Malco nodded, but it was clear his mind was busy with something.
“What? What are you thinking?”
He didn’t answer at first and sat behind the screen and started typing. Malco closing down on her was so unusual, it irritated her.
Just as she was about to speak, the main screen flickered. Malco was doing another search, and when she saw the name, Frida couldn’t help but gape.
“Rina? You’re researching her? Why? I vetted her when I hired her. She’s been amazing, dedicated. I won’t have you smear her name because of a doubt.”
Despite her sudden explosion, Malco remained calm, which pissed her off even more. He continued to type, and several windows came into view: Rina’s bank account, her loans, her social media accounts.
“Don’t you think I already checked her out before I hired her? Do you think I’m that careless?”
Malco typed a little more, but she was now looking at him instead of the screen. Once he was done, he leaned back, his attention solely on her. “You’re not careless. You’re thorough but think. The game has changed, and our perspective too. What if you didn’t know Rina and had to hire her for this very case? Would you dig into her background the same way you did back then?”
Even if she hated it, Frida had to be honest with him. “No. What we know would color my background check for sure.”
When he extended his hand to her, she gave hers to him. The connection was soothing. With gentleness, he pulled her toward him and kissed the back of her hand. “I don’t doubt your abilities or expertise, but I’m just looking at things from a different point of view. I love your brain too much to insult you.”
She rolled her eyes at him but grinned. “Continue crawling. I like it.”
His face turned somber. “And I think I’ll need to do a bit more when you see this.”
Malco had run a facial recognition software on the web from Rina’s driver’s license photo, and there had been a couple of hits. However, the one that stood out like a glaring light was a picture of Rina with DA Clark Pool, and from what she could see, they were quite intimate. Kasten might hate the Hispanic community, but Pool certainly had no problem enjoying its beautiful women.
“Damn it.”
What else could she say? Frida felt like a fool and deeply betrayed. It meant that not only had she brought a traitor into the Agency, but for months, Rina had access to her most private cases and had probably been feeding Pool information on open cases and investigations.
“I have to contact Chief Randall and tell him what’s going on and the fact that Pool might very well have a hand in some of the proof I’ve gathered against him.”
When she fished out her phone, berating herself for being so stupid, Malco stopped her.
“Hey, easy. This isn’t on you. None of us suspected Rina. You can blame me for not seeing it sooner.”
“You don’t understand, she had access to everything back at the office, and even here at the Agency. No wonder I had so much trouble finding proof or documentation against Kasten. I had someone on the inside, blocking my every move!”
Unable to believe what was happening, Frida covered her face with her hands until Malco gently pried them away, forcing her to face him.
“On a mission, we have to trust the people around us. And because of you, we now know Ward was set up, and we can shift our focus to her.”
Frida nodded and inhaled deeply and slowly, forcing her brain back on the case and not on her own failings. Her first instinct was to go to Rina and punch the bitch, but as she calmed down, another idea emerged.
“What about we act like nothing has changed? Rina is our link to bring Pool and Kasten down in one fell swoop. They’re convinced Rina is part of the team and feeds them valuable information, so let’s use that. Between that and JaKheel’s testimony, we might be able to put the last nail in their coffin for good.”
The full-blown smile that appeared on his face threw her off balance. “What? Did I say something funny?”
“I’m admiring my girlfriend about to kick some ass, and it’s sexy as hell.”
After an intense kiss that left her head spinning, Frida smiled back. “And now I’ll admire my boyfriend’s perfect ass while he informs his boss of this latest development and gets the plan on the road.”
And she did exactly that when he chuckled on his way out.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Having updated Shane and Emme, it was decided they would still bring Ward in. His reaction to JaKheel and vice versa would give them added weight when they questioned them, which they’d have to do, despite what he’d found on Rina.
More worrying was the fact that Alex hadn’t checked in after driving Rina home. Malco was now in the conference room as Shane called Alex for the fourth time.
Shane’s face turned thunderous as he hung up, not bothering to leave a message.
“It could be he got lucky,” Malco said with hope more than anything else.
“Or it could be Rina has been tipped off, and one of our own is in danger because of it.” Shane crossed his arms as he glared at the phone.
“I can go over and see? Pretend I forgot to give her something and check?” Before Frida could finish the sentence, Malco reacted.
“No fucking way.” Malco frowned as she glared daggers at him. Since she’d come back from her call with the Chief, she hadn’t been in a good mood. He suspected she’d gotten her ass chewed for not seeing it. But the
