unavailable. I'll leave a voice message next time I call, no use putting certain things in text. She might not even want to talk about it with me, it's not like we've done anything but show in the same room together sometimes. I don't know what her situation is, either, for her to be drawing attention like this, so... careful hands. I'm employing tact. Which yes, I'm entirely capable of when I'm not no-filter blunt hammering someone."

Lilith isn't at Byron's desk, she's at the windows in a strappy-topped pants jumpsuit of navy blue with silver heels and a dangling silver chain belt at the waist. It makes the barest tinks and chiming clinks of noise when the woman moves, which might be some kind of passive assurance to Byron in general (like wearing a cat bell)-- he doesn't really have to look up from what he's doing to know she's around or what she's doing and paranoia is unwittingly high these days.

"I'll get the door when de la Vega gets here. And here..." The brunette's hair is up in a chic bun to sync with her casual elegance of attire, but there's artful tendrils free. When she turns and comes to lean with her hands on Byron's desk to flick a small hard drive USB at him, she leans there with one of those loose pieces pitched over her eyes in looking at the man, eye shadow smoked to make the blue stand out, just like her outfit color choice, "In case we want to show him the footage."

Then after drawing in a huge breath and eyeing the man a moment, she turns to wander back toward the windows for the view so that she's not tempted by this other view she's complimenting, "... and you are goddamn sexy behind that desk."

Byron receives a text once the acting Chief arrives at the Casino, and is headed for the elevator that'll take him up to the offices at the top. Be there in five. Nothing more, no specifics about why he's here, and no questions. He knows better than to leave a paper trail.

There's a rap on the door about four minutes later, and assuming Llilith does in fact open it, the captain's standing there looking like any other man of reasonable means come here to spend some money on slots. A nice shirt tucked into dark silk-wool blend trousers, an Armani jacket pulled over top that looks tailored to his bulky shouldered frame. His beard's been recently trimmed and his hair looks a little less scruffy than usual; it's probably the closest the surly Mexican comes to looking sharp.

"Thorne. Miss Winslow." The pair are greeted gruffly, and he waits to be invited in.

There were others who Lilith wanted to contact. Joey Kelly being one of them. But with Ruiz on his way, there's no need to inquire about that particular point of contact aloud.

Outside in the hall, there's at least one security guard standing near Thorne's office door. Another one, their partner, is probably not positioned very far. He has them working in pairs.

The gentle sound of tapping continues on through the room, the man's long fingers typing away at this or that memo, all the while checking things off his mental list, while adding new to-do's. "Try to find out where she's staying and we'll drop by as soon as we can. Though it might be safer to do so in public. " Then there's the sound of chains clinking together to alert him of Lilith's movements, before his gaze falls on the USB drive set down on his desk. There definitely was paranoia abound, so rather than leave it laying there, he immediately reaches for it to stash in his breast coat pocket for good measure. "Thanks. I'm sure he'll want a copy."

He's so distracted that the compliment given him pulls him out of his mental calendar and lists, giving him this time to afford her a smile before his phone trembles upon his desk. "He's heading here now."

After a few moment, when Ruiz shows up, the guy outside the door steps aside to give the man passage.

His dark eyes on the clock, Byron's gaze slowly settles on the door before him. If something were wrong, they would've heard the commotion, but he rises up from behind his desk still. He then hears from his ear piece. "It's Clear."

"I guess we should let our guest in."

"Did someone get a haircut? Looking sharp, gunner." Lilith tells de la Vega after opening the door with both Byron and the man's voice on the other side as prompt. She has one of those stretchy wrapped bandages over and around her right hand, but she's still using it to open and close the door and make a sweep of inviting gesture for the interim chief to step inside. And when he's in, she knocks the door to close with a heel.

Instead of launching straight into the little problem they have to share, though, after a look at Byron, the woman can tell he's in full planning and business mode and ready to leap on handling the situation. So she lets him, twitching up a hint of a smile at him while she passes by the desk to go to the mini-bar area inside the office, "Drink? Beers in the under cooler and stiff top shelf bottles under the lid." She includes Byron himself in this drink invitation after extending it to Ruiz.

