“You think there’ll be backlash?” He leaned against the peeling wall. “Other than keeping you off the investigation.”
“My supervisor is pretty tough. So yeah, there could be a problem.”
“I’ll pray there isn’t.”
“Thank you.” She’d prayed with him a few times on the task force, and he obviously lived his faith and shared about it, but they’d never really discussed their beliefs.
She heard cars arriving and stepped to the window to look out. “They’re here.”
Clay joined her, and she caught a hint of his musky scent momentarily covering the building’s mildewy smell.
The FBI arrived in full force, cars, SUVs, and trucks crunching over the gravel lot. Agents. Evidence recovery squad. Supervisors all the way from supervisory special agents up to the big boss, the Special Agent in Charge of the Portland office.
“We should go meet them.” She turned to leave.
Clay grabbed her hand and squeezed. “It’ll be okay.”
His hands were that of a hard-working man. Callused and firm. And still, his touch was gentle.
“I could lose my job.”
“Even if you do, God will work it out for good.”
“I get that. Even believe it. Most of the time anyway. But I struggle when the outcome could be something so serious. Something like this. Or like when my dad died.” She shook her head. “I’m still struggling to see any good there.”
“Maybe the good is in the fact that we’ve continued to work this investigation. If he hadn’t died, I don’t think we would’ve found this school.”
“Yeah, maybe.” She started down the rest of the steps. This might be for someone’s good, but not hers as far as she could see.
At the door, she looked at Clay. “I need to talk to my supervisor alone.”
He opened his mouth as if to say something, but snapped it closed and marched outside. “I’ll be with my brothers if you need me.”
“Thanks.” She continued on into the moonlit night, the soft rays illuminating the agents bustling around. Clay joined his brothers, and she felt alone. Abandoned, even when she was the one who asked him to go. Maybe she’d hoped he would object and demand to speak to Adair. She had no idea what she hoped right now. Her emotions were in too much of a turmoil to know anything for sure.
She planted her feet in a stance she hoped displayed a confidence she didn’t feel and waited for Assistant Special Agent in Charge Nathan Adair to stop talking to the special agent in charge of their office. The earlier misty rain had disappeared. For now, anyway. At this time of year it would be back in short order.
Adair spun and marched straight over to her. Gut churning, she watched his confident walk. He was fit from hours at the gym and was dressed in deep gray suit pants and a white shirt with a gray-and-blue striped tie. But instead of his usual perfectly tailored suit coat, he wore a blue windbreaker with FBI emblazoned in yellow on the chest and back. His hair was short, inky black, and laced with fine threads of silver. His emerald green eyes pierced Toni. She’d never seen him quite this upset, and she’d seen him angry in the past.
He took a wide stance in front of her and locked onto her face. “Update me in a minute or less.”
Good. A minute or less meant she didn’t have time to tell him about her reaction to the snake. She formed her words carefully and shared the highlights of the night, feeling like a liar when she left out snake details.
She must have pulled it off, though, as he looked across the lot to where the Byrd family lingered by their vehicles. “You know these guys before tonight?”
“Clay, but not the others. And Sierra—”
“Is married to Rice. I better not find out he knew about this too.”
“I didn’t tell him.”
“It goes without saying that you won’t be involved in this investigation.”
“Got it.”
He lifted a dark eyebrow. “What, no fight?”
“I knew it was coming.”
“Still, you’re not one to back down.” Those green eyes dug deeper. “You’re not planning on investigating on your own, are you?”
Planning on it? She glanced at Clay, who was now being interviewed by the big boss. He was curling his hands into fists. Not a good sign. He caught her eye and transmitted his frustration, and in that instant, she knew they would definitely work this together.
“No plans, sir,” she said as they hadn’t made plans. Just a commitment.
“See that you don’t make any.” He turned to look at the building. “I’ll walk the scene, and I’m sure I’ll have additional questions for you.”
“Would you like me to join you?”
He gritted his teeth. “I don’t want you anywhere near the place. In fact, go wait in my vehicle.”
“Yes, sir.”
He marched back to the special agent in charge, and together they stopped at the door to don booties before entering the abandoned school.
Finished with his interview, Clay headed over to her.
“Guess you didn’t have a friendly conversation either,” she said.
“He reminded me why civilians like me and my brothers aren’t supposed to investigate crimes.”
“What did you say to that?”
“If it wasn’t for me and my brothers, he wouldn’t have a crime to investigate.” He brushed his jacket out of the way and shoved his hands into the pockets of his tactical pants.
Interesting. “What happened to Mr. Diplomacy?”
“Your boss was condescending to the max, and a guy can only take so much arrogance.” He grinned, a cute smile reminding her of the nights they’d worked late and had gotten slap-happy. “And what about you? Adair didn’t look pleased.”
“He warned me not to plan to investigate this on my own.”
Clay didn’t respond for a moment but held onto her gaze as if mining for information. “But you aren’t going to listen to him, are you?”
Not ready to admit aloud that she intended to go against her supervisor’s wishes, she shook her head. “I feel the need to take some leave.”
“Will Adair go for it?”
“He’ll probably see right through it, and I can’t lie to him, so don’t talk about working this investigation together right now or I’ll have to tell him.”
