Talk to the ME personally.
Jac stood. It was going to be her. She had to find a way to do something. Instead of just sitting around worrying while combing the Sturvins’ social media and email accounts. Anyone on the teams could do that.
She needed to be out there, hunting the information that would them find Livy and Ava.
“That’s what Knight was doing in Masterson, though,” Miranda said, picking up a previous conversation. Miranda brought up Agent Allan Knight often—probably more than the other woman realized. “Trying to determine if he wanted to be a part of the cold-case team. So it’s happened before. I can’t see anyone choosing Barnes as a PAVAD agent—not after what happened with Kyra. Definitely not as a CCU team leader.”
“That’s different. Knight’s a thousand times the agent Barnes is. That’s the last way I would describe Todd Barnes.” He was the prototypical screwup, the definition of sloppy. It was a miracle he’d lasted this long in the bureau at all. That he was even periphery involved with this case gave her knots in her stomach.
Jac had also heard he had connections in Washington. Strong ones. With people she didn’t want to remember at all.
“You’re telling me. Watch yourself on this one. It doesn’t quite ring true. And I’ve heard rumblings from friends back at Quantico and in California that PAVAD has angered a few people lately. Within the bureau. And in Washington,” Miranda said as she walked alongside Jac. She hadn’t asked where they were going; she’d just followed.
Rather like Jac had known she would.
She suspected Miranda was keeping an eye on her for this one. Miranda could be a bit overprotective of her friends at times. All it would have taken was one word that Jac might struggle on this case to have Miranda going into high alert. Probably from the years she’d spent taking care of her younger sisters and cousins. It was almost a part of Miranda’s DNA.
“Not all that surprising. Kyra said that conference in Texas eight months ago made it clear there is a lot of internal jealousy going on inside the bureau. Which means backstabbing and machinations. I’m glad I’m not Ed Dennis right now.” She opened the glass doors to the rear entrance to the forensic lab. Then scanned her badge to get through the security door. They had doubled security on the entire PAVAD building, especially the evidence department, after someone had attacked PAVAD a few years ago.
The PAVAD building, while secure, was not infallible. That was a hard lesson they’d had to learn. A few times, now.
Every move someone made in the building was tracked now, it seemed.
She took in a deep breath as familiar sounds and scents assailed her.
This was the best way to find the Sturvin girls. Logically, she knew that.
“Still with four hundred positions to keep filled in this building, we’ll occasionally end up with a lemon,” Miranda said. “Or someone nobody wants around. I can’t think of anyone who fits that description more than Todd Barnes.”
“No kidding,” Jac said as they started down the hall toward the blood-and-biologicals lab. “He asked me out. I’d rather not relive that experience.”
She resisted the urge to shudder. The guy was a total creep. The way he had looked at her had made her stomach turn. Then…and now.
“Oh, how romantic. Why didn’t you ever tell me?”
“You’d been sent out with Mal’s team. I don’t think we saw each other after that for over a month. I tried to scrub the incident from my mind.”
“So Barnesy has a crush on Jac. How did that go over well with your guard dog?”
“I never told Max. I knew...that he’d go all stupid protective. He’s not too fond of Barnes either.”
Understatement.
“We’ll just ignore Barnes while we find those little girls,” Miranda said. “Max is not fond of any man who gets too close to you. Told you so before.”
“Let’s just find the girls and the killer, and then we’ll get rid of Barnes somehow.”
“Sounds like a plan to me.”
She’d printed a photo off her own phone of Rachel and her daughters taken at Emery’s party. That photo rested in her back pocket.
It would stay there, until the moment she had them safe.
Livy liked Disney princesses. Ava loved dogs. They loved each other, too.
Jac’s arms almost ached when she thought about them. She’d held Ava until the little girl had fallen asleep on her shoulder. While Rachel had helped arrange snacks in Max’s kitchen.
It had been normal. Beautiful. Jac had freely admitted to Rachel that holding little ones was a joy she rarely got to experience in her job. Not in happy moments, anyway. Rachel…had somehow understood what Jac hadn’t been able to say that day.
Those little girls deserved to be safe. She was praying with all her might that they were, that for whatever reason, they’d been with someone else—far, far from the home they shared with their parents.
She just had to keep herself focused. No matter what.
“How well does Max know the Sturvins?”
“He…I think he considered Rachel a friend, too. She was helping with Emery’s party. They’ve handled field trips together. Casual, not really friends, but not not friendly, either. Secondary social group. That sort of thing. He…Livy, the older girl, is one of Emery’s friends from school, from basketball, too.”
“Ouch.”
“Yes. Rachel…she was nice. Sweet. She reminded me a bit of your cousin Dusty. She was the one who was going to meet us at my house Saturday to help us plan the landscaping around the walkway.”
“I…hell, Jacs,” Miranda said, pausing just outside the door to blood-and-biologicals. “I’m sorry. I didn’t realize you knew her that well.”
“I think…I didn’t know her well. But I would have liked to. I liked her when we did things together at the school. And it was nice to have someone to talk about things other than crime scenes and profiles with. I’m trying not to think about that.
