Julia flipped her laptop around so the gathered group could see the closeup of Britt holding BKI’s front door wide to admit his brother and the woman Julia had dubbed Jane Doe Raincoat. The image was grainy. The CCTV camera it’d been taken from wasn’t high quality, but even still, there was no mistaking one of the two individuals with Britt.
Knox Rollins was the spitting image of his younger brother.
Or, at least, hehadbeen at one time.
“You expect me to believe Sergeant Rollins somehow secreted his brother and this woman into the building”—she lifted a dubious eyebrow—“and then somehow secreted them back out again without any of you seeing them or knowing anything about it?”
Heads bobbed in unison, and the frustration simmering inside Julia since hour one of the search suddenly increased to a boil. Little beads of sweat popped out on her upper lip.
“Bullshit,” she hissed and watched one of Eliza’s sleek black eyebrows flick up her forehead. The others’ expressions remained infuriatingly passive. “I’m not Willy Wonka. Sugar-coating things isn’t my style. So, believe me when I say that if one of you doesn’t start giving me answers, I’m hauling all of you in tonight.”
“On what charges?” Boss’s bored tone was belied by the muscle on the side of his wide jaw ticking fast enough to beat the band.
“Aiding and abetting, harboring a fugitive, obstructing justice, you name it.”
“You can’t prove any of that.” This from Becky.
“I don’t have to prove it to pull you in for questioning.”
“You think our answers will change because you’ve cuffed us and stuffed us?” Boss chuckled, but there was no humor in it. “Lady, you got no idea who you’re dealing with if you think a little time behind bars will make any of us give you information we don’t have.”
“Oh, I know you guys are tough.” Julia frowned. “Bunch of former flag wavers turned grease monkeys. You’re as tough as they come. But in my line of work, when something looks fishy and smells fishy, it’s a goddamn whale.” She blinked when she realized her mistake but covered it up by jabbing her finger into the soapstone countertop. “And yes, I know a whale isn’t technically a fish, but you get my point. This whole thing stinks to high heavens. Every single one of you knows a lot more than you’re letting on and I?—”
The diamond-hard looks in the eyes staring back at her stopped her in her tracks. Tough talk wasn’t going to work on these people. Theylivedon tough talk, and hers only made them more obstinate.
She’d let her emotions get the better of her. Let her memories of Britt as he stood over her, emanating danger and sex appeal in a testosterone-laden cloud override her instincts as an agent.
Damnit, Jules! Forget Britt Rollins and pull your shit together. You’re better than this.
Blowing out a deep breath, she sat up straighter and changed tactics.
“Look, I understand why you want to protect Sergeant Rollins. I’ve been around you all enough to know you consider yourselves more than colleagues or coworkers. You’re family. Igetthat. I have a big, tight-knit family, too. And I’d do anything to keep them safe. But Knox Rollins and whoever this woman is”—she tapped the top of the laptop screen—“theyaren’t your family. So help me find them, and I promise I’ll do everything I can to see that Britt comes out of this unscathed.”
“There are outbuildings out back,” one of the tactical guys said while glancing through the windowpanes in the back door.
“There are?” Julia forgot her line of bargaining and blinked in surprise. When she thought back to the handful of times she’d visited the old menthol cigarette factory, she realized she’d never gotten a look at thebackof the property. She’d assumed the factory building abutted the river.
“Yes, ma’am. Three of them.”
She hopped from the stool and headed in the tactical guy’s direction, anticipation making her blood fizz.
She’d managed five steps before Eliza shook her head. “Your warrants don’t cover our outbuildings.” She had the warrants Julia had secured from the judge in one hand and waved them like a fan in front of her face. “They cover the old foreman’s cottage and the factory. That’s it. You step one foot inside any other structures on this property, and you violate the Fourth Amendment’s exclusionary rule.”
Julia felt her nostrils flare. “Did I miss the part where you went to law school?”
“I have a BA in political science, a master’s degree in economics, and a doctorate in public policy. That kind of makes me a lawyer by extension.”
Stomping to the back door, Julia peeked through the panes to find an expansive patio. Flagstones extended from the factory building out thirty yards to the brick fence topped by razor wire. There was a large firepit surrounded by comfortable-looking Adirondack chairs. There was a built-in kitchen area complete with a grill, smoker, and what appeared to be a dorm fridge. But most glaringly, three outbuildings stood in a row like good little soldiers.
Two of the buildings weren’t much bigger than storage sheds. The third was more the size of a small barn.
“All it’ll take is one phone call and I can get the judge who issued that warrant”—she nodded to the pages in Eliza’s hand—“to extend the search to those outbuildings.”
“Fine.” Boss shrugged shoulders as big as bowling balls. “Get on it then. Make the call. Time’s a wastin’.”
“Go outside and watch over the structures,” Julia instructed the guy in the SWAT gear. With his body armor, helmet, and eye protection on, it was impossible to tell him apart from the other tactical team members. She only knew who he was because he wore a Velcro name patch over his right pectoral muscle. “Thank you, Agent De La Cruz,” she added when he opened the door to do as instructed.
She was in the process of pulling her phone from her pocket to make that call to the judge when Agent Keplar ran into the kitchen. His bald patches were especially shiny since he’d been the first in and out of every room. She wouldn’t have thought him the type of agent to have the energy of that pink bunny from those old battery commercials, but he’d surprised her with his vigor.