“How do you plan to get the leave approved?”
“I’ll tell him if he lets me take time off, I won’t be in the office bugging everyone for information. Which is the truth. I might need to call in to ask some favors, but…” She shrugged. “Anyway. He should go for it.”
“And if he doesn’t?”
She looked at the door where the FBI forensic staff were marching past Sierra and giving her the stink eye. “Then I might have to become a private investigator like you.”
An hour later, Clay looked at Adair’s SUV where Toni sat in the backseat with him. Clay’s family had already departed for home. Clay would meet with them to form an action plan and return tomorrow with items needed to work this investigation. Return with Toni. And spend time together again. Oddly enough, he was more drawn to her now than he’d been when they were on the task force. Maybe because she was so emotionally vulnerable tonight.
Even from a distance, he could see the frustration in the rigid set of her shoulders. And the tight expression on her face said she was working hard to control her temper. Something else he loved about her. She had a fierce temper and let it explode occasionally. Having gotten it out of her system, she generally sat back all relaxed and moved on.
Not him. He stewed over things. Let them simmer and fester. Probably from being the middle boy. He didn’t mean to sound pitiful. He’d had a great life growing up. Two wonderful parents who loved him unconditionally no matter which birth order he fell in. Not a one of his siblings was lacking for love, support, and encouragement from their parents to become the best person they could be.
He had that in common with Toni, but he’d felt competitive toward hi
s brothers growing up, and because they linked up in pairs, he found his place in the group by trying to break up their disagreements. And man, in a family of so many guys, there were plenty of them.
On the bright side, he was the closest of all the guys to Sierra. He didn’t know if she paid more attention to him because she pitied him or because she needed an ally in the family too. Either way, as the eldest in the family, she looked out for him.
Adair’s car door opened, and Toni jumped out, marching across the lot and heading for the remote corner of the building cloaked with dark shadows. She must really be upset if she needed to isolate herself.
Clay wouldn’t let her suffer alone. He went after her and found her bent over, hands planted on her thighs and taking deep breaths. He made sure to make noise on his approach so she’d know someone was coming. She looked up at him, her eyes awash with tears.
His heart tore, and he went straight to her. He rested his hands on her shoulders. “I take it your talk didn’t go so well with Adair.”
“No, but that was expected.”
“Still, you’re upset.”
She shook her head. “Sure, I didn’t want to be thrown off the investigation for personal reasons, but it’s more than that. The girls. There could be over thirty of them in Hibbard’s clutches. Suffering. Scared. Traumatized. This investigation has become even more personal to me, and I need to find them as well as find my dad’s killer. Adair taking me off the case doesn’t help.”
Clay loved her heart for others, and it was just like her to put the girls first and be more upset about not being able to help them than her career setback.
She spun and faced the school. “Hibbard dodged us at every turn in Safe Harbor. He’s done the same thing here. We can’t let it happen again.”
Hands free now, Clay shoved them in his pockets. “We have my whole family behind us, and I’m not bragging when I say they’re good at what they do. We’ll find Hibbard.”
She looked at him, the tears still in her eyes.
She gave them an angry swipe. “Let’s get moving. I want to head back to Portland to pick up the records about this guy’s operation from Safe Harbor. See if we can find any mention of this place in them.”
Clay didn’t relish the long drive tonight, but he would make it for her. “We’ll leave your car, and I’ll drive you to Portland.”
She glanced back at her vehicle. “It would be better if Adair didn’t see us leave together.”
“Let me get on the road first, and we can meet up as soon as we’re out of his eyesight.”
She gave a sharp nod and charged across the lot to talk to one of the agents. Clay went to his Jeep, glad he’d already turned the snake over to the Feds. Not only because he didn’t want to deal with it, but it was evidence. Plus, he wanted the rattler as far away from Toni as possible.
He got his Jeep running and on the road, checking the mirror every few seconds to watch for her vehicle. Someone had tried to kill her, and he wanted her in his car and by his side. From that point on, he wouldn’t leave her out of his sight for very long. No matter what he had to do, he would keep her at his side until they found the creep who put the snake in the closet.
Clay pulled into the Veritas parking structure, glad to be safely behind secured gates. And soon to be out of the Jeep and away from the discomfort between him and Toni. Whatever topic he’d broached on the drive to her apartment, and again on the way here, she’d given short answers. She’d even quickly agreed to spend the night at Veritas. No objection. No question. He’d just said she would be safer there, and she’d acquiesced. So unlike her. Her dejection over being booted off the case seemed to be festering. Why didn’t she blow up and let it go like she used to do? Maybe she’d changed in the last year. Maybe she no longer exploded with anger. He’d changed, so why wouldn’t she have as she’d come to grips with her father’s death?
Still, he didn’t like seeing her so miserable. He had liked getting to see her home. The recently renovated warehouse apartment with a contemporary flair in the trendy neighborhood. The style fit her somehow. They’d made quick work of gathering her boxes, taking pictures of the murder board on her wall, and then dismantling it to take the items with them. They’d also brought along a box of her father’s belongings from his office in Virginia, where he’d retired and worked as a private investigator at a friend’s agency. She hadn’t found anything helpful in it, but he agreed to look through it just in case.
