Schwartz turns to face me.“You heard him… give it all to me.”
I know it won’t do any good to protest or fight.Cole’s life is in my hands.
I take off the bracelet Cole gave me, my gold stud earrings and my watch.I place everything into Schwartz’s open palm, and then slide my phone from my back pocket, handing it over.
Schwartz unceremoniously lowers the window two inches, and one by one, drops each item out into the rushing air.
And nobody knows where I am.
The window goes back up.
Schwartz folds his hands in his lap and looks straight ahead.The car carries us north and east into the gray distance, the city quickly falling away behind us.I press my back against the seat and breathe through my nose and think.
Cole will return from his meeting.He’ll find me gone soon enough.They’ll search the building and see I’m not there.He’ll check his phone, open the tracker and see it sitting motionless on the side of a highway.He’ll know exactly what that means.
I stare at my own reflection in the tinted window and make myself a promise.No matter what happens, I’m not giving up any information.Even if I die, Cole has all the information necessary to take RainVest down.
CHAPTER 21
Cole
TheFBImeetingrunslong because Special Agent in Charge, Dennis Hara, is thorough without regard for anyone else’s schedule.I sit across from him in a conference room on the fourth floor of the federal building and walk him through everything—the financial trails, the shell corporations, the damning emails between executives, the Pelham–DelRey family connection, the SAPG link, and Vega identified among the breach team.He listens and asks precise questions, writing notes in a leather notebook.He takes it all very seriously, which is exactly what I was expecting.
“When can I get this actual evidence that you proclaim to have?”he asks, closing the notebook and pushing it to the side.“These are very serious allegations.”
“Soon,” I say.
“How soon?”he pushes.
“Not until Tessa publishes the article.”
“Why not now?”he asks, but I can see he already knows the answer.
Still, I indulge him.“You and I both know the minute I hand this stuff over, you’re going to kill the article so it doesn’t hamper your investigation.She’ll provide it as soon as the article goes live.”
Hara crosses his arms on the desk, leans forward with a no-nonsense look on his well-lined face.“This could be considered obstruction of justice, failing to provide this information.”
I mimic his actions, leaning in.“Dennis… we both know how this game is played and we’re doing you a solid by presenting the knowledge we have right now.Nothing is stopping you from moving forward and starting your own investigation.I know you’d like for me to make your job easier, but you’re going to have to have a little patience.”
He sighs and leans back, tapping his fingers on the table.“Fine.Can you give me an approximation when I’ll have your evidence in my grubby little hands?”
I can’t help but chuckle.“The article is with her editor and if it passes their legal review, I imagine it will go to print very soon.A few days at most.”
He has no choice but to accept that and by the time we shake hands in the lobby, it’s four twelve.The drive back to Pioneer Square takes the usual thirty minutes because of the start of rush hour and I replay the Hara meeting in my head, noting what he responded to, what made him curious and wondering how long before federal wheels will start turning in a meaningful way.
I enter the lobby of Jameson from a back corridor connected to the garage.Josie looks up from the communal table where she normally sits with Tessa.
“How’d it go?”she asks.
“Productive,” I say, scanning the table filled where Tessa normally works.“Where is she?”
Josie glances at the empty chair across from her.“She was here when we went into the two o’clock meeting, gone when we came out.”She shrugs mildly.“Assume she’s upstairs.”
That makes sense.She’s been working in the lobby for the most part but maybe she just wanted some quiet.Maybe a nap, and it wouldn’t be horrible to find her in bed where I would decidedly join her.
“Catch you later,” I say as I turn for the stairs, but Josie’s already forgotten me.
The quiet of the apartment hits me as soon as I enter.Not the type of quiet that says she’s napping in the bedroom but rather an ominous stillness that tells me without a doubt that she’s not here.I move through the living area, checking the kitchen, the bedroom, the guest room.
