Testing The Boss (Billionaires In The City, #5)

by Mallory Crowe

  Gail shook her head. “I think I’m the only one. They didn’t seem to know things before I told them.”

  “What about Hotchins? Did he seem suspicious at all to you?”

  For the first time, Gail seemed truly confused. “Hotchins? No. He’s one of the best agents I know.”

  “Funny. He said the same about you,” pointed out Evelyn.

  The color drained from Gail’s face. “If he is working with them, I don’t know anything about it,” she murmured.

  If it wasn’t Hotchins who gave them away, who was it? Damn it. She needed to get back to Luke, and she needed to get down to business with this interrogation. Hopefully they’d get something useful out of Gail.

  Evelyn pushed a pad of paper and a pen across the metal table to Gail. “I want you to write down every single thing you remember. When they first contacted you, how they contacted you, what they sounded like. Everything.”

  She nodded and picked up the pen. “I am sorry, Evelyn.”

  “They tried to kill me, Gail. He invaded my home and tried to kill me. What would you have done if they’d attacked Luke the night you were watching him? Would you have the balls to watch what they did or would you close your eyes?”

  Gail didn’t say anything. She just picked up the pen and started to write.

  While she was writing, Evelyn took out the phone she’d taken from the dead attacker from the night before. After picking it up with her bare hands, she’d packed it in a baggie and put it in her luggage. She didn’t want the locals putting it into evidence.

  Now that it had been scanned for fingerprints—only hers and the dead man’s showed up—she was free to touch it. She looked at the history and wrote down the two numbers in the phone’s history log before she passed the paper over for Gail to see. “Do any of these numbers look familiar?”

  Gail looked them over and shook her head. “No. The numbers they called me from were always blocked, so I couldn’t see anything about them.”

  Another dead end. Shocking. “I’ll be right back.” Evelyn walked out of the interrogation room.

  Hotchins waited for her on the other side of the one-way mirror. “Do you still suspect me?”

  She shrugged. “Someone found out where we were. Luke said he didn’t tell anyone. I made sure no one could track us by our computer activity and Luke didn’t use his cell phone at all.”

  “Are you sure he didn’t use it? A lot of people are surgically attached to those things these days.”

  “Well, I made him give it to me for the time we were in the Hamptons. So I’m pretty sure.”

  “He could’ve snatched it sometime when you were in the shower. You weren’t with him every moment.”

  Evelyn tried her best to make sure no hint of blush crept up her cheeks. If only he knew exactly how many moments she and Luke spent together. “If he had been stupid enough to use his phone, he would’ve copped up to it after what happened last night.”

  “If you say so. Any luck with the phone?”

  “Gail didn’t recognize the numbers. I’m going to call them from a secure line right now and see if anyone is stupid enough to answer.”

  Hotchins nodded. “I’m going to see if Gail will talk to me. Maybe now that she apologized to you, she’ll be more open to sharing all the details of what happened.”

  Evelyn nodded as he walked past her. Part of her wanted to listen in to hear what Gail would tell Hotchins, but she didn’t have time. She could listen to the recordings later when she was back with Luke.

  She went up three flights of stairs until she got to one of the secure lines. This way, if whoever she was calling had caller ID, they’d see her as a John Smith calling, instead of the FBI number. The first number she dialed went straight to an automated voicemail that gave nothing away. Hopefully whatever database they ran the number through would give her more.

  Then she tried the second number. This time, she hit pay dirt. “You’ve reached Easson. I’m not able to come to the phone. Leave a message and I’ll call you back.”

