Dr. Zhang set down a large laptop bag. “Where’s my office?”
Angus stiffened. “You’ll have to choose a desk here in the middle. There isn’t another office.”
Her smile was perfectly polite. “That won’t do. I need to speak privately as the ... shrink, as you put it. I’ll require an office.”
Angus’s smile was a bit feral. He sure didn’t like shrinks, now did he? He looked around and then pointed at the one closed door on the south wall. “That’s the best I can do. We’ve been using it as a storage closet.”
Zhang’s eyes tightened a fraction, and then her smile widened. “That would be lovely. Thank you so much, Special Agent Force.” She turned to Malcolm. “For now, how about we chat in one of the conference rooms?”
Getting between these two would be a total mistake. Zhang and Force were oil and water, without question. But Malcolm nodded and gestured ahead of him, reaching down to pick up her laptop bag. It was every bit as heavy as it had looked. “After you.”
Rutherford turned to leave.
Angus cleared his throat to stop him. “When is my computer expert getting here?”
It was Fields who answered. “We’re having a little trouble with the prison transfer. Give us another day.”
Mal paused. “Our computer expert is in prison?”
“Not for long,” Rutherford said, sarcasm lacing his tone. “Why leave the criminals in prison? What’s the good in that?”
Mal didn’t have time for this crap. Force could deal with the bureaucracy. Mal turned and followed the sharp clicks of Dr. Zhang’s heels into case room two and set her laptop bag on the table. “Dr. Zhang, I’m sensing a lot of tension.”
She shut the door and then pulled out a seat. “We’re going to be working together for a while. How about you call me Nari?”
He narrowed his gaze and also drew out a chair at the head of the table. “I think I should keep your title in mind when we speak.” The last thing he wanted was to be kicked from the unit because of PTSD or any of his other issues. Once he was in, he wanted it to be his decision to leave.
She sighed. “I’m not here to judge you. I’m here to help.”
“Uh-huh,” Malcolm said, kicking out his boots. “Right.”
She rolled her eyes, looking very undoctorlike. “Really. I’m here to provide insight into individual cases, and also act as a counselor for the team. I’m trained, and I’m good at this. The only time I’ll go outside the unit is if you’re going to hurt yourself or anybody else. That’s it. I promise.”
The woman was beautiful and earnest. He couldn’t sense any falsehood in her. But she was trained by the HDD, so that might not mean much. In addition, she must’ve screwed up somewhere to be here right now. “What did you do wrong?”
She blinked. “Nothing.”
Okay. She sucked at lying. Mal shook his head. “You expect honesty but won’t give it?”
Her lips tightened. “It’s none of your business. How’s that?”
Fair enough. At least it was the truth. “All right, Nari. What do you know about my case?”
“I’m the resident expert at the moment,” she said, no arrogance in her tone.
“Have you met Pippa?” he asked.
“No.”
“I have. She’s sweet and kind.” He tilted his head. “Very.”
Nari nodded. “I understand. Tell me how the family you infiltrated felt about you. What was their name? The Bodoni family?”
Just the name was like a punch to the gut. “They liked me. Thought I was a stand-up guy.”
“Right. Because you are.” She smiled. “You were good and kind with them, but you had a reason. A higher reason for manipulating them. For getting to know them and bond with them. Doesn’t make you a bad person.”
Didn’t it? He’d taken down the biggest drug dealer in the states, and he still felt shitty about it. His gut felt its usual punch. “Makes me an asshole.”