If the security detail wants to frisk him, the cop'll submit (very grudgingly) to a patdown. But he's keeping that big lug of a Sig he's got shoved into his shoulder holster, under his suit jacket. And anything more than a cursory search is going to get his hackles up.

Once Lilith waves him in, he prowls on past, dark eyes ticking toward her with a very slight narrowing when she calls him gunner. "Gunny," he corrects in a rough grumble. "And who'd you get that one from, Marshall?" Easton's about the only one who's called him that, after all. Not that he misses that stupid son of a bitch. Noooope. "Beer's fine," he adds a moment after, then cuts his gaze back to Byron as he steps closer to the man's desk.

"What's going on?" It comes out a little testily. Could be he's a tetch annoyed at being summoned like a dog. Or maybe he's just tired, and has had a long fucking day.

Oh, Byron has a cup of coffee right next to his lap top. "I'm good, thanks." He says flashing Lilith a smile as she plays hostess.

Now that Ruiz is inside, the door shut for privacy behind him, while Lilith doesn't start in on their issue, Byron will. "de la Vega. I'm glad that you could meet us on such short notice." There's a pause as he takes in the man's emotional state, visually, more than by using any of his Talents. Seeing that the man is accepting beer at this hour, makes the businessman wonder whether the cop is on duty or not. "Please, have a seat."

Byron, in turn, settles down, "It seems that we have ourselves a problem." While he's sure that Ruiz has seen this card somewhere before, Byron sets it down on the table, fingers pushing it closer to where Ruiz is situated. "We were visited by Officer Liu and four other cops. They had a legitimate search warrant on them, signed by an official... who I know, because I read the documentation, who wrote his signature in fear for his life." He then goes on to offer up the name of this Judge. "Strangely, the item that they were searching for, was supposedly a PS4 console. One that was turned in prior to their visit." There's a crease in his brow now as he ponders, "Has there been any recent cas... situations involving Officer Liu?"

"I didn't get it from anywhere, you just like your gun. I don't know why things pop out of me like they do sometimes." Lilith tells Ruiz with a glance back over her shoulder from the minibar, brows lifted a tick. She didn't mean to remind him of Easton, that's not a good subject for much of anyone nowadays. In fact, she almost sounds a little apologetic about just popping on the one-off nickname on a whim. But then she's leaning to get into the cooler under the mini-bar for a beer as requested, popping the top open as she ticks a little nod to Byron's gesture toward sticking to coffee.

She starts to bring the beer right over to the interim chief, but after a beat of pause, she leans back down to get her own beer too for popping and carrying. They're some artisan pale lagers from some neato Seattle brewery. They have a snazzy name on the bottles too-- Beyond the Pale. Clever ass hipsters with brewing companies, eh? Anyway, it tastes better than Heineken. After passing one over to Ruiz, Lilith settles down to sit with one leg crossing over the other across from Byron's desk, leaving the other chair for de la Vega while he listens to the brief of the problematic account.

If she has more to add or ask, she's holding it for the time being, looking at the Mexican fellow with a bare knit of her brows that holds in perpetual now that the subject of Liu is on the table. She waits to see what he says about Byron's words and questions.

No visible badge, no ID clipped to his belt. Just the gun, which isn't his standard service pistol; odds are, he isn't on duty. "Gracias," is murmured in return for the offered beer, along with a quick turn of his lips in what might pass for a smile. The cap's popped with a flick of his thumb, and set atop Byron's desk with a soft clack. And then he sets to listening carefully, tongue skimming his teeth as he cogitates on the facts as they're presented.

"Maybe not so strangely," he murmurs, tipping the bottle back finally for a swig. Then claiming a seat, finally, next to Lilith. A soft noise in his throat as he settles, like it agitates some injury or other. "Liu came after Ms. Machinae at her store as well, looking for a game console. Probably the same one. I can't discuss any active cases, Thorne, you know that." Amusement flickers across his dark eyes as he watches the younger man.

