by Carsen Taite
“Are you going to come with us or not?”
Sarah forced calm into her voice. “Sure, why not? Am I supposed to show up with you or solo?”
“Well, that was easier than I thought it would be,” Danny said with a hint of mischief in her tone. “Come over here and we’ll ride together. It’ll be fun.”
“Can’t wait.” And she meant it.
Distracted from her work, Sarah realized she was starving. Her fridge was bare. Even after this much time away from her old job, she still wasn’t used to a regular schedule that allowed her to keep her fridge stocked without having to worry about last-minute out of town trips causing everything to spoil. She sorted through her stand-by stack of delivery menus and settled on Thai. While she waited for the order to arrive, she poured a glass of red wine and returned to her laptop. By the time her food arrived, she was armed with enough facts to start connecting some of the dots. GEA was a sister organization of WHI. While their stated purpose was nearly identical, WHI had been formed several years before GEA. Neither organization shared board members, but Amir Khan and Sadeem Jafari were cousins. Sarah spent another hour searching for connections between these two men and their organizations to the other names Trip had given her, but she came up with nothing.
Tired of trying to cipher out some meaning to what she had found, she took her searches in a completely different direction while she ate. It didn’t take long to find out more about Ellery Durant. She’d been a hotshot criminal defense lawyer for over a decade, having worked on several high profile trials with her father, Gordon Durant, while she was still in law school. She’d graduated at the top of her class and probably had a host of offers from prominent big law firms in Dallas, but she’d gone into practice with her father and, though she’d dabbled in various areas of the law, she’d excelled at criminal defense, winning a big victory in a murder case shortly before she retired from practice. A courtroom artist’s rendering of Ellery during a particularly heated federal trial showed her confident and commanding, almost fierce, in the courtroom. Sarah had testified in many trials, but based on the accounts she read, she shuddered to think about being on the other end of an Ellery Durant cross-examination.
Social sites shared a glimpse into Ellery’s love life, featuring photos from various events, but she rarely appeared with the same date. Sarah typed in April’s name and was pleased to see that she too showed up to many functions with a different woman on her arm, leading her to believe it was unlikely she and Ellery were anything more than casual. That would explain why April had moved on because who would walk away from a hunk like Ellery? One picture of them together showed what a strikingly hot couple they made. Maybe Ellery had only been seeing April for sex. The very idea was painful and she shelved it. Better she get back to work, which, while boring, wasn’t as dangerous as wanting something she couldn’t have.
Chapter Six
“This is your best work yet.”
Karen Tron walked around Ellery’s studio, stopping to touch, stroke, and coo over all the new pieces she’d created. Finally, she asked, “It’ll do for the show?” She held her breath waiting for the answer. Her previous work had been popular with Karen’s customers, but the Designer’s Showcase was a carefully curated event that could spur unlimited success.
“Are you kidding? These pieces will make the show. I’m going to have to open a bigger space. And you’ll need plenty more because these pieces are going to sell out and we’ll have a long wait list.”
“I’ve been a bit focused.” She’d spent the last few weeks, sawing, hammering, sanding, and varnishing, every action designed to wipe away the memories of the evil that she’d witnessed the night of the explosion. If the product of her catharsis was a sold out show, that was her best revenge.
“I can have it all, right?”
Karen’s enthusiasm was contagious, and Ellery met her grin with one of her own. Smiling felt good. It felt real and new. Maybe she was ready for reentry. The gallery show opening was a week away, so she better be since she wasn’t well known enough to pull off the eccentric and slightly reclusive artist bit. “It’s all yours.”
Karen spent the next hour making detailed notes and photographing all the furniture she planned to display at the show. A week’s time wasn’t much to put together the exhibit, but she’d shrugged off the trouble, saying it had been worth the wait. Ellery hoped so. For once, the work had felt more like an accomplishment than an escape. Although the materials she worked with were often more complex than they seemed at first, that was where the similarities to her old life ended. The work was soothing instead of stressful and, at the end of the day she had something to show for it beyond a fat bank account. She could point to each piece and claim pride of craftsmanship.
When Karen left, Ellery went into the house and looked around. It was time to come out of her shell and get back to living, and she’d start by making a real dinner instead of subsisting on protein bars and Coke. She opened the cupboards and the fridge and made a list of what she needed and then grabbed her keys and headed to the door. The ring of the house phone stopped her. Very few people called her on the landline and most of them were telemarketers. On impulse she walked over and checked the caller ID. Dad. She picked up the phone. “Checking up on me?”
“Always.”
“I’m fine. You’ll be glad to know I’m even considering venturing out of the house.”
“That’s a relief. I won’t keep you. I just wanted to know if you’re free Friday.”
“Hey, we can talk now. My foray to the outside world can wait.”
“Well, actually, I’m going to be in town and I could see you. Sorry about the short notice.”
“I’d love to see you and it’s kind of a perfect time since I just finished up a big project. What brings you down here?”
“Oh, you know…I’ll explain when I get there.”
