“Mills, let me introduce you to Frank Warren.” She heard Reinhardt’s words before she realized that everyone had left the room. She quickly stood up and walked toward them.
Warren’s face remained emotionless as Tara reached out her hand to greet him. He then let out a sigh. “I just hope you know what you’re in for,” he said as he shook her hand.
“Oh, don’t worry. I’ve heard great things about Mills from Hector,” Reinhardt intervened.
He was referring to the agent who often trained her at the academy and who was the reason Tara got the job under Reinhardt in the first place.
“I know she won’t disappoint us. Hector says she has incredible instincts,” he added as he looked directly at her.
Tara smiled, trying to mask the anxiety she now felt.
“I will make you proud, sir,” Tara responded.
“That’s what I like to hear.” Reinhardt looked back and forth between her and Warren. “Now go gather your things. You both don’t have much time. Your flight leaves soon.”
Tara nodded promptly as Reinhardt turned to leave the room, leaving her and Warren alone.
She turned toward him—about to express her excitement to work with him—but he only breezed past her, as if on a mission of his own, leaving Tara in an empty room.
She watched for a second as Warren continued to walk swiftly through the rows of cubicles, toward the exit of the floor, and Tara suddenly felt intimidated.
This was going to be a difficult partnership—she could feel it—but as she followed behind him, she felt a new wave of determination wash over her. She knew she couldn’t allow herself to feel intimidated. She had to prove herself, and she was going to do whatever it took to solve this case.
Chapter Three
Tara looked at her phone one last time before turning it off and directing her gaze toward the window as the plane began to pick up speed.
She was hoping that when she went home to pack, she would catch John before he left for work, but when she arrived he was already gone. And when he didn’t answer her call, she was forced to tell him about her first case via text. By the time he saw it, she would be in New Hampshire, almost 500 miles from Washington, D.C.
It was not how she hoped to announce it to him, but this was a part of the job that she knew to expect. It was something she and John had spoken about many times—that she may have to leave at a moment’s notice—and she knew he understood. She just wished she could’ve at least said goodbye, and hear his encouraging words. John always had a way of making her feel better, and right now her new partnership was making her feel uneasy.
The plane ascended into the air, and Tara tried to direct her thoughts back onto the case. She turned toward Warren, who was poring over case files.
“Anything significant?” she asked.
He looked up at her and sighed. “No…It’s mostly information we already know as this point.”
He looked back down at the files, as though trying to avoid any further conversation, and Tara couldn’t help but feel slighted and annoyed. He hadn’t even given her a chance, and yet it seemed as if he would rather have been partnered with someone else.
But Tara was determined not to give up. She knew his opinion mattered—it was a key ingredient in the final determination of her success on this case.
“I’m excited to be on this case with you,” she said.
Warren, after all, had a reputation for solving the most difficult cases, but at Tara’s words, Warren didn’t even look up, clearly an effort to ignore her. She decided to continue.
“You solved that case in Tallahassee, right?” she asked.
She was referring to a serial killer case in Florida, where victims were brutally murdered in their beds, their houses broken into, each hit with a blunt object. The case had gone cold until Warren stepped in. He discovered that the killer was a prized forensics professor from Florida State University who had a sick fascination with blood spatter.
“Yes,” he sighed, but not diverting his gaze. “That was my case, along with many others.”
He continued to look at the files in front of him.
“Well…I’m glad Reinhardt put me on this case with you.”
Tara threw one last attempt out there before exhausting her efforts, and she turned back toward the window. As much as she wanted to ease the tension, she wasn’t going to force someone to talk who clearly didn’t want to.
“Yeah, well…” he spoke, to Tara’s surprise. “Usually Reinhardt partners me with more experienced agents.”
Tara turned back toward him. “This is going to be a tough case to crack,” he added before continuing to flip through the files.
Tara stared at him, unsure of how to respond. He clearly doubted her abilities and was not afraid to insult her either.
“I’ve been trained already,” Tara replied. “That’s why I’m here, and I’m sure I will be of much more help than you assume.”
Warren shrugged, his eyes still fixated in front of him, brushing her off.
A wave of frustration flooded Tara’s body until it forced her mouth open.
“Fighting against me isn’t going to make this partnership any easier.” She let the words flow out of her mouth. “You should really give me a chance…it would probably be in both of our best interests.”
She felt her face begin to flush, unsure of how her words would be taken. But she was surprised when Warren looked at her, revealing a smile.
“Maybe you’re right,” he said. His words hung in the air before he grabbed a folder and handed it to her. “Here…if you want to take a look.”
“Thanks,” Tara said as she took the file, shocked by his reaction.
She opened it and images of the victims stared back at her. The first two victims—the couple—stood at the peak of a mountain. It was a picture that