Then, "Do you have it?" What, he doesn't specify. Probably, though, they know what he means.

Whether Byron takes notice of some of Ruiz's ginger movements, he's not nosy enough to ask. At least at the moment. "Right. I knew that he hit the Control Pad and burned it down, but it's surprising that he went there to look for a gaming console." Leaning back against his seat, his fingers lace with his hands settling just above his midsection as a contemplative gesture. "At first, I thought he had the console planted at the pawn shop, having someone drop it off due to it being stolen." He shakes his head because he's not completely sure. "Is that a similar stunt that he pulled with Machinae?"

Yes, he doesn't immediately answer whether they have the console or not, allowing Lilith to do so if she wants. "I'd heard that this was similar to a shakedown, but that could have just been my interpretation to it all. But did someone drop the console off at the Control Pad just prior to Liu's visit?"

Lilith looks a wee bit confused when de la Vega uses so much emphasis about that 'something' that they may or may not have. She probably knows what he means, but she thought the machine was likely just a way to get a warrant and little else, despite the cautions they took with the machine and the plans they made regarding it. After a couple of bats of lashes, she looks over at Byron and tilts her head a touch at his next question, thoughtful and biding time. Something about all of that is bothering her and she can't quite pinpoint where it's feeling disjointed.

After a sudden intake of breath, her head shakes a little bit, but not indicatively when it comes to the machine, it's more of another confusion and bother gesture before she decides to speak and stop playing passive. Turning a bit in her seat with shift, she drinks from her beer with long pull, "Yes, I'm obligated by law to return stolen merchandise if there's a police report that's legitimate and serial numbers or situation can prove it stolen. But that's all I have to do, really, for the things you can't really verify one way or another. Another reason the warrant was utter shit, coercion would have been necessary."

After a pause, she knits a bit deeper frown, "So he wants it back, but... he could have just taken it while he was there, it was literally for sale, I'm not sure they even looked at the damn merchandise. I figured it was just an excuse to come in and try to hassle me again when I return it. Is that not the case?"

There doesn't, in truth, seem to be any particular emphasis placed on the machine. The question appeared to be a casual one; he's not a Detective these days, hasn't done that kind of work in years. But old habits remain. To both sets of questions, however, the captain lifts big shoulders in a gesture of fuck if I know. "We're operating in the dark here, Thorne," he offers about as levelly has he can muster. "My department's being pinned between Monaghan on the one side, and this fucker Reyes on the other, using my own men against me." He looks the younger man in the eye when he says that, then downs another slug of beer, cuts his gaze to a window.

"Liu is one of his. Reyes's guys. That much, I know. And my guess is that he was too fucking stupid to find it. Too caught up in shaking you two down for information. That, or you're right and he was here for something else. I just don't have any leads on what that could be."

Reyes. This may be the first time that Byron has heard that name mentioned as far as his player is concerned. He has doubts that Ruiz will come out and share more of this information, but he has to ask, "Reyes who? I'm just wondering if I might know of him. If he has money, I tend to." Mostly legitimate businesses, though there are few less so. Leaning forward a touch, he asks, "Do you need assistance in trying to weed out the corrupt in your department?" The way that he says this and that direct look in his eyes on Ruiz should speak volumes on the fact that he means using mentalist powers. "I'd offer my services."

What Byron knew was the fact that there was another cartel in play and from things that he'd learned, he had a feeling Liu went to where the money was. So he's pleased by this confirmation. Reaching into his pocket, he pulls out the the USB drive, "I don't know what was found at the Control Pad that night, but we have surveillance footage of the person who dropped off the console. Whether that's important or not, I don't know. I don't know how they are connected to Liu, but you might recognize them."

Rather than simply hand the drive to Ruiz, he sticks into the port on the side of his laptop to play the footage for the man first. Closing out unnecessary programs, he pulls up the video feed before turning to face the laptop to Ruiz as he runs the footage.

