“Or you could just watch me on the Big Brother cameras,” she joked as I slipped out.
I grinned. “I’ll be doing that too.”
“Perv!” she shouted at my back as I slipped out.
I was fully prepared for a confrontation with Joel this morning but, to my surprise, he hadn’t come home last night. I needed to see what the bureau had him doing. He should’ve been on ice until the trial.
Even though Amelia and I were nowhere near where we had been before Las Vegas happened, it felt like we were on the right path. There was an extra spring in my step as I dropped into my car and started the drive back to Manhattan.
With the lack of sleep from the night before, I should have been nodding off, but I was more energized than ever. I couldn’t even blame it on the coffee I had before I left her apartment.
It was all her.
When I was with Amelia, it felt like I was where I was supposed to be.
I had never felt that before. Not in the Navy. Not in the FBI. Never.
But with her? I was home. I was at peace.
Maybe that’s why I was itching to get into the office today. There was a place for me to go when I was done. Somewhere to rest. Someone to unpack the day with.
I’d be taking the train back to New Haven today. I didn’t want the delays of driving. I wanted to be back to Amelia as soon as possible.
Maybe I could get transferred to the New Haven field office . . .
Even though Sanders had been talking out of his ass yesterday, he was right about one thing. I had no future in his department. Regardless of my reasons, regardless of the internalreview clearing me, I was persona non grata to every single person in the Javits Building.
If I followed the trail of digital breadcrumbs I had found yesterday, part of me thought that it would exonerate me in the court of public opinion.
But if I was being honest, I didn’t really care if it did.
I only cared if I cleared my name with Amelia. Ifsheforgave me.
The rest of them could kiss my ass.
Once this was all over, I’d have to figure out what the hell I was going to do with the rest of my life. Sure, I could join Cole in the private sector. He probably had an office already reserved for me at the Keller & Associates headquarters. But did I really want to keep doing this shit until I dropped dead? What kind of a life was that?
I garnered plenty of stares as I parked and made my way through headquarters. As soon as I dropped down into my desk chair, I texted Amelia and opened the files that would list where Joel Hawthorne was.
Another deposition?Damn. I knew firsthand that Joel had direct contact with Valentine to get the loan he needed, but I also knew that Valentine had never been able to activate Joel as a useful soldier in the finance world. Joel had been relocated by Cole before he had ever been blackmailed. I knew that becauseIwas the one who would’ve been doing the blackmailing. I had a ton of shit on Joel filed away, but I never used it.
Joel was just a guy who got a loan, didn’t pay it back, and then had his knee rearranged.
Sure, he was a witness, but he didn’t have insider information on Valentine.
I was about to close out of the itinerary when something odd caught my eye.
Escorting agent: James Sanders.
I glanced over my shoulder and spotted Agent Sanders walking into his office, waving at the bullpen like he was an A-list celebrity doing a pap walk.
He wasn’t with Joel.Maybe he had dropped him off for the deposition and decided to come into the office while it was happening?
I pulled out my phone and texted Amelia. Thankfully, she had given me her new number. I didn’t want to explain that I had . . . procured it in less than legal ways. You know—just in case.
That was the thing about pretending to be a criminal for years. I’d gained a lot of useful skills.
Judah
