“Timothy Chambers, as I live and breathe. I’d forgotten after you quit the FBI you went to law school.”
Timothy shook Maverick’s hand. “Yeah, the background was excellent but I couldn’t take the cases any longer. I’ve been paying attention to your career. Seems like you did alright for yourself. I bet making millions of dollars is much better than dealing with asshole criminals.”
The two men laughed.
“Anything is better than that. I enjoy what I do. I didn’t know you worked here.”
Timothy shrugged. “I’m on the board. I work out of my office in either Jacksonville or Ft. Myers. I took my father’s place years ago as a fledging board member. He had a penchant for caring about victims. Betty had been kind enough to show me the ropes.”
“We’re running behind, Timothy. Don’t forget we have announcements to make.” As soon as Betty touched his arm, he bristled, but then laughed.
“You’re right, sweet Betty. We came to find Alexia. I haven’t met you yet, but from everything I’ve heard about your work, I am thoroughly impressed. If you ever want to consider moving from Miami, I might have a job for you.” As soon as he took my hand, I stiffened and there was absolutely no reason why.
Maybe because at this point, I didn’t trust anyone.
“Thank you. I enjoy working here and have no plans on leaving.”
“Can’t blame a guy for trying. And Maverick, you’ll need to tell me all about how you know this woman.”
“All in due time.” Maverick was his typical possessive self, keeping his hand on the small of my back.
“Come on, Alexia,” Betty offered. “Why don’t we head downstairs. Almost everyone is waiting. We’ll allow these two old friends to talk.”
“Go on,” Maverick said to me. From where he stood, only I could see his eyes. His gaze was pointed.
I squeezed his arm, offering a heated look in return, unable to put aside the worry about when the killer would strike next.
Why did I have a terrible feeling we were in a losing battle?
My instinct told me the killer wanted me and no one else. He’d made that perfectly clear.
Maybe it was time to give him what he wanted.
CHAPTER 22
Maverick
The who’s who of law enforcement bothered me more than it should. This was a boutique firm, medium-sized and one that shouldn’t have but so much clout.
In my mind, perhaps it was a way of making some powerful people feel better about the state of the judicial system.
“This is quite the surprise,” Timothy mused, shaking his head as he did. “I never expected to see you this way.”
“I keep my toes in with law enforcement.”
“The law is very exacting. I would think you’d be tired of it by now. But your books say otherwise.”
“I know what you have to deal with as an attorney. As you know, it’s much like being an agent for the FBI.”
“To a point, but you proved to all of us that you could avoid rules.”
I had to laugh at his choice of words. “How did I avoid them? I was plagued with them.” I hadn’t seen Timothy in at least fifteen years. He’d been fresh faced and eager, always the go-getter in the academy.
“Oh, come on now. All you need to do is to read one of your books and you can see all the ways in which you bent the rules on almost every case. You were something special and I learned so much from you.”
“You’ve read one of my books.”
He laughed and scratched his bearded jaw. “I think all of them. It allows me to see inside the criminal mind. I love what I do, but I must admit there are times I miss the nitty-gritty of working in the field on a case.”