His voice got lower and his tone was cautious, like he didn’t want to be overheard. Ellery went on alert. “Is Mom coming with you?”
“She can’t get away. You know how it is.”
“Well, actually I don’t. Not anymore. My new life doesn’t come with many deadlines. Although I have been working on a bunch of new pieces for a gallery opening Friday night. You can be my escort and I can get you all the wine and cheese you could possibly want.”
“You never know. Maybe that’ll work. We’ll talk when I get there.”
“Need me to pick you up at the airport?”
“That would be great. I’ll text you when I land. Love you, Ellery.”
“Love you too, Dad. See you Friday.”
She clicked off the line and stared at the phone as she replayed the odd call in her head. There were clues there, but she couldn’t puzzle them into anything that made sense. His visit was pretty sudden and he didn’t want to talk about it over the phone. She contemplated calling her mother, but if they were having issues, she didn’t want to stir things up. She shrugged off her questions. Friday was only a few days away and she would have all her answers then. A few minutes later, her phone rang again. Shaking her head at the crazy level of activity after weeks in isolation, she answered even though she didn’t recognize the number. “Hello?”
“Ellery?”
“Yep.” The caller was a woman and her silky smooth voice echoed a memory, but Ellery couldn’t place it. “Who’s this?”
“It’s Sarah Flores. You may not remember me, but I met you—”
“The night of the bombing. And before that at the courthouse.” Of course she remembered Sarah. She’d been the highlight of that fateful evening. “I wondered what happened to you that night. You’re okay, right?”
“Uh, yeah. I mean as okay as anyone could be who got an up close look at what evil could do. I guess you made it home okay?”
“Not a night I want to ever relive, but I feel lucky to be alive.”
“That makes two of us. That’s part of why I’m calling.”
“I don’t follow.
”
“I was talking to Danny and she mentioned you have a show this weekend. She also mentioned you might not be seeing Dr. Landing any longer.”
“We were never anything but casual. She was more a vestige of my old life than anything else.” Ellery mentally kicked herself for providing the extra information. Sarah didn’t need to know her life story. Not yet, anyway. “Is there a particular reason my dating habits are important to the FBI?”
Sarah laughed and Ellery thought she detected a slightly nervous edge. “Well, your status is only important to this particular agent. I’ll be at the show this weekend, but I figure you’ll be really busy then. Any chance you’re free for coffee today?”
Between Karen’s visit and the strange call from her father, Ellery’s work was already off-track, but she really wanted to see Sarah and she’d do it even if it meant she went without groceries and got hopelessly behind getting extra pieces ready for the show. She did her best to sound casual. “One of the perks of being my own boss means I can take a coffee break whenever I want. You have a place in mind?”
“I haven’t had a chance to explore all the good coffee shops in town. How about you name the place?”
“Wild Detectives in Oak Cliff. Two o’clock. See you then.”
A few minutes after Ellery hung up the phone, she realized she was not only going to leave the house for the first time in days, but she was an hour away from seeing Sarah Flores again and the prospect excited her more than she was willing to admit.
*
Sarah grabbed her keys and walked over to Liz’s desk. Liz was still poring through the box of Welcome Home International’s bank records. “You find anything else interesting?”
“Not yet,” Liz said. “It looks like the wire transfers you found didn’t start until last year, and most of these files date back before then. The box I gave you contained the most recent records.”
“The difference is Amir. That fits with when he started directing the overall organization. Before that, he was involved, but not in charge. We should get his personal bank records.”
“What’s that going to prove? I don’t think he was embezzling, and surely he wouldn’t be stupid enough to funnel the money to a terrorist group through his personal accounts?”
“You’re probably right,” Sarah conceded. “But I’d like to eliminate all possibilities before we take this to anyone else.”
“Not big on interagency cooperation?”
“I might be if I’d seen it ever work before.” Sarah actually had seen it pulled off very effectively before, but Trip had avoided channels for a reason, and she’d taken enough of a risk talking to Liz about any aspect of what she’d found. In deference to Trip’s trust in her, she’d held back the names he’d shared and limited what she told Liz to the information about the strange wire transfers out of WHI’s account that all seemed to go into a black hole via the Cayman Islands. Not unusual for a foreign business enterprise to take steps to cut tax liability, but for a charity which wasn’t subject to the same tax regulations, the banking maneuvers stood out like a sore thumb. The only reason she could think of to route the money in this manner was to hide the ultimate beneficiary and, if the funds were really being used for charitable purposes, there was no good reason to do so.
“I have a couple of friends at HSI,” Liz said. “Maybe I can talk to them and see what they think.”
It was a perfectly reasonable idea, but the idea of involving Homeland Security Investigations at this point sounded alarm bells in Sarah’s head, and she cast about for a way to stall her. “Do me a favor. Give me a little more time to comb through what I have left. If you’re going to talk to them, then let’s at least have reviewed everything first so we don’t waste their time.”
“Sounds like a plan. You headed out?”
