Chapter 42
Jane woke up early the next morning. For a moment, she felt normal. But as she reached for her running clothes, she stopped, recalling Matthew’s murder.
She felt a burning behind her eyes and forced it to stop.
No. No more. She’d let herself grieve yesterday. No doubt she’d have more issues in the future. But now she had a home invasion case to solve and a murder investigation to track. She didn’t delude herself that the police would allow the FBI to run anything.
Smarter heads would prevail. Jane was too close to the case; she knew that. Still, she knew more about the perpetrators than anyone. So she’d make herself valuable and help as needed.
And if the police didn’t show sense and ask her for help, then she’d take steps to do what needed to be done.
Her way.
After getting dressed and seeing no sign of her uncle, she left the house for a much-needed jog. A few hundred meters into it, her uncle joined her.
He didn’t say anything, just ran in companionable silence with her for three miles.
Back at her apartment, he left her with a promise to return later in the day to check on her.
“I don’t need you to check on me.”
“So I’ll see you at six.” Ignoring what he didn’t want to hear, as usual. He gave her a kiss on the cheek and left her with a “lock your door” thrown over his shoulder.
She did, annoyed he thought he had to remind her of something so simple, then cleaned up and dressed, prepared to head into the office.
Saturdays at the FBI slowed down a little, but not by much, not when the agents had working cases to solve. And Jane had been dealt a doozy of a hand with Matthew’s demise.
Not to be insensitive, but his death didn’t relate to the home invasions as more than a distraction.
She’d thought about it during her car ride and realized she needed to focus on what she knew.
Not on daydreams of beating the crap out of August Kaminski and the Bednareks before shoving them in dark cells for life.
Wrapping herself in the tight mantle of efficiency that had stood her well for most of her life, she focused on two things: reading the file TS Cooper had sent, which meant getting someone techie to help her, and dealing with her boss and praying she wouldn’t have to handle the Scotts as well.
She’d deliberately avoided the main area where she saw them talking to SSA Grimshaw and ASAC Haversham, and the SAC—Special Agent in Charge. The big boss.
Down on the main floor, she sought TS Teri Chapman’s desk. Teri, low and behold, was working today.
Bingo.
“Hey, Teri, can I borrow you for a minute?”
Teri’s expression softened. “Hey. How are you doing? Everyone’s talking about what happened.”
“It’s been rough. No lie. But I need to focus on business as usual so I don’t lose it.”
“I hear you.” Teri became all business. “What do you need from me?”
“A few things, actually. Can I borrow a workspace for a little while? The senator is upstairs with my boss, and I don’t want to get caught up in that. I need to work, not deal with angry and grieving parents.”
“Sure. Use Mark’s space.” She pointed to the cubicle next to them.
“Perfect. Also, I wasn’t able to track down TS Cooper. The file he sent me was corrupted, so I couldn’t get into it.”
“Can I take a look?”
“Sure. Let me pull up my email.” Jane moved to the adjoining cubicle and logged in. Then she looked through her emails and found the one from Cooper. “You want me to send it to you?”
“Please. I just want to see if maybe I can get around some issues. I fool around with tech support sometimes, since we have limited manpower and there’s always someone with a computer issue.”
Jane snorted. “You mean agents who forget to plug something in or turn something on?”
“Well, yes, but I was trying to be delicate about your special agent feelings.”
Jane chuckled, surprised she could feel mirth after yesterday. But then, blurring yesterday made her job easier to do. She still felt like a hollowed-out shell, but she was dealing.
A text made her realize she should at least let her boss know she was in the building, just busy. But it wasn’t her boss. Jane’s cousin sent her a note.
Stay strong. Would have been over yesterday but Uncle C told me he had it covered. Let me know what you need.
Jane could always count on family.
Her eyes threatened to water once more, and she drew on the discipline she’d been brought up to lean on.
Quickly shooting Grimshaw a text, she turned to Teri, who frowned. “I can’t get in. Something’s wrong with the file. I have a friend in tech support, but she’s swamped.”
Jane shook her head. “No. I have a guy.” Diego or Hal?
At this point, she wanted the best of the best. She dialed Hal’s number on her cell.
“Yo, Jane. How are you, sweetie?”
She hadn’t counted on Hal’s compassion, or the fact her uncle would have told everyone what had happened, though she should have. Her family rallied around her and Raine as if they were frail little birds always needing protection.
Because she and Raine were loved. Like Matthew was loved by the people upstairs, by the people he’d worked with for years.
No. Act tough. Do not break down. You’re better than that. “Sweetie? Who the hell is this?” she asked gruffly.
He laughed. “Forgot who I was talking to. What’s up, buttercup?”
That was better. “I have an emergency. I was sent a corrupted file, and I have the feeling it’s got answers I need, like yesterday.”
“Send it.”
“Which address?” With Hal, Team Ten’s computer hacker, there were many.
“Use the ffs.mil one.”
“FFS?”
“For fudge’s sake. It’s not really ‘fudge,’ but I’m trying to protect your weak FBI sensibilities.” She could hear the smirk through the phone, as well as laughter from someone else in the room with Hal.
“Who’s with you?”
“Smith. He says hi and to take care of yourself. And if you need an untraceable firearm and silencer, he can get it for you, no problem.”
She shook her head. “Tell Smith I don’t need any of that. But thanks.” Funnily enough, she knew Smith meant it. He’d be happy to get her the equipment to do whatever she felt necessary.
Rumbling voices and then Hal added, “Min’s here too. He said he’d love to bring you that equipment. Even use it for you if you want. You know. To show you how it works.”
And take out the people who’d hurt her.
“Yeah, no. Tell Min thanks, but no thanks. I don’t mean to spoil anyone’s idea of a good time, but I’m on the clock, and I have a job to do.”
“You’re no fun.”
She sent the file to his email.
“I have it. I’ll get on this right now.”
“Thanks. Call me and let me know when you have something, okay? I don’t care when.”
“You got it. Stay safe.”
“Always. Same to you and the boys.” She hung up and turned to Teri. “Now about TS Cooper, what—”
Her cell phone rang. Too fast to be Hal.
Jane noted the name and swallowed a groan. “Agent Cannon. Yes, ma’am?”
SSA Grimshaw answered, “Jane, I need you in ASAC Haversham’s office. Senator and Mrs. Scott have some questions we need answered ASAP.”
“I was getting more evidence I think will help with his murder, ma’am.”
“I don’t care. You can get back to that after our talk. Make haste.”
The phone went silent.
Teri pretended she hadn’t been overhearing everything. “I’ll keep combing social media for anything I can find on the murder of ASAC Scott.”
“Actually, I’d like you to go back to Castle Capital and the Hartes. Find out what you can for me on who else is invested in Castle Capital. There’s something there.”
“Will do. I’ll be here when you need me.”
Jane put a hand on Teri’s shoulder and squeezed. “I know. Thanks, Teri.”
“Good luck.”
Jane was going to need it.