“You’ve got a real problem with authority, don’t you?” She looked at him directly, daring him to open his mouth. “When you asked for a spot on Barney Kyle’s team you showed tremendous promise, but somewhere along the line you’ve let your personal feelings about Casey cloud your judgment. You have a month to realign your priorities, starting now. I suggest you use this paid leave to delve deep and find that idealistic young agent who was an asset to his team. The agent who helped bring down his mentor Kyle, who wasn’t afforded this opportunity, so use it wisely.”
“You think I’m going to turn out like Kyle?” He came close to springing out of his chair but stopped as soon as his butt came off the seat.
“Only you can answer that, Anthony, but as your supervisor I can’t take the chance. For now, I’m stating in your file that you’re taking voluntary leave.” She slid the papers across the desk for him to see.
“What if I wouldn’t like to take voluntary leave?” He closed it and pushed it back at her.
“Then I’ll replace that page with this one.” She held up a page but didn’t offer to show it to him. “Take the gamble if you want, but others have lost careers for less.”
“Even if they can counter with the fact that their supervisor hasn’t handled the situation in a professional manner?”
“Then I guess I have my answer.” She ripped the top sheet out of the file and was about to tear it when Anthony did come out of his seat.
“All right, I’ll take leave.”
“During your time off you can pick where you’d like to be transferred. That would be your smartest next career move.”
“If that’s it,” he spat at her.
When Anthony walked out, Shelby was talking to Annabel’s secretary. He opened his mouth but closed it so violently Shelby heard his teeth click together. Then she noticed Annabel standing in the doorway of her office.
“Shelby.” She waved her in. “Pick someone to take Curtis’s place on your team.”
“Yes, ma’am, but can I ask why?”
“He’ll be on leave so you need to fill the slot. Do you have anything new on all this?”
Shelby referred to her notes. “We talked to the two lead detectives the police commissioner put on this case. Twenty gang-style slayings in such a short time makes this situation eligible for federal help, but this is the NOPD we’re dealing with. They’re not inviting us in without a court order, and even if we had one, they still wouldn’t be highly motivated to work with us.”
“What was their take?”
“Detective Oscar and his partner are busy slapping each other on the back for all the drugs they’ve gotten off the streets, along with a laundry list of bad guys whose combined rap sheets could circle the globe a couple of times over.” She shook her head and sighed. “These guys being taken out aren’t exactly high priority.”
“Nothing that ties them to Casey?”
“You’ve been chasing her longer than I have. What do you think?” Shelby said and laughed, making Annabel join her. “Nothing on that, nothing on the Bracatos—nothing on top of nothing doesn’t add up to much.”
Annabel nodded and rested her elbows on her desk. “We have to talk about Muriel Casey.”
“We’re friends, ma’am, nothing more, and this isn’t the armed services.”
“I don’t care that it’s a woman, Shelby,” Annabel said, sounding like she found the conversation distasteful. “But I have to care that she’s the closest advisor and family member of your main investigation’s target.”
“Trust me. I’m fully aware of who Muriel is, and who’ll fall out if I shake her family tree. But sometimes fate chooses for us, doesn’t it?”
“Just be careful I don’t want to have to make your personal business my official business. We understand each other?”
Shelby stood up and gathered her things. “Yes, ma’am, we do, and thanks for your latitude on this.”
“Your team members are aware of this situation, and while I don’t think they concur with Curtis, they
“I’ll keep you updated on the investigation,” Shelby said, hoping Annabel accepted that the rest was off-limits. “And please feel free to join our regular meetings. We can use all the insight we can get.”
“Have fun tonight then.”
Shelby whipped around as she started to leave. “Thanks,” she said hesitantly, not knowing how Annabel had found out about her plans for the evening.
“Remember that while I shuffle a lot of papers all day, I’m still an FBI agent.”
Chapter Seven
“Can I have one more cookie, Mom? It’ll make me not miss you later.” Hannah Casey stood on Cain’s feet in the kitchen and hung on to her pant legs, trying not to smile. “Please?”
“Let me know if that works for you, Hannah, because I’d love to borrow the car this afternoon,” Hayden Casey said. “I doubt I can pull off that face, though. So I’d better go back to that hot-wiring how-to page I found on the Internet.”
Emma took the open cookie container out of Cain’s hands. “Before you complain about anything our son says, remember that your mother told me you were much worse than this. Hannah, you’ve already had two, and that face rarely works on me.” She looked at Cain while she spoke to their daughter. “Hayden, did you decide what you want
