Page 13 of Ultimate Justice

Might as well get this over with. “The FBI wants Noah to help them find the place where he was taken to.”

Tish shook her head. “I thought he was being held in the basement of a house.”

“Apparently, he was somewhere else before he was drugged and put in that basement.” She couldn’t imagine what Noah had been through. “He must have been so scared,” she whispered, more to herself than Tish.

“Hmm.” Tish pursed her lips. “Noah is a minor. Currently, he has no foster parents. If the FBI wants to take him from the hospital, he’ll have to have a legal guardian.”

“I know.” Noah was an unaccompanied minor. The federal government couldn’t just whisk him away. “They want me to go with them, but you know I can’t do that.”

Tish held open her arms. “Why not? You’ve been through the training. You could be his guardian, and he likes you.”

She’d completely forgotten she and her ex had gone through the foster care program. “It doesn’t matter.” She shook her head. “Besides, Dr. Strobie said he’d go.”

“Noah hates Strobie. The man’s a jackass.”

“Then why did you hire him?” The question must have come out louder than intended. From the other end of the hallway, McGarry watched her, his lips moving and the phone still pressed to his ear.

“He looked good on paper, and he interviewed well,” Tish countered, pointing a finger at her. “If you want someone to blame for him being here, look in the mirror.”

Marlie sighed. Indirectly, it was her fault North Metro was stuck with Strobie. “I couldn’t have taken the job, and you know it.” Maybe someday the time would be right. Today wasn’t that day.

“Yes, you could have. Haven’t you been saying a change is needed in your life?”

Reluctantly, she nodded. But this wasn’t the change she’d been considering, not by a long shot. Not that she’d had anything particular in mind. “This is too much. This is…” She didn’t know how to say it.

Yes. She did.

Her body temperature felt like it had soared five degrees. Sweat began trickling down her back and temples. The thought of working with the FBI on this case—a missing children case—terrified her.

“What this is,” Tish said, lowering her voice as a couple walked past, “is an opportunity to step outside those rigid walls you’ve erected around yourself. This isn’t the life for you. It’s time to start living again, and you know it.”

She did know it, yet her mind spun with all the reasons she couldn’t do this. “I can’t just take off and go gallivanting around Denver with the FBI. I have a job here. I need the money.” Because her personal resources were tapped out.

“I can take care of that,” a deep voice said.

Agent McGarry. She hadn’t noticed he and his dog had snuck up behind them. Even the dog was stealthy.

“Take care of what?” She glared at the man, both annoyed by his eavesdropping and uneasy at the sudden chill whipping through her. His voice might be calm, gentle, but the fiery determination in his steel-gray eyes was as subtle as a Mack truck.

“The FBI can pay you as a consultant. I’ve already run this up the chain, and it’s been approved.”

Marlie parked her hands on her hips. “You did that without asking me?”

He arched a dark brow. “I told you I won’t take no for an answer.”

“Of all the—” She bit her lip to keep from speaking her mind: arrogant, overbearing, and that was just the beginning of the list. “It doesn’t matter. If I leave for an indefinite period of time, there are no guarantees I’ll still have a job to come back to. The hospital would have to replace me.”

“Actually,” Tish interjected, holding up a finger, “I’d have to ask the board, but I might be able to get you a special-circumstances leave of absence. Your job would still be here when you get back.”

Did she want it to be?

Of course. Again, she needed the income to pay rent on her tiny apartment.

Maybe.

Maybe not. Because deep down, could she really see herself continuing this way?

McGarry watched her. Silently. But she could practically hear the gears turning in his head. He was biding his time, waiting for her conversation with Tish to play out.