  Easson. That was something she could work with. It wasn’t a super common name, and the phone number was probably registered to him considering the voicemail had his name on it. She gave the number to the technical division before she headed back to DevX.

  ~~~~~~

  “Are you comfortable keeping this from Evelyn?” asked Luke into the phone.

  “Evelyn is more than qualified to deal with anything, but not with her hands tied behind her back,” said Jace. “I can be on the next plane out.”

  “No. I want you there with Emma.” The words felt like sandpaper in his throat, but it was true. As long as Jace was with her, nothing would happen. “Just see what you can find out on your end. I’m done sitting around and waiting for them to make a move. I’m going on the offensive.”

  “Do you know the Farrells?” asked Jace.

  “The Farrells? As in the real estate moguls?”

  “Those ones. Walter Farrell works with a former associate of mine. Colin Carter. I’m going to see if he can help you out. Walter has lived in the city the past few years and Carter usually isn’t too far behind.”

  “Great. I appreciate it.”

  “Anything for Emma,” said Jace.

  “You two aren’t going to elope, are you?” blurted out Luke.

  “What?”

  “Michael and Lori had me freaked out that they were going to elope. I mean, a destination wedding is one thing, but Emma isn’t getting married without me, Lance.”

  “Michael and Lori are getting married?”

  Shit. “Not officially. But they’ve been talking about it.” Luke let out a sigh of relief. Jace wasn’t planning to elope with Emma. At least part of his family wasn’t changing.

  “I mean, I’m definitely going to marry Emma, but I think we’re going for something bigger. Her choice, not mine.”

  “You’re engaged? Emma should’ve told me!” It was like his entire family was coupling off and they were keeping him out of the loop.

  “Um, well, it’s not official or anything. But it’s come up a few times in conversation.”

  Not official? You’re either getting married or you’re not. There’s no maybe about it, at least as far as Luke was concerned. Luke shook his head and figured he’d deal with that problem later. “Get Colin Carter up to speed on what we’re dealing with and pass him my contact info.”

  “Will do.” Jace hung up right as Evelyn walked in holding two cups of coffee.

  Luke set the phone down and tried to look normal. “Good morning.”

  “Morning.” Evelyn set one of the coffees on his desk. She was at least being civil to him, which was nice to know. After the awkwardly silent drive back to the city in the early hours of the morning, he’d been half worried that this was how things were going to be between them now. But he took the coffee as a sign of good things coming.

  “Thank you.” He took the large cup from her. “Did you get anything from that agent you were questioning?”

  “A few things. Also I might have a phone number that will lead to a real, live person. Was Cali able to fix your schedule now that you’re working from here?”

  Right back to her professional self. Even back to her mismatched pants and suit, this time beige slacks and a brown suit jacket with a white blouse beneath. “She’s been doing her best.”

  “I want to have a few moments with her today. I think it’s time she knows that I’m not really an intern since I’m pretty sure she never bought that story anyway.”

  “Funny. She’s never believed much of my bullshit either,” said Luke with a sideways grin.

  Evelyn didn’t crack a smile.

  “If you want to take a break on my couch, feel free. I know you got just as little sleep as me.”

  “I can handle the lack of sleep. Just let me know if you need anything.”

  “And what if I need privacy?” If Colin Carter called him back, he’d rather Evelyn not be in the room when he talked
with someone about going over her head.

  “Keeping secrets?”

  “My biggest client is the US government. Secrets kind of go along with the territory. If you saw the size of the nondisclosure agreements they make me sign, you’d understand.”

  “You should see some of those I’ve seen.” She took a seat on the couch at the other end of his office.

  She didn’t say anything else, and he tried to go back to work. Which was difficult considering a majority of his work involved phone calls and meetings. She didn’t seem to mind the constant noise in the background. She’d moved from his office sofa to the table in the corner for more private meetings in his office. She had her computer set up and stared intently at the screen every time he glanced over to her.