He ramped up in the parking garage to the top floor, and she faced him. “You actually think we’ll catch Hibbard this time? In the past, he thoroughly cleaned the places he abandoned but left his prints. It’s like he wanted us to know he was there, but not leave enough for us to find him.”
“He could be taunting us to stroke his massive ego.” Clay glanced at her. “But this time was different. He bolted and left plenty of items behind.”
“And yet, we don’t have access to them.”
“That’s true, but we’ll figure this out. I know we will.”
She shook her head. “I forgot how positive you always are. It’s great, but honestly, it can be irritating. You make it hard to be in a bad mood when I want to let my anger fuel my passion.”
He didn’t know how to respond to that so he didn’t. “You okay with leaving your files in my Jeep tonight?”
“Yeah. I’m way too tired to haul it all in.”
“I probably have all the same files. I made a copy of everything when we closed down Safe Harbor.”
She studied him. “I’m surprised we didn’t cross paths at the copier.”
Another thing he wouldn’t respond to. When they’d disbanded the task force, he’d tried to make himself scarce whenever she was around. He wasn’t proud of not being there for her. Not proud at all. Sure, he’d offered his condolences, but that was all. He would’ve—should’ve—done more. But the minute he started blaming himself for her dad’s death, he’d hardly been able to look her in the eye.
It took a lot of prayer and introspection to finally realize her father dying wasn’t his fault. Sure, Clay might’ve been in charge of the op, but how could he have predicted her dad would show up? He couldn’t have. Not when the guy wasn’t on anyone’s radar as related to the case. Even now, they couldn’t find a connection. So Clay might still feel some guilt, but he knew for certain that he wasn’t to blame.
He pulled into his parking spot, and his phone dinged. After shifting into park, he looked at it. “A text from Blake. He said Hibbard’s name never came up when he was sheriff, but he’ll give Sheriff Winfield a call first thing in the morning for us.”
“Perfect.”
They got out into the blustery wind howling through the parking structure, and he grabbed her overnight bag.
“You don’t have to carry that,” she said.
He slammed the hatch. “No worries. Always aim to please.”
She arched a brow like she had him pegged—knew that he really did have a thing about pleasing people if he could. Don’t rock the boat. That was him. Except when it came to suspects. They deserved as much rocking as he could offer.
He got the door open using his fingers on the print reader. “We’ll have to get a security badge for you at the front desk. Keep it on you at all times, and you can’t go unescorted anywhere in the building.”
She gave the easy smile of acquiescence again, and they boarded the elevator. He punched the lobby button and a yawn caught him off guard.
“Late night,” she said.
“They all are these days. After we formed the agency, I foolishly hoped we’d be working fewer hours, but I underestimated the work it would take to get a business off the ground. There’s so much more than doing the job. Payroll. Taxes. Reports. Record keeping. Planning. Budgets. I could go on for hours. Still, I think it’ll slow down once we’re established, and I might be able to think about a normal life.”
“I totally get that. I want to get a dog someday, but I’m not home long enough
even to feed a goldfish.”
“Erik got a dog,” he said as if his brother’s actions proved anything. “Erik’s really into vintage video games, so he named the dog Pong. He’s trained as a sniffer dog for electronics.”
She leaned back and tipped her head, looking casual. “Sniffer for electronics? Never heard of such a thing.”
“Not a lot of these dogs in the service.” He rested against the wall. “You remember when that spokesman for the fast food place was found guilty of possessing child-porn and having sex with underage girls?”
“Yeah, sure.”
“Over a dozen federal agents missed a key piece of evidence at Fogel’s place that a trained K-9 found. The flash drive containing child-porn images would never have been located without a sniffer dog. We haven’t used Pong on the job yet, but who knows? He might come in handy someday.”
The doors opened, and they stepped into the hallway.
She turned to look at him. “Be honest with me. Do you think whoever put the snake in the closet and started the fire really wanted to kill us?”
He glanced at her. “I’d rather not think we have a target on our backs, but there’s no other good explanation.”
“But they couldn’t know we’d come alone.”
“True, except the note told us to do so if we wanted to get the information.” He opened the lobby door. “Is your note in the boxes?”
“Yeah, why?”
“I’d like to give them to Sierra to analyze. Maybe she can find the lead we need to really move this investigation forward.”
5
Being in law enforcement, Toni had heard great things about the Veritas Center and always wanted to tour the place. But, man, the building was even more impressive than she’d imagined. She hadn’t even been able to find the words to say how great the glass-enclosed skybridge was that connected two six-story towers at the top, and the warm feeling of the lobby that sat between them on the ground floor. It was all so unexpected for a place that processed crime forensics.
But the lab vibe came through loud and clear as they walked down the hallway in the lab tower, planning to leave their letters for Sierra to process in the morning. Clay pressed his fingers against print readers to get the door unlocked and opened it. She heard fans humming in the background, but still, a hint of caustic chemical smell rose up to meet her. The place held more high quality machines than most local police labs. It seemed to be on par with the FBI’s national lab in Quantico, Virginia, although much smaller.
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