Page 143

She gives me a flat look. "Unlike some people, I don't kill everyone who annoys me."

"I don't kill everyone."

"Comforting."

I enter and glance at the screens. "Anything?"

The humor disappears.

Elena shakes her head. "Nothing conclusive. We found another two companies linked to the old network, but both stopped moving money months ago. Whoever controlled them cleared the accounts before Karras died."

OB6.

Two weeks of investigation has given us thousands of additional transactions, seventeen shell companies, several compromised businesses, and enough evidence to confirm that the network touched every branch of the Crown.

What we still don't have is the person behind it.

Or the purpose of the money already deployed.

Once, that uncertainty would have consumed me. I would have put more men on it, demanded answers that didn't exist yet, and punished someone because action feels better than waiting.

Now I have Elena.

I've discovered that waiting becomes marginally less intolerable when the person beside you can threaten an accountant over a consulting fee.

"You're staring at me," she says.

"I'm thinking."

"That generally worries me."

I reach over and close the file she's reading. She immediately opens it again. I close it.

Her eyes narrow. "Adrianos."

"Lunch."

"I'm working."

"It's three."

She looks at the corner of her screen. Her expression changes. I enjoy that more than I should.

"That's impossible."

"It's a clock, Elena. It has limited opportunities for deception."

"I ate."

"When?"

She looks suspiciously toward the empty coffee cup beside her.

"Coffee isn't food."

"It contains calories."

"So does whiskey. I'm not serving you a bottle for dinner."