“Okay,” I say. “Let me make this very clear. Theft of a major artwork in over a thousand known cases, interstate transportation of stolen goods, burglary of a federal facility, obstruction of justice in at least nineteen cases, tampering of evidence, conspiracy, smuggling, identity theft, and fraud in over a hundred cases, and we’re just talking federal charges. I’d advise you to talk; otherwise, this will end very badly.”
“Lawyer,” she says. Her foot is twitching up and down. She is biting her bottom lip. For a thief of her caliber, she is very, very nervous.
Or she is trying to play you,says a voice of caution in my mind.
“A lawyer won’t be able to help you,” I say. “Cooperation, however, does.”
“Oh yeah?” she asks. “And in what way? Are you offering me a deal? I talk, and then what? You’ll just forget about everything Isupposedlydid?”
Her head twitches again.
She swallows hard.
I don’t know what it is, but she seems to be in genuine distress.
She is a professional liar and thief; don’t let yourself be fooled.
“We most certainly won’t, but we’re talking lifelong high security, or a rather more…pleasant accommodation.”
She scoffs derogatorily.
She bites her bottom lip so hard that it bleeds. She licks over the red blood.
“What is the matter with you?” I ask her. “You seem awfully nervous.”
Her body stiffens immediately, and she becomes like stone.
“I need you to let me go,” she whispers.
I laugh out loud, because that she even thinks I would let her go after I finally caught her is obscene to me.
“Yeah, not happening,” I say, stand up, and walk over to my desk, where I lean on it.
“You must,” she says.
“And why is that?”
Her eyes wander into mine.
Her head tilts, and a self-sufficient smirk appears on her face.
When she speaks, her voice is dangerously cold, well aware of who she is and believes herself to be.
“I wonder, how is your sister doing?”
My face turns to stone.
How does she know about my sister?
She shouldn’t?—
No one knows about her?—
“I can help her,” says Avery. “I can help you.”
I chuckle in total disbelief because she really thinks I can be bribed.
“I am a federal agent,” I say. “Let’s not add bribery of a federal employee to the charges.”