  During a fifteen-minute lull in calls, the silence finally got to him. “Did you have any thoughts on dinner?” he asked. “I was thinking about making reservations at a nice Italian place down the street.”

  Evelyn met his eyes from over her computer screen, but she seemed unenthused with the idea. “Whatever you want.”

  “Do you have a preference? Everyone likes Italian, right?”

  Evelyn lowered her laptop halfway so Luke could get the full effect of her frown. “I’m here on protective detail, Luke. Just go about like you normally would.”

  “I don’t normally have a smoking hot FBI agent following my every move. So there is no normal here.”

  “If you want to go out to dinner, that’s fine. But not a date. From now on, things between us will be strictly professional.”

  Luke stood up, his chair shooting behind him at the sudden motion. “Damn it, Evelyn.” He crossed the room in a few long strides. He pulled the arm of her chair until it rolled out from the table and set his hands on the armrest on either side of her, caging her in. “I’m not going to pretend the last three days never happened.”

  She started to get up, but he didn’t budge, and she remained stuck in the chair. “Get out of my way, Luke.”

  “Stop treating me like just another one of your assets.”

  “You are just another one of my assets. The fact that we slept together has no bearing on our interactions from now on.”

  Luke leaned in closer. “I still want you. You still want me. Don’t let a little guilt over something that wasn’t even your fault cloud your judgment.”

  “The only thing clouding my judgment is you.” She brushed her fingers over the tender spot on his forehead where he’d been struck the night before. It was now a nasty dark blue and raised. “If I’d been doing my job, I never would’ve showered with you. I would’ve been in the living room, standing guard like I was supposed to be doing.” She pushed herself up again, and this time, he did move out of her way. “So, if you don’t mind, I’m going to go back to doing my job the way I should’ve in the first place. Distraction free.”

  Evelyn crossed to the door and Luke watched her go. “Just tell me one thing,” he said right before she left.

  She paused before she stepped out of the office. “What?”

  “I’m a damn fun distraction, right?”

  She looked over her shoulder at him. “You weren’t the worst distraction,” she conceded before she left.

  Luke smiled as he looked around the empty office. That was promising. He’d get Evelyn back even sooner than he expected.

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  Evelyn tried to shake off the shivers that raced through her. Even though Luke hadn’t touched her, it was as if she could feel him all over.

  She let her head fall back and rolled it around, trying to get back to her equilibrium. Luke had a way of throwing her off balance, even with just a look. All the more reason for her to keep her distance.

  She didn’t know why it was so important to him to be with her. From what she knew about playboys, once they had a taste, they were normally done. But she supposed there wasn’t much normal about Luke.

  As she approached Cali’s desk, she forced herself to go blank. She needed to be focused for this next conversation. “Hey there,” she said, and the blonde looked over immediately, smile in place. Evelyn wished she could be that cheery. Or at least know how to fake that kind of cheer.

  “Morning, Evelyn. It’s nice to have you back after your sick day.”

  “About that, do you have a few minutes to talk somewhere private?”

  “I actually have a lot I need to—”

  “It’s important,” stressed Evelyn. She tilted her head toward the conference room between Michael and Luke’s offices. “Let’s go.” This time she brought in her official FBI tone that tended to get things done.

  Cali set her computer to sleep mode and stood. Evelyn led the way to the conference room and pushed the door closed once Cali was inside.

  “Have a seat.” She motioned to the closest chair of the twelve around the oversized table.

  Cali raised a brow at Evelyn’s authoritative tone but sat down, pulling her skirt down as she crossed her legs. “Fine. I’m here. What do you want?”

  “So you’ve probably guessed I’m not an intern.”

  Cali shrugged. “Hey, if Luke wants a pretty new intern who doesn’t actually do any work, it’s not my place to judge.”

  “Funny. That sounds judgey.”

  “It’s not my place—doesn’t mean I won’t do it.”

  Evelyn smiled. She really didn’t want to like Cali as much as she did. The woman seemed like Evelyn’s opposite. Her clothes, makeup, and hair were impeccable, and she was somehow able to resist Luke’s charm. But it was past time to tell Cali the truth about why she was here. “My real name is Evelyn Price, and I’m an agent with the Federal Bureau of Investigation.”

