Without question, this man was her person. Simply because he put her first.
21
The Interrogation
Dakota was falling in love with Providence. He knew, because her happiness trumped his, which is why he was committed to helping her work through her issues regarding her daughter.
On the way to his office, they stopped in the kitchen for lunch, and found Miranda putting away groceries.
“Welcome back, Dakota. How was your trip?”
“Good,” he said. “How’d things go?”
“We had a girls-only party and Sammy asked Providence to give her a bath.”
“Where I learned about her fear of spiders,” Providence said, while making sandwiches.
Dakota nodded. “Did she freak out?”
“Oh, yeah.”
“Did you kill it?”
“I’m into the catch and release program.”
“Everything else go okay?”
“We had a great time together,” Miranda replied.
“Miranda, I’m picking Sammy up early from daycare this afternoon,” Dakota said.
With plates in hand, he and Providence entered his office where a text from Stryker awaited them. “No luck hacking the bank account. Still working it.”
“If anyone can find your money, it’s Stryker,” Dakota said.
Providence brought him up to speed on what Kelly and Kevin had seen at the banquet, and told him about the sailboat sighting at the Georgetown restaurant.
“We’ve got to find that masked couple.” Dakota called the lab at ALPHA. “I need the status on a picture Providence Reynolds and I dropped off…how much longer will it take?” He listened then hung up.
“Well?” she asked.
“Next week.” He raked his hand through his hair.
Providence showed him how she’d been hunting for the sailboat based on the various registration numbers, then suggested he search the street cams the night of the banquet for the couple Matt left with.
Three hours later, a frustrated Dakota pushed out of his chair. “These two are pros at staying hidden.” Despite his efforts, he couldn’t find the car with the masked couple. “I’m going to pick Sammy up. Come with me.”
“I’m gonna keep working.”
On the way, Dakota checked in with Juanita.
“I’m concerned,” she told Dakota. “Business is down thirty percent because of Matt’s death. And four more agents left to work for other companies.”
“I’m not resigning. That would send a message that I’m running scared because I’m guilty.”
“You are a lot of things, Dakota, but scared isn’t one of them. Think about putting out a press release that you’re taking a temporary hiatus until the police clear your name.”
“I’ll consider it. Are you doing okay?”
