He couldn’t allow that to happen—not when there was so much at stake. Pulling out his flip phone, he called Smallwood.
“What’s going on, Banks?” Delvin said.
“I’m going to need a copy of the Bayou Serial Killer’s case file and some more details on Jessica Dolan.”
“I can get that to you in the morning. Right now we may have a break in the Singletary case. Wendy got a lead that he’s in Los Angeles. I’m sending her and a team there now.”
“You’re actually sending Wendy out into the field again?”
Smallwood sighed. “She’s going for the technical side. If we catch Smallwood, I want to go through his computer systems and all electronics and get details on that organization.”
“Good idea, but Wendy in the field isn’t a good idea. She lacks training and . . .”
“Really didn’t have much of a choice. What she lacks in field experience, she masters in technology,” Smallwood said. Carver had to agree, Wendy was a whiz when it came to electronics. However, two years ago, her inexperience nearly cost Carver and three other agents their lives because she froze when the leader of the drug cartel they had been investigating got the drop on her. Were it not for Carver’s sharpshooting skills, everyone would’ve died when the dealer pulled out a hand grenade. He didn’t think she needed to be anywhere near the Singletary takedown. But it wasn’t his call. Still, for the life of him, he couldn’t understand why Smallwood sent her to Los Angeles with the team.
But Carver’s military training made it hard for him to question his superior officer. Maybe Smallwood saw something in Wendy that he didn’t. Carver knew his focus had to be Zoe and keeping her alive. He couldn’t and wouldn’t question this operation.
“Maybe Zoe and I should go to LA instead,” Carver said. “If we’re going to take this bastard down, I want to be there to see it.”
“No. We’re not sure if Singletary is still there, and the purpose of all of this is to get Zoe out of the line of fire. How’s the surveillance going?”
“So far nothing. Haven’t seen anyone following her other than me.”
“I’ll get you what you need and you get her out of town.”
“Yes, sir.” Carver hung up the phone and focused on Zoe’s car. He thought she was heading home, but she stopped at a doughnut shop, of all places. He shook his head.
“All that working out and she gets a midnight snack,” he mumbled as he pulled around the back of the shop. He angled the car so that he had a clear view of the front door but was still hidden from Zoe’s sight.
* * *
When she stepped out of her car, Zoe looked around to see if she had been followed. She couldn’t shake the feeling that someone was behind her. Stopping at the doughnut shop had been her way of making sure. Zoe didn’t see another car in the parking lot and she shrugged it off as being paranoid.
“What can I get for you?” the clerk asked when she put her smartphone down.
“Are the apple fritters fresh?”
“Kind of. Like, thirty minutes old.”
Zoe nodded. “Let me get three,” she said with a smile. The clerk rolled her eyes and walked over to the display counter and bagged up the sweets. Zoe shook her head at the woman’s attitude, but paid for her food and rolled on. As she got into the car, she took a huge bite of one of the sinful treats. Her hours in the gym had given her the right to devour it. But she stopped herself from eating the whole thing. No matter how warm and sweet the fritter was, it was not a substitute for what she really wanted.
Carver.
He was so deep underneath her skin that it annoyed her to no end. This was the same man who’d used her to solve a case. Slept with her to pump her for information about a man she’d been investigating, so he could solve a case for the FBI. Granted, it had worked out for the best, for both of them.
He’d arrested the criminal and she was able to uncover the money he’d been hiding from his wife. Zoe still took it personally that Carver would play with her emotions and desire to win. Then, if that wasn’t bad enough, when the Harlem Madam turned out to be her ex-sister-in-law, and Carver led the investigation, Zoe had been forced to face him again.
Pulling into her driveway, she parked the car and took another nibble of her fritter, remembering when Zach had gone to South Carolina and she’d gotten a call from his assistant about the FBI executing a warrant at Zach’s office in Manhattan.
At the time, she’d been in Brooklyn, and rushed to her brother’s office. Zach had proudly taken the reins at their family’s real estate company, and until he married that barracuda, he’d done a great job of keeping the family legacy going. And Zoe would’ve worked by his side if Zach hadn’t treated her like a fragile doll. She had done the security outline for the company and worked ad hoc as a security adviser for him.
That’s why she had been determined not to allow the FBI to come in, with or without a warrant. Closing her eyes, she saw that day as if it were happening right now.
Zoe burst into the building and grabbed the shoulder of the FBI agent standing near the door. When he turned around, her knees knocked. Carver Banks.
“What in the hell are you doing here?” she demanded.
“It’s in the warrant,” he said. “And hello to you, Zoe.”
“Don’t hello me,” she snapped as she took the warrant from his hand. Zoe scanned the paper. “What is this all about?”
“An active investigation that I can’t discuss with you.”
“Being that I’m the security liaison of Harrington Enterprises, you need to tell me what this is about.”
“Natalie Harrington is being investigated for human trafficking, and we have reason to believe that there may be evidence here. And Natalie says that your brother is involved in the trafficking as well.”
