Page 25 of Playing With Love

“Because I’m acting⁠—”

Three loud knocks on Tucker’s door saved me.

“Sorry, Tucker, but Jessica’s on the line for you,” Lauren called through the door.

Thank you, God.

“We’re not done,” he warned before he said louder, “Thanks, Lauren.”

I was rooted in place as Tucker stalked around his desk, stabbed a finger at the phone base, and calmly answered Jessica’s call.

“Sorry for the delay. Is everything okay?”

“Colleen called Allyson,” Jessica’s quivering voice filled the room. “Beatrice is dead.”

Fuck.

I pulled my phone out of the back pocket of my jeans and held it up for Tucker to see. He nodded his understanding before I bolted to the door.

I texted Frank to meet me out in the hall before I pulled up Shannon’s number and hit go.

It took four rings before she answered. “I was just getting ready to call you. Local LEOs found Beatrice Collins this morning in a house outside of Rogersville, Tennessee. About twenty miles from the Nu Dawn compound.”

“Cause of death?” I asked as Frank rounded the corner. “Hold on, Shannon. Frank’s here.” I lowered my phone from my ear to place the call on speaker while I filled in my partner. “Beatrice was found dead this morning. Go on, Shannon.”

“GSW to the head.”

“Did the locals give you anything else?”

“Not much. It was a through-and-through. They found the bullet lodged in a TV stand. Due to the angle it looks like she was done on her knees. Frank, the locals are expecting you. Since Liza can’t be seen in the area, Greg will meet you there.”

Greg Newsome was a taskmaster and had trained many agents fresh out of the federal law enforcement training center. He’d have better luck keeping Frank on target than I did.

“Allyson knows her friend is dead. Tucker’s on the phone with Jessica now. As soon as he’s done, he’ll come brief us before Frank leaves.”

“Call me after you talk to Tucker,” Shannon ordered. “Frank, your itinerary will be in your inbox in five minutes.”

With that, my boss hung up.

“Frank—”

“Listen, Liza⁠—”

We both started at the same time.

I nodded for him to go first.

“I just wanted to say, no hard feelings.”

Was he serious?

I didn’t ask that—not that he gave me the chance before he blathered on, “I’ve dealt with assholes like him before. Total power trip types who think they’re the smartest in the room and have to prove they’ve got the biggest… well, you know.”

Yeah, I did know.

Frank wasn’t just an idiot, he was an idiot asshole.

Though I’d known that since the day I was first saddled with him.