Becs shrugged.“Maybe.”
He smiled.“If she does say that, we’ll ask who.”
Again, he was being far too logical.“I can’t imagine she’d just walk in here.Charlie’s been lookin’ for her since Sunday.”
“Baz and JJ saw her in here.”
Becs recalled reading that in the notes.It had been right before Brantley and Reese’s wedding.Which meant Allison hadn’t been too worried about anyone seeing her.Considering how small this town was, she had to know someone might recognize her.
Then again, maybe she thought no one would remember her since she only worked with the task force for a very short time.
“Fair enough.But JJ’s pinged her phone dozens of times.She can’t get a location, so it must be turned off.”
“I’m sure she’s got more than one phone.The number we have is likely for a burner she used specifically for us.”
Yeah.She’d considered that too.Since Allison had purposely targeted the task force, it would make sense for her to have compartmentalized the role.
“You worked with Allison,” Evan said casually.“What did you think of her?”
“I didn’t work with her long enough to form an opinion.”That was the truth.Mostly.She’d spent a little time with Allison at HQ, and she remembered the woman was bitchy, determined to get her way in all things.Her heart certainly hadn’t been broken when she learned that Allison skipped out on the job.
“Why do you think she left?”she asked Evan.“She only worked one case.And didn’t even finish it.Why would she up and quit so quickly?”
“Maybe Calloway called her in.Or maybe she figured out we didn’t know anything.”
“I can’t imagine she had enough time to figure out anything.Not when we were focused on the case.”The first big one that Becs had worked on, in fact.
Evan took a sip of water.“I worked with Trey that day, but according to Baz’s notes, she was confrontational and too rigid when it came to how to handle things.I doubt he opened up to her about whatever it was she was lookin’ for.”
“I don’t think he did, either.”Becs couldn’t see Baz spilling details to someone he didn’t know.“But somethin’ spooked her.Why else disappear the way she did?”
Becs remembered wondering whether she’d had a family emergency or simply didn’t like the way the team worked together.Or maybe Allison had seen or heard something that sent her running.But what?It had been a fairly straightforward case.Cedric Hawkins had gone missing, and Governor Greenwood contacted Brantley for their assistance.In the end, it turned out that a group of wives had conspired to kill each other’s husbands.Charlie was the one who talked down the wives, and they were all arrested.But based on Baz’s notes, Allison hadn’t approved of the way they were handling things, and at some point, she walked away, never looking back.
“Maybe she didn’t want to stick around because we expected her to work,” Becs considered.“If she already had a job as a spy for Calloway, she probably thought she had enough to do already.”
Evan grinned.“Possibly.”
Whatever her reasons, Becs wished they could find her.If she was tied in with this, they needed to know.They had very little to go on, and the thought of never finding out what happened to Kylie Walker didn’t sit well with her.
“Let’s have lunch, then we’ll talk to some more people,” Evan said, his tone smooth and easy.“And if she happens to walk in while we’re eating, it’ll make our jobs that much easier.”
Yeah.If only.
When Evan commented that they might stumbleon Allison, he’d been joking.He’d used the excuse to get Becs to have lunch with him because he wanted to spend more time with her outside of HQ.Yesterday had been an eye-opener for him, and he realized how much he enjoyed talking to her, listening to her theories, watching her expressive features when she tried to work out a problem.
It was a ruse, and sure, his mother would likely accuse him of sending mixed signals again.She was probably right, since when it came to Becs, his only objective was to do right by her.
Did he want more?Absolutely.
Could he risk it?No.
More accurately, he couldn’t risk her.
So, yeah, he was hoping they would run into Allison so that it didn’t look as though he’d manipulated the situation.He had, but he didn’t want it to appear that way.
And what do you know?That was precisely what happened as they were finishing their meal.
The waitress had just removed their plates when Allison Bogart walked into the restaurant, her eyes scanning every inch.As she looked his way, Evan purposely turned his attention to Becs, smiling at her as though they were enjoying a lunch date and not suffering through a silent meal together.