“That’s bullshit. My brother has divorced her and there is no way that he would be involved in something so heinous!”
“Why don’t you let us execute this warrant and prove or disprove your theory,” Carver said.
Zoe narrowed her eyes at him. “This warrant limits your search to Zach’s office and computer.” She pointed at one of the agents. “So, why is he harassing the receptionist?”
Carver rolled his eyes, then told the agent to move on. “Is this how we’re going to do this today?” he asked.
“Yes. Because I can’t believe that you’re buying what this lying-ass bitch is saying.” Zoe folded her arms across her breasts and glared at him.
“I’m doing my job,” he said.
“You’re always doing your job. The last time you did your job, I ended up in your bed.”
“Don’t pretend you were forced,” he said. “And for all I know, you were the one using me to get what you needed to solve your little case.”
“My little . . . Carver, you are an arrogant ass! G-men like you are the reason why folks want to overthrow the government.”
“That sounds like a threat. Should I handcuff you now, or wait until I finish what I’m doing here?”
“Go to hell. And you’re done here, Agent Banks.” Zoe pointed to a group of agents leaving Zach’s office with his computers in boxes.
“You’re right, but we’re not finished by a long shot.”
Zoe slapped her hands on her hips. “You think you’re going to come in here and harass my brother’s staff, then think we’re going to go off and have drinks?”
“Not at all, but if you are this security liaison that you say you are, then I have questions about the computer setup here and the link—if any—to sex trafficking.”
She rolled her eyes. “For the last time, Zach is not involved in his ex-wife’s crimes.”
Tilting his head to the side, he shot Zoe a questioning look. “And you know this how? That twin connection, or has your brother told you about his involvement in his wife’s—”
“Ex-wife!”
“Crime?”
“You know what, you’ve served your warrant. Now get out,” she snapped
. “Or I will file a complaint with your superiors and tell them all about how you do business.”
Carver smirked and shook his head. “Be looking for my call tomorrow,” he said as he followed the other agents out the door.
For all of her bravado, Zoe was actually looking forward to hearing from Carver. If for no other reason than to show him that his sexy eyes didn’t affect her, nor his full lips and big hands.
She wanted him to know that one night in Washington hadn’t turned her into a vapid woman who wanted nothing more than to be in his space. She may not be vapid, but she did want him.
Zoe stepped out of her car, still feeling vexed by her desire for Carver. It was clear to her that he was a man who used people to get what he wanted. Was she being used again?
No, because I’m getting paid this time, she thought as she headed inside. Now that she was worn-out and filled with sugar, Zoe could go to sleep and get ready to see Carver in the morning. She silently prayed that he wouldn’t star in her dreams again tonight.
* * *
Carver circled Zoe’s block one more time before he decided to head back to his hotel. He was impressed that Zoe had motion-activated lights around the outside of her house. Now he understood why she had the shrubbery. “Wouldn’t be surprised if she has fire-ant hills buried underneath those bushes,” he muttered.
When he arrived at the hotel, Carver headed to his room so that he could download the materials he needed for his meeting with Zoe. He also needed to make sure his cover story was good, because if Zoe smelled a rat, she would shut everything down.
The last thing he needed was for that hotheaded woman to get an idea that Singletary was after her. He knew she would do just what she did when she went after Natalie. But this time she was in over her head, and he would do whatever he had to do to make sure she was safe. Pulling out his flip phone, Carver sent Wendy a text telling her to call him.
Seconds later, his phone rang. “Carver.”
“What’s up, Banks? And make it fast, I’m in the middle of something.”
“Have you found anything in LA?”
“Nope, and our witness is missing.”
“What witness?” Carver wondered how she got close to a witness when she was supposed to be there to analyze the computers and technology that Singletary was using. “Wendy, you’re supposed to be—”
“I know what I’m supposed to be doing, but when I went to get the computers from the house, there was a girl there who started talking about what was going on. Would you rather that I had ignored her?”
“Where is she now?”
“I was trying to get a safe location for her, but she disappeared.”
“Damn!”
“I know, and Singletary isn’t in Los Angeles. This might not have even been his ring. You know how most of his girls usually have a brand or tattoo, right?”
“Yeah,” Carver said.
“None of the girls we found have them. Maybe our witness did, but I never got a chance to ask her. The other girls could’ve been moved after the raid. We did take two pimps into custody.”
Carver sighed. “Or killed.”
“I try not to think about things like that,” she said. “What do you need from me?”
“I need all of the case information on Jessica Dolan that wasn’t released to the media, and keep me in the loop about Singletary.”
“Aren’t you and Smallwood working on that without me?” Wendy snorted. “Banks, I know you don’t think I can do my job, so why are you trying to partner with me now?”
“Because you and Smallwood are the only two people who know what’s really going on with Zoe and Singletary. I’m trying to keep this woman alive, and I know you’re good at the technical part of investigations.”
