“It’s stupid. A ridiculous risk. He’ll get himself killed.”
“Why do you care?” Hope delivered the question in a low voice.
“How could I not care? He’s a friend. Gil, Zane, Tessa. All of them. They’re friends now. It would be a tragedy if they—”
“It would be a professional tragedy, to be sure. But would it be a personal tragedy? Until a week ago, you barely knew any of them. Seems to me that the one person you can’t bear to lose is Luke. And as such, you owe it to yourself, and to him, to at least listen when he talks. If he doesn’t have the sense to realize he messed up, then you need to get over him and move on. No sense in getting stuck with a guy who doesn’t know how to apologize.”
He’d already apologized. She’d left that part out when she’d talked to Hope earlier.
“You’ll regret it if you don’t.” With that dire pronouncement, Hope left the room. “I’m headed to church,” she called out as she went to the door. “I’ll see you later. Love you.”
“Love you too.” Faith whispered the words into the air.
Then she sank to her knees. “God? It’s me, Faith. Again. Luke. He’s . . . I don’t know?” From somewhere in the deep recesses of her brain, she remembered a Sunday school teacher telling her the Holy Spirit, who Faith had been terrified of, was able to translate tears and sighs and emotions into words. That she never had to be afraid God couldn’t understand her prayers—because he could. Faith hoped that was true, because her powers of speech had failed her. All she could do was kneel on the floor and hope God knew what to do with her.
She knelt long enough that her knees screamed for her to move, but she didn’t get up. She twisted around and sat cross-legged. Was Hope right? And what about Luke?
She couldn’t blame him for hating the FBI in general, and he definitely didn’t hate her specifically. She could almost feel his hands on her face, his lips on hers. That kiss. It had been unexpected, but not a mistake.
Luke meant something to her, and she was pretty sure she meant something to him.
“God? I still don’t know about forgiving my dad. He doesn’t deserve it. But maybe I could start with forgiving Luke for being so ridiculous? And maybe I could, you know, not be so angry with you about everything? I’m not sure how to do that. I’ve been angry for a long time, but I don’t want to be.”
She continued to sit until her frantic thoughts slowed and were replaced with memories. Good ones.
He’d always been there. He was still there. Here. Now.
Peace settled over her, and for a little while she sat, enjoyingit. But in time, an urgency that wasn’t panic but was intentional prompted her to move.
It was time to stop a killer.
When she got to work, she went straight to Dale’s office. She wasn’t surprised to see him sitting behind his desk, fuming. If he had been in a cartoon, steam would have been billowing from his ears. As it was, he growled, “Get in here,” when he saw her standing at the door.
“Good morning.” Faith sat in the seat across from him.
“You’re awfully cheery. Are you on something? How many Cokes have you had this morning?”
“One.” Number two was in her bag.
She filled him in on the case. As she talked, Dale chewed on a toothpick. He didn’t interrupt, but he had shredded the toothpick before she finished.
Faith ended by giving him her thoughts on Janice Estes. She didn’t hold back.
Dale shook his head. “I’m still stunned that she handled this all so badly.”
“Have you talked to her?”
“Only to tell her to be in my office Monday morning. I have a meeting with one of our lawyers this afternoon. Can you believe it? But that’s how it goes these days. I can’t just fire her.”
Janice had failed Thad, Mi Cha, and all of their families. Her biases and prejudices could have resulted in two more deaths, and all the devastation that had rained down on the Secret Service agents this week. Injuries and explosions and bullet wounds and the loss of Zane’s home. It was too much.
Faith couldn’t undo any of it. But she could make it stop. She had to.
Five minutes later, she was back at her desk. She dialed Sabrina’s number.
Sabrina answered on the second ring. “Good morning, Faith. I don’t have any new information yet, but I’m chasing a lead that has potential.”
“That’s the best news I’ve heard lately. I was hoping we could brainstorm a little, because I’m wondering if David Lee isn’t who we think he is.”
