me. I promised to keep it confidential.” She hadn’t, he hadn’t even asked, but she didn’t want to have to explain why she was looking at it.
“Anything to do with Kean pulling you out today?”
“Knock it off, Reva,” Margo said.
Lucy sighed and gave them a bit of information, mostly to keep Reva from getting even more nosy. “It involves a case I was involved with a few months ago in New York. An agent I worked with needed some information, said it couldn’t wait.”
Margo diverted the conversation back to the firearms test tomorrow, and Lucy quickly finished eating. The three of them cleared their trays, and both Lucy and Margo grabbed an apple and granola bar for the morning. They’d gotten in the habit of running together at dawn, and neither liked to run on an empty stomach. They’d tried to get Reva to join them, but she wasn’t a morning person.
Their rooms were on the second floor of the Madison Dormitory. When the Academy was at full capacity, there were two new agents to a room with a large bathroom connecting two rooms, so four agents had to share. But because of the budget freeze, instead of more than one thousand recruits passing through annually, it was less than half that now, and they had closed down Washington Dorm. Everyone had their own room and only had to share the adjoining bath with one fellow new agent. Lucy and Margo shared, while Reva was at the end of the hall with Alexis.
“Run at six?” Margo asked as she opened her door.
“Sounds good.” Lucy went to her own room. She opened the door and found Kate sitting at her desk. One look at Kate’s expression, and hope that she’d come to explain what happened with Laughlin earlier disappeared.
Lucy dropped Tony’s file on her nightstand. “Kate-tell me what happened.”
Kate stared, as if having an inner battle about what to say.
“What’s going on?” Lucy pushed.
“Stay under the radar and away from Laughlin.”
She sat down on her bed and leaned forward. “Why?”
“It has nothing to do with you.”
She was lying, and Lucy called her on it. “It has everything to do with me. And
“Trust me, Lucy.”
“I always have.”
Kate sagged in relief. “Good. Just get through the next couple months and all will be fine.”
But Lucy wasn’t willing to drop it that easily. “I trust you, Kate; you need to trust me. Tell me what’s going on with Laughlin.”
Kate stared at her, stunned that Lucy had called her on the carpet. Secrets had burned Lucy in the past, she wasn’t going to be kept in the dark.
“I can take it, Kate. My imagination is going to create far worse scenarios. Tell me what was going on in your office. What were you and Laughlin arguing about?”
“Let’s just say there are people here who will look for any reason to expel you. Keep your nose clean.”
“He wants me out of here?”
“It’s complicated. I can’t go into detail.”
“You mean you
Kate stood. “I’m sorry, Lucy.”
“Kate-”
Lucy wished she hadn’t sat down, because now Kate towered over her. “You wanted to get here on your own merits, but nothing is done in a vacuum. It doesn’t matter if you’re J. Edgar Hoover’s granddaughter or the prodigy of Eliot Ness, people have long memories, and some people want to tear down more than lift up.
“Keeping me in the dark isn’t going to help, either!”
Kate walked out, firmly shutting the door behind her.
“Dammit!” Lucy walked over to the door, ready to go after Kate, then rested her forehead on the frame. She needed answers, and Kate wasn’t going to give them to her yet.
But she knew the one person who could find them.
She strode over to her bag and grabbed her cell phone.
Sean answered on the second ring. “Lucy, I just walked in and was going to call you. You must be psychic.”
“Maybe I am.” She sat at her desk and rubbed her forehead with her free hand. “I need a favor.”
“It’s not a favor when it’s for the woman I love. What do you need?”
“I think I may have rubbed one of my instructors the wrong way, and I have no idea how or why. I don’t know anything about him, other than his name is Rich Laughlin and he’s an SA out of the Detroit field office. I can’t risk asking-”
“I know exactly what you need, and I’ll get it without tripping any alarms.”
Always, she could depend on Sean. “You’re amazing.”
“Luce, why not talk to Kate?”
She sighed. “Because Kate knows why and she won’t tell me.”
“She knows this guy is harassing you?”
“I wouldn’t say harassing, more … closely observing.”
“I already hate him.”
“Kate doesn’t like him, either, which makes why she’s being so tight-lipped about him even more strange. I want to keep this quiet for now. When we learn something, I’ll talk to her.” The tension of the day dissipated. “How was Sacramento?”
“Same old. I’ll tell you about the job when I see you this weekend-I
It wasn’t a question. “As far as I know, I can leave.”
“I hear a ‘but’ in your voice.”
“It’s about me not making waves.”
“Is that what this Laughlin thing is?”
“Something Kate said. But, no matter what, I’ll find some way to see you.”
“It’s been nearly four weeks, Lucy-I miss you.”
“I miss you, too.” She bit her lip, needing to tell Sean about the dead writer but not quite sure how to explain it. “There’s something else that happened. Remember that reporter who called me before I reported to Quantico?”
“Rosemary Weber. Of course I remember her. She upset you.”
“She was murdered last night. Suzanne Madeaux called me.”
“Why are the feds involved?”
“Because Weber was writing about a federal investigation.”
“Did Suzanne tell you why she gave Weber your name?”
“She said she didn’t. I believe her, Sean. I should have asked her four weeks ago.”
“Does she know who spilled the beans about you? Because Weber never called me.”
“Suzanne promised to research the leak. Tony is heading to New York to consult with Suzanne and the NYPD, and I’m sure he’ll fill me in when he returns. My supervisor has forbidden me from following up with Suzanne without her permission.”
“You focus on getting your badge. I’ll call Suzanne and let you know what I learn.”
Lucy smiled. “Thanks.”
“Thank me in person, this weekend.”
