Chapter 52
CHAPTER FIFTY-TWO
Friday afternoon, Jane entered the task force’s office, aware this might be her last time swinging by.
Boxes lay all over the place, files being stacked neatly by Gina and Diego while Rapp carried equipment from one room to another.
“Hey, Jane.” Diego saw her and hustled over.
She allowed him a hug and nodded to Gina, who joined them.
Rapp came over as well and declared a late lunch for everyone, on him, now that the team was all together.
They celebrated closing the case by ordering in some amazing pizza and local root beers Jane made a note to remember.
“So what’s next for everyone?” she asked. “I’ll be heading back to the field office next week.”
Diego answered, “I’ve been assigned to a special task force on cybercrime in Denver for a little bit. It was either that or Atlanta, and I’m not into all that heat.”
Gina grinned. “And there’s the fact that Colorado’s fine with the legalization of a certain substance…”
“There is that.” Diego enthusiastically bit into another slice of pizza.
“What about you, Gina?” Rapp asked. “Made up your mind?”
“I’m sticking around in Seattle.” She shot Jane a look, as if Jane might object.
“Good for you. Seattle’s great.”
Gina nodded. “I’m settling in. The Agency has an opening I’m eager to join. I think I can bring a lot to the team.”
Jane realized they had a spot open in her squad since Rob Williams was gone. “Who are you going to be working with, do you know?”
“Monica Pearson, I believe. I met with her a few days ago. She seems solid. Plus, I’m happy to get back to cybercrimes.”
Rapp said, “Tired of violent crimes already?”
“Aren’t you?” Gina shot back. “I hear you’re heading back into the field. Are you working national security or partnering with another agency?”
“Something like that.”
“The mysterious Agent Rapp,” Gina said. “I’ll drink to that.”
They clinked bottles. Chatter turned to Gina’s sister, who lived in Kirkland and was planning to get married come summer. To Diego’s planned ski trip with some “bros” he met gaming online that he planned to hook up with in Denver. Rapp remained quiet, content to listen.
“What about you, Jane?” Gina asked. “What do you do for fun when you’re not catching killers?”
Jane did her best not to squirm in her seat. “I like reading. And my cousin’s back in town. To stay, I think. So that will be interesting.”
“Is she anything like you?” Diego asked and wiggled his brows, prompting a laugh out of her.
“No. She’s a hothead who speaks before she thinks.” True but not exactly kind. “But she’d give me the shirt off her back if I needed it. And she’s smart. Sometimes too smart for her own good.”
Rapp chuckled. “Sounds like my brothers.”
“How many do you have?” Gina asked.
Jane still suspected Gina had a crush on him, but she didn’t show anything but polite interest while waiting for his answer.
“Three brothers. Two are twins.” He made a face. “The oldest is a doctor. Talk about too smart for his own good.” He grinned, sincere appreciation in his smile. “Then there’s me, the perfect son.”
Diego snorted and Jane choked on her soda, which made Gina laugh.
“And the youngest, the twins, both cops. We’re supposed to have some big family reunion this summer if I’m in town. Not sure I will be.”
“They live here?” Diego asked.
“In Oregon, actually. I’m the renegade for moving around so much. The rest of them live in Central Oregon.”
“My uncle has property out there,” Jane mentioned.
Discussion then moved to popular spots in Oregon.
The conversation felt nice, Jane realized. Being around other people—these people—felt like snuggling under a warm blanket on a cold, wet day.
She’d miss them when they broke up. But all good things had to come to an end, she supposed.
Jane stood. “Well, guys. I guess this is goodbye to you two.” She glanced at Rapp and Diego. To Gina, she held out a hand. “See you around.”
Gina shook it, squeezing hard once before letting go. “Not if I see you first.”
“Ha. Nice one.” Diego fished an energy drink out of the refrigerator and came back to ask Gina a few questions about Denver, since she’d been through not too long ago.
Jane walked to the exit, feeling a literal sense of closing the door behind her before moving on to bigger and better things.
Rapp stopped her with a hand on her shoulder, his expression blank as he listened to whoever was on the other end of his cellphone.
She felt his tension. “Rapp?”
“On our way.” He tucked his phone into his pocket. “Jane, there’s something we need to see.” He added to the others, “I’ll be back in a few. Don’t drink all the root beers. I’m talking to you, Diego.”
“Hey, man. Gina’s doing it too!”
Then Rapp tugged Jane out the door, a sense of urgency in his step.
“What’s wrong?” Jane didn’t fight him, just followed his frantic steps to his vehicle.
“They found Phillip’s body.”
“Finally dug him out of all that debris from the hospital, eh?” Jane had figured they would have combed through the mess sooner, but apparently Phillip’s bombs had done real structural damage to the building because of where he’d placed them.
Plus, he’d used some extra special compound to make a bigger boom.
Hondo had been impressed while looking over the devices as a courtesy to Gambol.
In any case, it felt good to put the final piece of the case to rest. With a new case file started on the Kaminskis, they were on the way to cleaning up the chaos left in Phillip’s wake.
“No, they didn’t find him at the hospital.” Rapp got into his SUV.
Jane buckled up as Rapp turned them around and jammed his foot on the accelerator. “What do you mean? Phillip didn’t die in the bombing?”
“No. He left a note for you, Jane.” After a pause, Rapp glanced at her and added, “And he’s not the only body they found.”