"The ID and signature used names her as Bridget K. Turnblom. I didn't do the exchange, so the ID might not be real, who knows..." Lilith says to the Mexican fellow nearby as Byron starts to play the pinpointed section of surveillance videos with the ability to screencap on pause and zoom for details. She drinks her beer while uncrossing her legs and scooting to the edge of the chair to watch as the showing is presented. Her eyes are a bit narrowed, as if she's looking for something she might have missed on review prior, tone thoughtful.

"See, he supposedly wants me to give him the security footage of this and the console next we meet. Given he knew I had surveillance running while he was visiting, he may have just wanted to seem like he was asking for evidence collection and arrange for a second time around to get to the damn meat of however he wants to try and bend me over." Her eyes cut to Byron briefly with that turn of phrase before she twitches a bit of a helpless smile, "Probably not like that, though."

Lifting a hand to poke some loose hair behind an ear, she offers all too seriously to Ruiz, "There's a copy from outside the building on this drive too, the day he came." A pause, "He fell and ate shit on the sidewalk on the stroll out. I made you bonus footage, this is a special edition copy."

Alexander is late, but for once, it's not because he was walking across town. He's actually driving a classic Ford Fairlane (on loan), and he's being very, very careful with it. He parks it in the parking lot, stopping for a while to stare at the places where the bodies dropped, before he ducks his head and walks in, texting Byron along the way. He's dressed casually, as usual: an overlarge long-sleeved shirt that's really too hot for this weather, especially as he has a significantly deeper tan than he did only a week before, jeans, and his black workboots. If security tries to search him, they probably end up having to call Byron directly, because Alexander categorically refuses to allow strangers to put their hands on him.

But assuming that no one shoots him for being an unstable asshole, he arrives!

Ruiz gets a look on his face when Byron offers his services. Like maybe he realises he's said too much. Or, maybe the slip was intentional, in order to provide a little of that precious commodity they both hoard so closely. Trust.

He works his jaw slightly, then tips his beer back for another swallow. "Let's have a look at it," he murmurs, when the surveillance footage is mentioned. A glance goes to the thumb drive, then back to Byron's face as he waits for him to slot it in and cue up the feed. Then a soft thump of his beer being set down, followed by a small notepad being drawn out of an inner pocket of his jacket, and a pen. He flips to an empty sheet and scribbles something down when Lilith gives him a name, and watches the woman a moment longer before turning his attention to the laptop screen.

"He wants to meet up with you?" murmurs the cop, squinting slightly as he observes the camera feed. Another glance for Lilith when she mentions Liu falling and eating shit, but he doesn't comment on that.

Byron remains standing, circling his desk to view the laptop scree once the footage starts playing, his arms crossed over his chest. "Do you recognize that woman?" He asks the Interim Chief. He's more talking about the person in the video rather than the name. "Not knowing too much about what happened at the video game shop, I had thoughts that this person could have been an agent of Liu planting the stolen PS4 from the Control Pad into Lilith's shop, but from what you've just said, that is not the case. So what is his game then?"

Thorne had alerted his security of Alexander before the man's arrival, much the same as he did with Ruiz. That's the reason why neither are frisked and Byron is alerted that Clayton was in the building. He announces this to the room, half-turning towards the door, "Clayton's on his way."

He'll let Lilith respond to the questions posed to her. During this time, the guard at the office door opens the door for Alexander, allowing him entrance, before it's quickly shut.

"Glad that you could make it." Byron calls out to the other man, eyes still on the screen.

"Mmhmm. Didn't really give me a timeline or place, so I assume... when he feels like coming to find me. Wants this footage and the game console." Lilith provides to de la Vega while still scooted to the edge of her seat with forward lean while re-watching what she's seen before. Her eyes flit to Byron when he announces Clayton before the arrival, then she nods her head a singular small time. Her eyes are just a touch more pensive there for a beat while studiously watching the screen.

