Meredith ended the call without saying another word.
Riley stared at the silent phone for a moment as though it couldtell her what turn her life was taking now, then went back into the kitchen totell her family that she had to go.
*
When Riley walked into the spacious conference room to meet withSpecial Agent in Charge Carl Walder, she found her baby-faced superior on hisfeet and pacing the floor.
Riley gulped hard.
This really is serious, she thought.
“I’ll get right to the point, Agent Paige,” Walder said, waving apiece of paper that he held in his hand. “I want to know who this ‘A.C.’ is.”
Riley squinted with surprise.
A.C.? she wondered.
Then she flashed back to the message she’d received last night.
Aunt Cora.
Could that possibly be who Walder was talking about?
She said cautiously, “I’m not sure what you mean, sir.”
“Oh, I believe you do, Agent Paige,” Walder said, pointing to thepaper in his hand. “And you also know who ‘JR’ is. And so do I. It’s SpecialAgent Jenn Roston. And now I know for a fact that you’ve been concealinginformation concerning Roston’s disappearance.”
Riley felt a flash of anger as she realized what was on theprintout he was holding.
She said, “You had no business reading that email.”
Walder smirked smugly.
“You received it on your FBI account,” he said. “Those emails arecompany property. That makes it my business.”
“But why were you reading my emails in the first place?” Rileydemanded. She was tired and already having trouble sounding appropriatelyrespectful to the head of BAU.
“I’ve got my reasons,” Walder replied with a smirk.
Reasons? Riley wondered.
Then she remembered the taciturn Senator Danson, who apparentlyknew Carl Walder. She’d been worried all along that Danson was just anotherpolitician who would take any opportunity to contact Walder to complain aboutprogress on the case.
“Has Senator Danson been in touch with you?” Riley asked.
Walder raised an eyebrow with a look of apparently genuinesurprise.
“As a matter of fact, he has,” Walder said. “He called early thismorning to tell me how pleased he was with you. I regretted having to tell himthat I didn’t share his high regard for you—and that you were about to sufferthe consequences of your behavior.”
Riley felt swept by confusion now. She hadn’t imagined thatDanson would call Walder to compliment her on her work. But now that she’dthought about it, he’d never actually criticized her to her face. He’d onlywanted to know how the case was progressing. And now that it had been solvedwithout a new Halloween murder, he had every reason to think well of her.
Walder continued, “But Danson has nothing to do with the matterat hand. And he has nothing to do with why I felt compelled to monitor yourcommunications.”
“So why did you …?”
Riley’s voice trailed off as she remembered what Bill had toldher yesterday. Walder had eavesdropped on Bill’s end of an especially intimatephone conversation.
Suddenly her predicament made much more sense.
Walder had obviously gone poking through her emails hoping tofind details of her relationship with Bill. Instead, he’d found the messagefrom Jenn.
Walder began to pace again. He looked at the printout in his handand read aloud.
“Roston writes, ‘You think I have gone back to A.C. and her crimenetwork.’ I demand to know who ‘A.C.’ is, and the nature of your connection withher.”
He folded the paper and held Riley’s gaze.
“Agent Paige, it’s no secret that you’ve consorted with criminalsin the past. Shane Hatcher comes to mind.”
Riley bristled at the mention of Hatcher’s name. Her relationshipwith that master criminal had begun as a purely professional matter when Hatcherhad offered his expertise to help her with a case. But their relationship hadturned into a sinister entanglement that had finally come to a violent end lastspring. Walder had never learned all the details of that relationship, butRiley knew he’d been suspicious about it—and not without good reason.
She said, “My relationship with Shane Hatcher has been over forsome time now.”
“I know. Now you’ve got a new criminal crony—a certain ‘A.C.’ AndI’m sure your dealings with this person are unsavory, to say the least. And Ithink you should come clean about it right here and now.”
Riley’s anger was mounting by the moment.
“I’ve got nothing to explain to you, sir,” she said.
Walder chuckled sardonically.
“No? Well, there’s no hurry. You’ll have plenty of time to decidehow to explain yourself while you’re waiting in a holding cell.”
Riley gasped aloud.
“Are you saying I’m under arrest?”
Before Walder could reply, his secretary came into the conferenceroom door and spoke to him.
“Sir, I’m sorry to interrupt, but Director Gavin Milner is on thephone. He wants to talk with you.”
At the sound of the FBI director’s name, Walder’s pale, freckledface turned a shade paler.
“Did he say what this is about?” Walder asked.
His secretary said, “No, but he insists on speaking with youright this minute.”
“I’ll be there in just a moment,” Walder said.
Walder turned toward Riley again.
“I’ll be back soon,” Walder said to her. “This conversation we’rehaving isn’t over. Meanwhile, I think you should put your badge and your gun onthe table. I’ll be taking them shortly.”
Walder followed his secretary out of the room.
Riley was completely stunned now. She obediently took out herbadge and gun and put them on the table. They had been taken from her before,but always soon returned. Would they be gone for good this time? Even worse,did Walder have any basis for pressing criminal charges against her?
She doubted it. Aside from a single phone call some time back, she’dnever had any direct communication with the mysterious Aunt Cora, much less anycriminal dealings with her. While it was true that Riley had concealed thetruth about Jenn’s disappearance, that probably wasn’t illegal.
But Walder had been Riley’s adversary for years now. She had toadmit her sometimes-insubordinate behavior had given him some justification.This time, she had no doubt that he’d succeed.
Riley sat there at the table, just staring at her gun and herbadge. As she waited for Walder’s return, her whole FBI career seemed to passin front of her.
She couldn’t count the murderous minds she’d thwarted over theyears. She remembered one killer
