Idon’t trust Avery for a single second. She is a professional liar, and taking her on as a consultant might ruin my career indefinitely. But she solved over 200 open cases with just one piece of information. She is as valuable as it gets, which is the only reason I went forward with the deal.
Well, I am 100% certain she will not keep to the deal, and I will catch her in the act to finally have her prosecuted.
Rachel enters the room with the signed paperwork and the ankle monitor. It took me an entire week to finally convince the AG’s office to go forward with the deal, and if not for her insight on the Ford Robbery and my personal vouching for her, they wouldn’t have done so. It is a thing I will probably regret eternally, but the insights she has are extremely valuable and I’d rather have her under controlled supervision than hunting her. Because I am certain, she’d be gone the minute she arrived at Danbury.
“Everything set,” Rachel says, quite elated. I know she couldn’t wait to meet Avery Zayne. “Your leg, please.”
Avery looks at her, her head in her typical demeanor, slightly tilted, eyes narrow. Something about her gaze always radiates a sense of superiority, sprinkled with a hint of judgment.
“What is it with your voice?” Avery asks.
Like I said, superiority and judgment.
Gone is the woman I saw for just a few minutes when she had the panic attack. Now, she’s back to her arrogant self, which I dislike on a molecular level.
“What’s with my voice?” asks Rachel.
“It’s too high,” Avery says. “It hurts my ears.”
Rachel opens her mouth, catches herself, breathes in deep, and says, “Well, it’s my pleasure to annoy you as much as you annoy us.”
I snigger. Avery’s eyes flash at me, back at Rachel, and back to me.
“Huh,” she huffs out without another word, a very knowing look on her face, and finally stretches out her leg.
Rachel fixes the ankle monitor.
“That should be forbidden,” says Avery. “It’s a crime for the eyes. Aren’t there any less obvious models?”
“Many things are forbidden,” I say. “Let’s not forget it’s our courtesy to you.”
She laughs.
“You would get nowhere without me,” she says arrogantly. “You should be grateful I am willing to share my knowledge and help you.”
I close my eyes for one second as I breathe in. That woman will cost me my last nerve.
I open my eyes again, grimace a grin, and say, “I have the highest case closure rate in over three decades. Nowhere is not quite the term.”
“And yet, you didn’t solve the most important ones. LikeThe Storm on the Sea of Galilee.”
I dislike the way she emphasizes the name of the lost Rembrandt, which hasn’t been seen since 1990.
“Are you telling me you know where it is?”
“I am,” she says. “Hedda has it, just like she took the Mona Lisa.”
“It was your signature,” I say.
“Hedda is an honorless cunt,” Avery says, and her lips purse in disgust.
“So you two weren’t working together?”
“We had aligned interests,” she says, but does not elaborate further. Her gaze wanders away to stare at the blank wall.
While I am massively annoyed by her, I am also curious what motivates her. She is saved by Hedda, and yet they despise each other?
It all makes no sense to me.