Then Alexander is in the room as priorly announced and Lilith pulls in a breath with her attention shifting to the new arrival. "Hey you..." She gets up from her seat across the desk next to Ruiz and gestures for the other man to take it, as it's positioned right across from a video on a laptop they're currently viewing, "Here, sit here, look at this first while it's playing... signature paperwork and ID copies are right here on the desk too. Don't know if you'll know what you're looking at, but it's playing, so watch it." While up and being bossy about where Clayton sits for reasons, she moves over to the minibar to grab the carafe that was brought, filling a new cup of coffee to give out to new arrival.

Then she refreshes Byron's coffee en route to stealing his actual desk chair for lounging in with her legs crossed like it's a throne. He's up pacing around anyway, it's fine.

"So mm. I'm going to have to work very hard to control myself during whatever Round Two is. He has very bad breath."

Alexander skitters into the office, eyeing security warily - and probably getting much the same look in return, although probably a more professional version of it. Still, while having to run the gauntlet of security, even warned security, clearly puts his hackles up, he pauses to smile at the people in the room, bobbing his head briefly at Byron's greeting. "Of course. You asked," he says, simply.

Lilith's bossing is met with meek compliance, and he sits where she tells him to sit, and starts to open his mouth to ask a question - but then she mentions that it's playing and tells him to watch, so he turns his face and watches, with only the briefest of pauses to accept the coffee with a murmur of thanks, and to peer at the paperwork. Clearly trying to figure out what, exactly, is going on.

The captain's mostly in observation mode, while Lilith putters and dispenses orders and fetches more coffee, and Byron announces someone else's arrival. Alexander, and tension slices through him when he realises who it is. Brief, but unmistakeable. He finishes off the beer he'd been drinking, scruffs an inked thumb through close-cropped beard. "No. No, I don't recognise her. I'd like to bring this back to the precinct, though, and take another look. It's inadmissible as evidence, but.." He makes a moue with his mouth. "Maybe there's something in there we've missed, that's relevant to the case."

Then, finally, a terse nod to the private investigator, and a twitch of something at the corners of his eyes that could be termed warmth. If one's being generous.

If no one else will fill Alexander in, Byron will. "Lilith's shop was hit the other day by Officer Liu. While he didn't burn the place down, he and his goons rifled through the entire place, supposedly looking for that." He points to the screen once he replays the surveillance footage. "The PS4 that this woman had turned in." On whatever date is listed on the corner and the paperwork. "Her name, supposedly, is Bridget K. Turnblom. Whether that's true or not, we're not sure."

He then moves forward, switching from one file to the next to pull up yet another video. This one is taken from several areas of the shop. "And this is the footage from that day." Now, the Veil might try to protect itself if there's anything to protect. If not, there may be some glimpses of Liu and the other four officers who make quite a mess of the place. "I figured you'd want this information as well." He tells Ruiz, "If you recognize any of them. Those are the officers helping Liu."

He'll step aside to allow Ruiz a better view of the footage, eyes turning first to Alexander and then to Lilith who is now sitting in the boss' seat behind the desk. He passes along a quiet smile despite what they are dealing with here. "Thanks." Still deciding to stand, he leans over his desk to reach for his coffee, taking a much needed sip, "We've yet to speak to Machinae, so I have how this game console fits into any of this."

While seated, Lilith's silver designer heel nudges the leather executive chair behind the desk in back and forth of tiny swivel, nodding some to de la Vega's request to keep the copies and thumb drive when finished here. She'd come prepared to do just that, no doubt with a master copy or two at home or elsewhere 'cause she's not a mindless moron. Most of the time, anyway, "Yes, you can take all of this with you, there might be something small we wouldn't know to look for. Plus you can run the name and ID copy and see what's what there-- but I certainly don't have to tell you how to job-routine, tsk."

The brunette clicks her tongue at herself as she gets slightly bossy again on accident, looking at the Captain with a bit of a rueful smile with the last bit tacked on. Then after a pull of breath, Lilith makes addendum to what Byron explains for her, something which gets a bit of a gracious smile from the woman, "Right, as Byron says. And he wants the footage and the gaming console from me when we meet again at... whatever point. We're not sure if the console is even important or just something that was used as a plant and excuse to push in."

