"I'm at work," he said, a smile in his voice. It was the close-mouthed one that slipped unevenly to one side, and fit him best. 'At work' for Rick probably wouldn't warrant amusement from anyone else, but he wasn't staring at a dead body just at the moment, so he would take what he got.
He grew serious at her next words, however. "Ask." Despite their rather... limited... association, Rick knew James to be the kind of women who liked to deal with her own problems without interference from knights of any kind, be they white or be they black. That she would call him to ask for anything was a significant leap in a direction they had never gone.