Jane didn’t know how to respond to that. “Seriously?”
Sullivan grinned. “I’m on a speculative fiction kick with my book club. I’m hooked on the idea of doppelgangers as the ultimate spies. Think what they could do for us in the Agency.”
“I think you’re due for a drug test.”
“Ha.”
Jane grinned then lowered her voice and leaned forward. “No. I foundthemas in the Mazzucas.”
“Yeah? Where?” Finally, Sullivan looked intrigued.
“In Tacoma.” Jane rattled off an address, and as she thought about it, something niggled at the back of her brain.
“You can confirm this?”
“I can. Two different CIs, trustworthy ones, told me. Neither knows the other. It’s no setup.” Lola had given her the address, and Mack, a CI Jane had been working with for years, corroborated.
“Oh, I can’t wait to follow that up with some surveillance.”
The server came with their appetizers, and they dug into spicy poppers while speculating about why the crime family had moved. And why no one had mentioned it.
“Do you think Matthew had anything to do with it?” Jane asked. She picked at the popper on her plate, feeling full. She normally had a healthy appetite, but her instincts told her they were getting close, blunting her need for food and increasing her desire to move, to do something about the situation. She hated having to settle for more hurry-up-and-wait.
“I’m not sure, but I’m leaning toward maybe.” Which was more than Sullivan had admitted to before. “I can’t be sure, but something’s going on with him.”
“What do you mean?”
Their food arrived, and Sullivan dug into lunch while she explained, “He’s like a different person lately. Secretive. Nosing into everyone’s cases more than usual and keeping a bunch of us out of the loop on some of our more major ops. Taking on a lot more himself instead of supervising us.”
“That’s got to be aggravating.”
“You’re telling me.” Sullivan speared a cooked carrot with more force than necessary. “He’s driving me nuts.” She added in a low murmur, “And he’s stalling on Dan’s murder.”
“No kidding.”
“Yeah. I don’t like it. Rob and I have been talking. We’re sure Matthew’s hiding something.”
“I’m going to dig.”
“I wish I could lend you a shovel, but I’m booked with all the folders on my desk. Too much to do, and too much oversight to handle on top of that.”
“I get it. I really do.” She stared into Sullivan’s eyes. “I’ll find who took out Dan. And I’m planning on doing a lot more looking into Matthew as well.”
“Well, if you want, you can start at McGrath’s. I overheard him in his office telling someone on the phone that he’d be happy to meet up there tonight at seven.”
A lot of law enforcement and federal employees met at McGrath’s, a popular bar downtown. A good place to stalk—trackher boss.
And find some answers before she lost her ever-loving mind.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
TrackingMatthew Scott should have been more difficult. Jane thought he needed a lesson in how not to be predictable. She knew what he drove, and she waited outside the office for him to leave. She’d been home to change into an outfit appropriate for a night out on the town in case he spotted her that evening.
She trailed him, knowing he had more than an hour before he was scheduled to be at McGrath’s. He drove to a dry cleaner then to the library. Jane thought about following him inside but didn’t want to be too obvious.
He couldn’t do anything even if he caught her following him. She’d convince him that she’d been out for a stroll or a drink. No way he’d assume she’d been following him, not when he’d told her to back off of the Simmons’ case. Because Matthew Scott couldn’t fathom anyone not obeying his direct orders.
As he left the library, she made a face at him, wishing he could see her. Immature, but it soothed that need inside her to put him down, hard.
