Detective Stewart raised an eyebrow. “I’m listening.”
“Izzy, you can explain,” Piper said.
Izzy swallowed. It seemed she had no other alternative. “After the sergeant showed up on my jogging trail, he started texting me.”
“Really?” Detective Stewart said.
It appeared the detective hadn’t known that tidbit. “Yes, and I responded. I told him to leave me alone, and in those texts, I did threaten him.”
“Are you willing to turn over those texts voluntarily?”
Izzy shot a glance at Piper. “That’s up to my lawyer.”
Detective Stewart gave her a slight smile. “Ms. Alexander, what do you think?”
“I’m inclined to advise my client to cooperate because she has nothing to hide. Yes, she was incredibly angry at the sergeant, but there is a big difference between making a threat in a text and acting on it—especially when you’re talking about someone who has a sterling record in law enforcement.”
“I feel a catch coming on here,” the detective said.
“No catch. Just a cautionary statement that you take my client’s cooperation into account. Agent Cole did not harm the sergeant, regardless of the text message exchange. That’s the bottom line.”
“But you would’ve liked to?” Detective Stewart asked Izzy.
“At the time I was angry, but I didn’t see him again after those texts, so there was no issue. I tried to focus on my work and not think about him.”
Detective Stewart leaned forward. “You did the right thing by bringing this fact forward. It seems the sergeant was an avid texter, but we have no way of knowing if we have a complete set of his messages. We’re going through them now.”
Izzy wondered if he was harassing other women via text as well. She also wondered if he had other shrines at his home. Why was he so focused on her? The thought gave her another chill. “Detective, I didn’t kill him.”
“I’m just gathering the evidence,” Detective Stewart said.
It wasn’t lost on Izzy that the detective hadn’t agreed with her statement but instead deflected.
“Do you need anything from us right now?” Piper asked.
“Besides access to those texts, no.”
“We’ll get those to you.” Piper stood.
Izzy was ready to get out of there. Once the two of them were outside, she turned to Piper. “I sure hope we did the right thing.”
“I know you’re nervous, but we couldn’t risk it coming out and making you look guilty for hiding it from the police.”
Izzy knew Piper was right, but she felt like she had just dug her hole even deeper with Detective Stewart.
At Langley, Layla braced herself for a big pushback from CIA security over Hunter’s presence, but surprisingly, they hadn’t given her any grief.
The man who sat beside her now wasn’t the Hunter she was familiar with. He wore a dark navy suit and tie. He’d even brought a legal briefcase. They were at a small conference room table, waiting for the IG team to arrive.
She’d had a hard time sleeping last night after Hunter had told her the truth about their past. Everything she thought she knew about how their relationship ended had been a lie. But not one driven by Hunter—it had been the CIA’s doing, and she was having a hard time coming to grips with that. She wasn’t naïve. She knew the personal sacrifices that people made every single day to serve their country at the Agency, but she’d never expected it to become so personal to her. What bothered her most was that they had taken her choices away. The powers that be at Langley had unilaterally determined that they knew best how she should live her life.
The door opened, and two men walked into the room, along with her boss, Brett. She wondered if he was going to be involved in this.
“Layla, thanks for coming in.” Brett gave her a forced smile.
Like she had much of a choice. “Of course.”
She turned her attention to the two men she didn’t know. One was quite a bit older than the other.
“I’m Frank Gibson,” the older man said. “And this is Monty Hicks. We’re both with the IG’s office.”
Hunter rose and stretched out his hand. “I’m Hunter McCoy, Ms. Karam’s attorney.”
Brett eyed Hunter but didn’t respond directly to him. “Layla, I just popped in to make sure everyone was situated here, but I won’t be sticking around for the questions. The IG’s office prefers it that way.”
She did too. She wasn’t sure Brett was really on her side. “Okay, thank you.”
Brett gave a nod to the guys from the IG’s office and walked out of the room.
“Let’s have a seat,” Frank said. They each passed over their business cards. “Ms. Karam, we usually don’t allow attorneys in our investigations, but given the circumstances, we have no objection, since Mr. McCoy has the proper clearances.”
“And what are the circumstances exactly?” Layla asked. She appreciated that Hunter was there, but she was going to speak up to protect her interests as well.
Frank cleared his throat. “Ms. Karam, you’re familiar with the known terrorist group called Al-Nidal, correct?”
She hadn’t been expecting that to be where the questioning would start. “Yes, of course, they’re part of my portfolio.”
“Meaning?” Monty asked.
“You’ll have to excuse Monty. He’s new to this job, so he’ll have more questions,” Frank said.
Layla was skeptical about that claim, but she focused on answering the question, assuming that the sooner she did, the sooner she’d find out what this was all about. “That means that I study the group in hopes of becoming an expert so I can aid operations and any other analytical efforts we have.”
Frank nodded. “Have you ever met any members of Al-Nidal?”
Before she could answer, Hunter grabbed her arm to stop her from responding, but she waved him off. “No. I haven’t.”
“Are you sure about that?” Monty asked.
“I’m one hundred percent sure. I think I’d know if I’d met a known terrorist.” Layla’s frustration level was building.
Monty opened one of the many folders in front of him and slid a picture across the table. “Do you know who this is?”
Layla sighed. This was quickly