Leaning forward over the desk, she plucks up her forgotten beer bottle before settling back down to sit and start gradually draining it. She's pretty calm, all told, doesn't even look that concerned, just bothered that she can't figure out some of the details and 'why' and 'what comes next'. But she's also suddenly being pretty quick with the beer, who knows. Stress or just the idea that you finish beer while it's still cold.

For once, Alexander seems the more at ease of the two of them, Ruiz and he, so he offers the acting chief a brief smile. "Javier. You look nice." But there is investigating to be done, so that's the only greeting, and the smile is gone by the time he turns back to the screen. Byron's explanation is listened to with a flicker of gratitude for the information, then a worried glance in Lilith's direction. "I'm glad they didn't try to burn down your shop," he murmurs. As his eyes go back to the feed, he tilts his head to the side. "Mm. Looks like they wanted to bust the place up. You don't need to do that to search for something like a PS4." His eyes flick from monitor to monitor, drinking it all in. "So you still have the console? It should be searched thoroughly. The woman clearly knew she'd be recorded. She's dressing to obscure her features."

His fingers tap out a rapid rhythm on the desk. "Roughing your place up, then demanding something they could have just taken?" He shakes his head. "Trying to recruit. See if you can be cowed. Or," he glances sidelong at Lilith, dark eyes sharp and thoughtful. But, for once, he doesn't just blurt out what he might be thinking. Instead, he says, "It could be both. Especially if Liu is following orders. He might not know how the equipment is valuable to his boss, so securing it isn't as high a priority as fucking with you."

Ruiz's phone goes off, somewhere in the midst of the video being swapped out. Frowning, the cop glances at the number before swiping down to ignore the call. Then his attention's refocused on the laptop screen, expression skewing into one of distaste when he spots what must be a familiar face, and then another, on the surveillance footage. "That's Russo and Zakrzewski," he offers tautly, indicating the two who went up to toss the loft. The others, he has to squint to make out; one gets a shake of his head, he can't verify the identity. The other is, "Poppenberg." Confirmed with a breath blown out his nose. That he's none too happy about any of this is pretty plainly obvious.

"Look, I've got to return this call." He glances at his phone again, before collecting it and scrolling through the various messages that have been received. "I assume the stolen property is on its way back to Ms. Machinae? I'd like you-" He cuts a glance to Lilith. "-to let me know when Liu wants to meet with you. I might want you to wear a wire." He doesn't say if you're willing, though when has de la Vega ever been good at asking permission for things?

Beer finished off, he observes the last of the footage before pushing to his feet slowly, and with a slight wince again. A twinge of a smile for Alexander's praise, but he doesn't quite meet the younger man's eyes when he murmurs, "Gracias." Then he's headed for the door. "Keep in touch, all of you."

The sound of Ruiz's phone draws Byron's attention the cop's way, but he says nothing of it, leaving the man to his own devices. Byron's used to getting calls in inopportune moments as well. When some of the names are mentioned, he slowly nods. Unlike older cops, like the ones who worked with his father, these were much younger recruits. Sure, they could have been at the precinct for a few years now, but he didn't grow up with them, even if he knows at least one of them by name.

"Good. Now you know who to look out for." Sipping his coffee again, he says to Ruiz, "My offer still stands. If you think there are more of Reyes' men outside of this rogue group."

To Alexander, he states, "The console was taken apart and put back together. Nothing out of place was found, but we might have it looked at by an actual electronics expert. Machinae, maybe? I was concerned about it being bugged, but nothing out of the ordinary was found."

However, when Ruiz tells Lilith that she'll be wearing a wiretap, well, Byron's eyes narrow slightly. "If I can, I'm hoping to be there. Maybe I should be the one wearing the wire." He's just concerned that they might react harshly towards her if it's found out. With that said, he pulls out the drive, handing it over to Ruiz. "That's your copy. We'll keep in touch, you don't have to worry about that."