  Cali blinked a few times but kept her expression mostly under control. “Not just FBI, huh? Must be serious when you don’t even use the abbreviation.”

  Evelyn studied Cali and noticed that, despite her joking tone, she’d straightened in her seat and her foot tapped out a nervous rhythm on the floor. At least she was taking this seriously.

  “So are you investigating Luke?”

  “No. Luke is helping me with an investigation that has been ongoing for years. I’ve been the lead agent for the past few months. We were trying to keep Luke and Michael’s involvement under wraps, but word is out. So for the next week or so”—hopefully not longer—“I’m going to be hanging around Luke a lot. We thought you had a right to know.”

  “Ummm, thanks for telling me now, I guess. What does this mean for me?”

  “It means that you have an explanation for some of the strange things that are happening around you. I know Luke wanted you to know sooner, and now that the people we were looking into know Luke was working with the FBI, I don’t think it could hurt that much to let you in. Obviously we don’t want all of your friends knowing about all this, but Luke thinks we can trust your discretion.”

  “Luke said that?”

  “Well, I wouldn’t be talking to you if I didn’t believe it too.”

  “That’s good to know. Here I thought Luke was copying me by running off to the Hamptons for the weekend with you.”

  Evelyn frowned. “Wait, you knew where we were?”

  “I had a Skype meeting with Luke. He didn’t say where he was working from, but he’s lent me that house for the weekend before. I recognized the room he was in.”

  So if Cali was able to recognize it, anyone he had a Skype meeting with might know. “Can you give me a list of all the people Luke had a video meeting with over the past three days?”

  Cali glanced down at her watch. “Sure. I’m meeting Easson for lunch in a few minutes. Should I cancel?”

  Evelyn’s mouth dropped and she blinked a few times, trying to figure out whether she was imagining things. “I’m sorry, your boyfriend?”

  “I do have a boyfriend. Is that so hard to believe?”

  “No. Totally believable. I must’ve run your file before you and him were together, so I wasn’t expecting it.”

  �
��Luke probably didn’t mention it either. He kind of thinks of me like a sister, so he likes to pretend I don’t date.”

  Evelyn nodded. “So you go have lunch with Easson and get back to me about those meetings when you get back.”

  “Will do.” Cali stood.

  “But don’t tell him about this,” warned Evelyn.

  Cali frowned but didn’t protest. “I’ll see you in an hour or so.”

  “Have a nice lunch.” As soon as she was gone, Evelyn pulled out her phone and dialed Hotchins. He answered on the second ring. “Hey, I need someone here as soon as possible. The assistant, Cali, is meeting with her boyfriend for lunch—his name is Easson.”

  “That’s the name you pulled off the phone, right?”

  “Yes. And it’s a unique enough name that I’m thinking it’s more than coincidence.”

  “I’ll work on getting a tail there.”

  “Thanks. I’ll keep an eye on her and let you know what time she heads downstairs. I doubt he’d come up here.”

  “Good work, Price.” Hotchins hung up.

  Now Evelyn needed to let Luke know a plausible reason for why she was hanging out around Cali’s desk for the next fifteen minutes. The conference room had windows with a view of the hallway. If she stood and pretended she was on the phone, she’d be perfect.

  Evelyn quickly made her way back to Luke’s office and poked her head in.

  He looked up immediately. “Done running away?”

  Evelyn squared her jaw, forcing herself not to explain that she wasn’t running away, even if that was probably exactly what she did. “I wanted to let you know that I have a few phone calls to make. I’m going to borrow the conference room next door. Make sure you don’t go anywhere without me.”

  She left before he could respond, not sure she could handle another strangely accurate crack about her running away. Once she was back in the conference room, she took out the phone and pretended to have a conversation while subtly glancing out to Cali’s desk to verify where she was.

  After about ten minutes, Cali started to pack up her stuff and Evelyn dialed Hotchins to let him know she was on the move. Once Cali was on the elevator, Evelyn hung up. Cali knew Evelyn too well for Evelyn to tail her any further without being noticed.