“Just what does that mean?”
“Exactly what I said. Are you going to give me what I need or not?”
“What’s in it for me? Banks, I want to get in the field on a full-time basis. Being cooped up in an office is not why I joined the Bureau. And you and I both know that Smallwood listens to you. If you put in a good word for me, I’m sure he’ll give me a chance to do some real work.”
Carver bit his tongue and didn’t tell her that she wasn’t ready for fieldwork or that she should never have been hired in the first place. But it wasn’t his job to tell her that, nor could he fire her. Carver remembered when Wendy had first started in the field office. She’d had so much promise, then something changed. She got sloppy, and the last time she’d been on an assignment, she froze.
“Wendy, I can’t worry about that right now. We have to capture Singletary before he kills again or captures any more girls.”
“Typical,” she snorted. “Because it’s my job, I’ll send you the case file.” Wendy hung up the phone and Carver shook his head. She would have to get over herself right now, because she wasn’t his concern.
Chapter 4
Six a.m. came too quickly for Zoe’s taste. Then again, she’d brought it on herself with her late-night workout and that call to Carver. Hearing his voice did the one thing she knew it would: fill her mind with thoughts of him that haunted her dreams.
“Stop it,” she told herself as she climbed out of bed. “Working on this case changes nothing between us. He’s the same arrogant asshole who arrested me.” Zoe headed for the basement and logged on to her computer. She kept her home office in the basement so that she wouldn’t be tempted to work all night on cases. Not that her main cases these days took much work. She missed working with her contacts from the NYPD on cases that mattered, but the new captain at her old precinct banned the officers from working with her. Not that she was surprised by that after she’d brought down his golfing buddy for having sex with underage girls. And then there was the case she’d handled about the stop-and-frisk tactics in the NYPD.
Due to Zoe’s investigation, three of the six victims’ families were able to win multimillion-dollar settlements against the city. Zoe had been hurt and disappointed when her former partner had been named in one of the lawsuits.
He’d also been one of the eight officers to lose his job because of her investigation.
Sitting down at the computer, she pulled up the server that was linked to her main office, and entered Carver’s name into her case database. She wondered if she’d have access to the case file the FBI had on Jessica Dolan and the Bayou Serial Killer. She typed the woman’s name into her search engine and watched the screen populate with links about Dolan. Each story she read seemed to confirm what Carver thought: The twenty-year-old was dead, and they’d be on a recovery mission. Part of Zoe had hoped for a happy ending, finding Jessica alive and reuniting her with her family. She couldn’t imagine the pain her parents must be facing, not knowing their child’s final resting place or getting the closure of burying her.
Walking over to her coffeemaker, she started a pot of coffee and wondered if she should talk to the Dolans and find out more about Jessica. In all of her cases, Zoe liked to know who she was investigating. Even when she was spying on a cheating husband, she’d always interview the wife to find out what had attracted her to the man in the first place, what he was like during the good times, and when things changed. Zoe’d had one case where those questions actually reunited the couple because the husband hadn’t been cheating, just spending time with his mother at the nursing home. His wife hadn’t gotten along with his mother, and to keep the peace, he just went alone to visit her. The wife felt so bad that he’d felt as if he had to sneak around to visit his mother, that she went with him the next time and made peace with her mother-in-law.
Zoe had sent the wife her payment back and told her to take her husband on a nice vacation.
After her coffee brewed, she glanced at the clock on the wall and wondered if she should call Carver now or just wait until their meeting to ask about contacting the Dolans. She hated that she was going into this case blind. Depending on media reports and what was on the Internet wasn’t how she did business.
* * *
Carver finished his morning workout and stayed on the floor of the gym for a few minutes because he had to get his mind right for his meeting with Zoe. Knowing her, she was going to have a lot of questions about why the FBI was reopening the case, and he couldn’t say because of the president for much longer.
Wendy had sent him the case file on the Bayou Serial Killer and details about Jessica Dolan. He’d spent half the night reading up on the cold case. It had been three years since the killer was captured, and he had always claimed that he didn’t kill Jessica. But that was before the DNA evidence had been discovered that linked her to his killing spree. Granted, she was different from his other victims. She was African American and the other victims had been white. She hadn’t been a student at the University of Virginia like the other victims, she’d just been visiting a friend there and they’d taken a trip to Washington. For the first two weeks that Jessica had been missing, local police and the FBI hadn’t thought that she was a victim of the killer, but when another girl went missing and her body was found, the investigation turned back to Dolan’s disappearance, and her DNA was found in the van that was linked to the killer.
“It’s a good plan,” he muttered as he stood up. Carver knew he had to get to Zoe’s office early to make sure there weren’t any threats this morning. And he had to return that garish purple car. Heading for his room, Carver called Smallwood to have him send a sedan over so that Zoe wouldn’t be suspicious of seeing Carver showing up in that purple sports car.
Deadly Rumors Page 3