"He doesn't strike me as a guy that calls ahead to make an appointment, so who knows if wires are even possible..." Lilith says to both the Captain and Byron, especially the latter as she tips her chin, "There's no guarantee I'll have time or company around when it happens, so. I suppose we'll see." The woman probably dislikes the idea and would rather just beat up the guy until he talks and goes away, but... her tone says they'll just cross that bridge when they come to it, however it plays out. And she does still have to go to work and grocery shopping and the post office and all manner of things to do the adult-life-thing... unless Byron locks her in a closet (it is a pretty big closet, though).

She rises up as the Captain makes to depart, letting Alexander sit and process for a moment with quiet thought and distraction. Stepping around the desk to where Byron is, she slips an arm around the man's back and flashes a small, but gracious smile after the departing older man, "Be safe. Thanks for coming by and listening." After the door closes, the woman looks at Alexander doing his signature mumble and quick exit soon after, leaving the couple in the room when all is said and done for now.

After a few bats of her lashes, she looks at Byron with a suddenly suspicious squint, "... are you going to put me on house arrest, buddy?"

Knowing that Lilith is right. It's not as if Liu called before breaking down the pawn shop door that day. However, Byron was given the number. "I'll call him." His eyes look to Lilith, "Make this appointment and we'll go from there. de la Vega should be prepared to move quickly once contact is made. I can't guarantee that Liu will show up on the appointed day or surprise us earlier. And if that happens, we set up a line to the GHPD on our phone and let them hear everything going on."

When they have some alone now time, Byron smiles faintly with a shake of his head. Rather than respond right away, he takes another drink of coffee. "I'd love to and you know that I would, but I don't want to interrupt the things you need to do." He says, cup lowered. "I mean if the tables were turned, I couldn't function without handling my business, but most of that I can do remotely." The smile widens, "But I like having you around, kid." This used to upset Lilith when she first returned to Gray Harbor and felt like he was treating her like a child. "So..." He looks his spacious office over, "My office door is always open."

Lilith still doesn't like being called 'kid' because it reminds her of the squirmy hopeless feeling it gave her at the time he actually meant it, but... also, she just called him 'buddy' so whatever. Turning some into the man, she clicks her tongue at him one audible time, then reaches up to feather touch with needless arranging at some of his hair, "Careful. You're going to make me start calling you daaaaddy." Possibly fitting given a few angles and ways he takes care of her now (spoils too) and has historically. But she probably doesn't have those kind of daddy issues, okay. Probably. Actually, she'd possibly call Byron anything he'd get off on being called, but that's neither here nor there.

Looking over her shoulder as her hand rests alongside Byron's collar, Lilith eyes the door for a moment, pointing out, "Open doors. Tch. You think that'll make me behave when I'm in here? Careful what you invite into your den, dear lion. You might have to fight a tigress all day and then you won't get a damn thing done." On looking back at the man's eyes, though, her head tilts, "... I don't know what he will say. Wires seem... risky for..." Her dark head shakes then and she tips her face up instead of finishing that thought, demand forthcoming, "Hey. Kiss me."

When Lilith jokes about her calling him daddy, Byron is immediately reminded of his ghostly visit from her father. He still needed to do something about that.

That doesn't mean that he dismisses her teasing, however, and he seems in good spirits enough to smirk a touch about it, knowing all too well the Tigress that is Lilith. "You make that sound like a bad thing. Lucky thing is, as the boss, I can take breaks any time I want." Sure, he says that now, but there are things like appointments that have already been made. Those are his only real restrictions.

When she steps in close, his hands lower to her hips, holding onto his cup more carefully in the hand that still has the coffee, as he stares down into her eyes. "A wire is risky and if he or any of his crew attempt to check to see if either of us are wearing one, then we'll need to be ready to act. Like I said, have one of our phones record the convo in the background somewhere with a line directly to de la Vega."

In this close proximity, he already has an urge to kiss her before she even asks and no sooner than those words leave her lips, does he oblige to her request, closing in firmly with passionate intensity. They were dealing with a lot of stuff right now. Dangerous things. The tension and stress helps to spark his heated desires.