“Why are you asking about him?” she asked Matthew.
He stared back at her, his gaze intent. “Does the name Rook mean anything to you?”
“Rook? Like the bird or a chess piece?”
“I don’t know. Either. Both.”
She shook her head. “I haven’t heard that name before, no. Is it connected to Kaminski?”
“I have no idea. But let me know immediately if it pops up. And Jane?”
“Yes?”
“We never had this conversation. No one but you and me is talking about this.”
She frowned. “You suspect another mole in the Bureau?”
“I hope not.” He let out a weary breath. “I’ll tell you more when I can. Now let’s forget I said anything about Kaminski. Tell me what you’ve been working on.”
Though she wanted to continue their discussion, she could tell Matthew didn’t intend to say more. So she filled him in on a few cases that hadn’t been moving much. “And of course, the home invasion case I was asked to look into before you left. We have two now, and I have a feeling we’ll have more.”
“Not good.”
“No. The killer was beyond brutal with the families. He didn’t spare the children, but the pets are missing. We did recently learn he cleaned out the first family’s millions. All bank transfers and crypto movement.” Was movement even the right term? She needed to talk to their cyber people about a few things.
Thinking along the same lines, Matthew said, “Interesting. Are we talking cryptocurrency investment fraud? Cybercrime?”
“I’m not sure. So far, two millionaire CEOs and their families have been killed. I don’t know what connects them other than they both had money. But we’re looking. The last one was two weeks ago.” She knew, deep in her gut, their killer would strike again soon. If he hadn’t already.
“Good luck with that.” Matthew’s phone buzzed. He glanced at it. “Shoot. I need to head back.”
“Yeah, me too.”
They stood and left. Before they parted, Matthew said, “Dinner this Sunday, six, my place?”
“Ah, yeah.” She smiled, feeling awkward and annoyed by her awkwardness. “Text me your address.”
“Will do.” He smiled warmly before leaving.
She drove back to work, excited about Sunday and telling herself not to be.
Jane had dated before. At thirty-one, she’d had her share of boyfriends, though they rarely lasted. She didn’t have time for nonsense, and being a “challenge” wasn’t her idea of forming a lasting partnership with someone else.
Frankly, she took more enjoyment from her job.
Which was why she had so much trouble letting go of the notion that August Kaminski remained at large, untouchable.
She’d spent a lot of time reviewing what she knew about the man—which wasn’t much. That he could go for so long without anyone tying him to his alleged crimes rang a lot of warning bells.
He had connections and power. A dangerous combination in a criminal.
On her way back to work, she picked up a call from Jenn. “I’m heading back to HQ. What did I miss?”
“Not much. Greg’s back. He officially called this morning’s case a waste of time. Said you’re right, it was teenage hormones gone awry.” Jenn chuckled. “He literally said ‘awry.’ It’s like the guy’s swallowed a dictionary.”
“I’m impressed you know what that is.” Not exactly true, as Jenn had a broad vocabulary. But she had no love for grammar. Jane often helped her edit her reports.
“Ha ha.” Jenn paused. “Hey, can you pick me up a sandwich from the corner bodega near Louie’s?”