“Just need to run an errand.” The lie was easy since no matter how well she was getting along with everyone at the office, she wasn’t sure she’d ever be ready to share her personal life with them. What a contrast to when she was with BAU when their conversations all sounded like a session in the locker room. But that was different, because the dates she bragged about with her team were more like conquests she’d bagged rather than relationships she was building. She didn’t have a clue if Ellery would turn out to be relationship material, but if she ever wanted to have a relationship, she’d have to start thinking that way.
Thirty minutes later, she walked into Wild Detectives and found Ellery already seated at a table, dressed in jeans and a sky blue sweatshirt that highlighted the color of her eyes. Unlike the night at the reception, today she was wearing dark rimmed glasses for a bookish look that only added to her appeal. Better yet, she was reading a book. An actual book, not an electronic version on her tablet or phone. Ellery hadn’t noticed her yet, so she took a moment to scan the table. Keys, a pencil, and nothing else except the book in Ellery’s hands. Strong looking hands, well-kept, but worn. Were they soft on the inside?
Further speculation ceased when Ellery looked up from the book and caught her staring. A wide grin spread across her face and her attractive quotient skyrocketed. Sarah returned the smile and walked over to her table. “Sorry I’m late. I don’t quite have a handle on Dallas traffic yet.”
“No worries. I would have picked someplace closer to your office, but it’s kind of barren out there.”
“So, you already know where I work? Have you been stalking me?”
There was that grin again. “I swear I’ve kept my distance, but you’re at the FBI field office, right? I’ve been there a time or two.”
“In your previous life?”
“Yep.” Ellery’s eyes shifted to something or nothing in the distance and she skirted quickly to a different topic. “So, what’s your poison? They make an incredible cappuccino, but I always get the local brew.”
“I’ll have whatever you’re having.” She’d defer to the coffee conversation now, but she was determined to bring the conversation back around to Ellery’s past. She was more curious than ever now that she detected Ellery wanted to avoid the subject. She leaned back in her chair and crossed her legs, taking in the scene while Ellery went to the counter to get their drinks. Nice place. Not a chain, but it was definitely trendy with a cross between a beatnik and hipster vibe, but it wasn’t crowded. It wasn’t just a coffee shop either. There was a full bar, but it didn’t seem like the kind of place that attracted drunks even though there were a few folks sipping flights of whiskey while they thumbed through the books and magazines for sale.
Ellery seemed to know the man behind the counter. She smiled when she talked to him, and her stance was confident, but open. She used her hands while she ordered, and although Sarah couldn’t hear what she was saying, she could tell by the time it took and the gestures she used that their exchange had extras, beyond a simple “two cups of coffee please.” Maybe he was asking about her. Did Ellery meet other women here, at her favorite coffee shop?
Ellery looked back at the table and caught Sarah staring again. She didn’t mind the stares, especially since she caught more than a hint of admiration in Sarah’s approving gaze, but there was something underneath that she couldn’t put her finger on, something that made her squirm. It was like Sarah could see into her, like she was cataloging her every feature. Maybe to see if she measured up?
She waved off Wade’s offer to help and picked up their drinks and headed back to the table. As she slid the cups onto the table, she bent close to Sarah’s ear and whispered, “Like what you see?”
Sarah’s brown eyes met hers. “I do.”
Ellery felt the tug of a grin again and she gave in to it. “You’re kind of fearless. I like that in a person.”
“Duly noted. Although I should tell you it’s kind of an agency requirement.”
“Is that so? You have a lot to be afraid of in the fraud division?”
“You’d be surprised.”
The memory of Sarah rushing off to help the night of the bombing sur
faced and Ellery instantly regretted her flippant remark. “Actually, I wouldn’t. I remember the last time we saw each other. You were the first one out the door of the reception, like you were used to running toward danger. Am I right?”
“I just followed my instincts. I’ve been close to the action during other terrorist attacks.”
“You said you moved here from D.C. Were you there during 9/11?”
“Yes.”
Sarah’s one word answer spoke volumes. “And you don’t much like to talk about it,” Ellery said.
“Do you analyze all your dates?”
“Do you? Don’t think I didn’t notice your keen observation skills while I was ordering coffee?”
“Looks like we’re even then. Although my skills aren’t all that keen if you caught me in the act.”
“True,” Ellery said. “But I’ve had a lot of practice observing people. It used to be one of my primary skill sets.”
“And now?”
“And now, I just use my finely honed skills on people I want to observe.”
“Like your dates?” Sarah asked.
“Like you.”
“Tell me what you see.”
Ellery leaned back in her chair, taking a moment to put her thoughts together. “I’ll start from the outside. You dress nicer than most agents around here, especially if you just came from the office where the dress code is kind of business casual, whatever that really means. So you either care more about your appearance or you have some other source of money than your government salary, or both.” She paused and looked down at Sarah’s Prada loafers. “You value comfort, but not at the expense of looking good. Your new co-workers probably didn’t care for you much at first, but maybe by now they’ve warmed up to your charms.”
“Charms, huh?”
“Oh yeah. You’ve got charm in spades.”
“I guess you’ve worked your way to the inside now.”