“No. Of course not.” Right now, at least. Who knewwhat might happen later?
“Then forget about it.”
Just like that? When she was hangry she could be thequeen of grudges. Too bad she hadn’t had the emotional or headspace recently to do more than sit around wanting to killEl Cuervo.
“I’m not sure what just happened on your face.”
Megan shrugged. She turned to the food bag, swiped upall the wrappers and deposited them in the trash. She wasn’t hangryanymore, so that meant she was only taking out her frustrations onhim because he was here. That was all.
She needed to stop doing it, or she’d have toapologize again.
The drive to the crime scene didn’t take long. They’dstayed at a hotel by the airport just in case they needed to make aquick exit to go after Zimmerman. Adrian parked around the cornerfrom where Hank had told her the shooter’s car had been found in awarehouse.
Two cop cars, one black and white and one that lookedlike a regular car except with a red light on the dash were parkedin front of the warehouse, along with a Crime Scene van. Hopefully they hadn’t removed all ofthe evidence yet. She wanted to get a good look at it.
They checked in with the officer at the edge of thetape, showing their badges. The cop said, “Detective Haralson isinside.”
Adrian nodded.“Thanks.”
Megan was better off hanging back. She didn’t need toabuse the badge by pretending she had the authority to be here. Shemight technically still be an FBI agent, but she figured it wasmostly just Hank trying to do her a favor. She didn’t want to goback to being an investigative agent. Or undercover. She kept thebadge because it was what her father would’ve wanted. He’d taughther to never give up, and she’d chosen this profession.
Regardless of the fact she was employed and paid byDouble Down Inc, part of her would always be a fed. It didn’treally sit right, though. She needed to hand her badge back toHank. She didn’t want to play both sides. If she kept going muchlonger she would get burned—or she would burn her friends.
Megan didn’t want that to happen.
Adrian called out, “Detective Haralson?”
A gray haired man in jeans, a button down shirt and asuit jacket, no tie, looked up from the footwell of the car andspotted them. He removed his gloves and wandered over. “Helpyou?”
“Special Agent Walker. This is Special AgentPerkins.”
“Not locals. How’d you end up here?”
Megan pointed to her arm. “Technically, I guess,we’re the victims in this case.”
Haralson’s eyebrows lifted,crinkling his forehead. “Are you now? Gonna have to ask you toleave, in that case.”
“We aren’t interested in being part of yourinvestigation.” Adrian lifted his hands, palms out. “And we forsure aren’t going to interfere. But we would like to know whatyou’ve learned. It’s likely pertinent in some way to our search forSpecial Agent Zimmerman.”
“This is about that?” the detective asked.
Adrian nodded. Megan did the same. She said,“We’re hoping for something that mighthelp us figure out where he’s going. Where he might hit next.”
“That’s fair.”
An interesting reaction, considering she’d justoffered him the chance to assist in a national security matter.Maybe he was just jaded. Or he wanted to act like he wasn’tbothered, for whatever reason. Megan didn’t worry about it. Shecouldn’t afford to expend extra energy on a guy they didn’t know,who likely didn’t factor into this.
But they did need his cooperation.
“I’ll call your office and make sure you’re approvedfirst.” He didn’t ask if that was all right.
Adrian started to give the detective the number.
“You can just give me your boss’s name. I’ll get thenumber.”
Adrian nodded. “All right.Special Agent in Charge Hank Cromwell.”
“One minute.” The detectivewandered away a few paces and got on his phone.
“Wow,” Adrian said. “Not a very trusting guy, ishe.”
“It’s like he believes one of us might not be a realFBI agent?” She grinned.
Adrian shook his head.
“Fine, it wasn’t that funny.”
He stared over at the car. “Inside looks prettyclean.”
“Maybe they just had it detailed.”
“Do you have an answer for everything?”
She shrugged. “Sometimes.”
“That’s fair, I guess.”
She studied him, trying to figure out why he’dreacted the way he had to the idea of her leaving. Probably thefact he insisted on being there to take care of her. Not that hehadn’t been nice about it. More of a gentleman than a lot of guyswould’ve been in the same situation.
But was it because Hank had ordered him to do it? Orwas he taking care of her because he wanted to do it? Shetried not to care either way. It wasn’t going to help her focus.But it didn’t work.
She did care.
**
There wasn’t time to ask her what she was thinking.Not again. Though Adrian wanted to know. Her face was soft. Hedidn’t often see that look. Still, there was an edge to it he couldonly describe as…conflicted almost. Like she didn’t like what shewas feeling.
Adrian wanted to smooth that out for her. More thanhe probably should have, especially considering they were chasing arogue FBI agent bent on destruction and the ending of life.Innocent or not, didn’t matter.
The last thing he had time for right now was anattraction, no matter how drawn to Megan he might be.
“Looks like you’re all set.” The detective stowed hisphone in his jeans pocket. “So I’ll walk you through what we have,but then I have to get back to work.”
Adrian nodded. The man was busy, and he didn’t wantto use up more time than necessary entertaining two feds.
“Two victims, both were shot in the head where theysat. From the bit of blood spatter that we found and the positionof the bodies, we’re thinking two shooters. Both of these guys werelikely shot through open windows simultaneously.”
Megan glanced at him, eyebrows raised. They followedthe detective over to the car. Both doors were open, the bodiesgone now. The detective said, “The car was cleaned.”
“We noticed it looked like it had been recentlydetailed,” Adrian said.
“Not just detailed.” The detective waved them over tothe driver’s side and crouched. “The VIN number here and on thedash have been filed off. No plates, no papers in the glovebox.”
Megan
