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Olivia snorted. "Yesterday, I located a twenty-seven-year-old Robert Alexander MacKay in Kentucky. An ex-soldier, awarded the Purple Heart."
"Sounds good."
"Yeah, he sounds like a great guy. He's a star player on the local wheelchair basketball team."
"Oops. I gather your Robby had legs?"
"Yes." And a wonderful chest. Broad shoulders. Handsome face. Soft auburn hair. Lovely green eyes.
"Did he have a fully functional brain?"
She shot J.L. an annoyed look. "Yes."
"I'm just saying it would take a moron to let someone like you get away."
"Well, that's kind of you, but I'm getting worried about all the dead ends I keep running into. It's not normal." She frowned at her notes. What if he'd lied about his name? What if he'd lied about everything?
"Yeah, this is weird." J.L. drummed his fingers on the partition. "With all the information we have at our disposal, you should be able to trace him. A person would have to purposely work at not showing up anywhere."
She swallowed hard. What kind of person had no past? In this day and age, it was virtually impossible to erase every trace of yourself. "Do you think he's into covert operations?"
"Maybe. Or maybe he gave you a false name." J.L. held up a hand. "I take that back. You would have caught him if he'd lied."
She winced. "That's the problem. I couldn't read him. My grandmother couldn't, either, and that's never happened before."
"Never? Shit. He could have been lying about a lot of things. Maybe he's had special training in deception."
Her chest tightened. "Then you think he's the one helping Otis to harass me?"
J.L. regarded her sadly. "I think we need to get to the bottom of this. I can't sense emotions like you, but even I can tell this is causing you a lot of pain."
She inhaled a shaky breath. "I need to know the truth." She needed to know if Robby had been sincere. He'd said he was falling in love with her. He'd made love to her so sweetly. It had to have been real. It was just too awful to think otherwise.
"You want him to be innocent, don't you?" J.L. whispered.
She nodded. Tears gathered in her eyes, and she blinked them away.
"Okay, let's assume he is innocent. If he didn't send the apples - "
"Then someone else did," Olivia finished his sentence.
"Who knew you were going to Patmos?" J.L. asked.
"My family. You."
He affected a shocked look. "I'm innocent, I swear. I've been a good boy my entire life."
She scoffed. "I'm detecting a little deception."
"Shit. I knew I shouldn't have robbed that bank."
She grinned. J.L., bless him, always had a way of cheering her up.
"And I shouldn't have kicked Mickey Mouse in the balls at Disney World."
She sat back. "You're telling the truth now."
"Damn, you're good."
"Why did you kick Mickey?"
J.L. shrugged. "I was only three years old. Imagine the horror of meeting a smiling rodent that's bigger than you. Besides, I think he wanted my ice cream."
She laughed.
"Who else knew where you were going?" J.L. asked.
"A few people around here." Her smile faded, and she exchanged a worried look with him.
J.L. glanced over his shoulder, then lowered his voice. "What did Barker tell you?"
"He agreed that Otis could have an accomplice, but he ordered me to stay out of it. He told Harrison to look into it." She rose to her feet. "I'll see if he's done."
They walked over to Harrison's work area. In most ways, Frank Harrison appeared completely normal: average height, average weight, brown hair, hazel eyes. Olivia tended to agree with J.L's assessment. Harrison acted like a jerk so he would stand out from the crowd.
"Have you got a moment, Harrison?" she asked.
He slanted an annoyed look her direction, then went back to studying his monitor. "I'm busy. In case you didn't know, the Morehouse case is still open."
Olivia nodded. Tyson Morehouse was a postal worker suspected of embezzlement. He claimed to know nothing about the missing money, but Olivia had interviewed him the day before and knew better.
"He was lying," she said. "It was in my report."
Harrison snorted. "Like we needed your input. We already figured the guy's guilty. Saunders is trailing him while I trace all his bank accounts." He glanced at Olivia. "Why don't you save us some time and use your weird-assed powers to locate the missing money?"
"I'm not a psychic, Harrison."
"Oh. Too bad." He went back to studying the monitor. "I thought all that paranormal crap was the same."
Olivia sensed anger about to boil over from J.L., so she gave him a warning look.
He gritted his teeth. "Look, Harrison, we were wondering if you'd checked on the Otis Crump situation."
"Another waste of my time," Harrison muttered as he scribbled some notes. "I went to Leavenworth last Friday and talked to the warden. He had a guard check the log-in book. The only visitors Crump has had in the last eight months is me and you, Sotiris."
"And his mail?" she asked.
"It's all checked, coming in and going out. Nothing about apples." Harrison glanced at her, and she could feel his growing irritation. "You've got the wrong guy. Someone else is messing with you."
She frowned. Apples would have significance only to Otis. Or someone else who knew all the details about his case. Maybe an admirer? Some sick person who had studied Otis and wanted to harass the criminal's enemies out of a twisted sense of loyalty? "I need a list of everyone who's communicated with him."
A spurt of anger rolled off Harrison, and he glared at her. "Forget it, Sotiris. The case is over."
"It's not over as long as Otis keeps sending me apples."
"So you're getting some fruit," Harrison growled. "So what? If you can't take the heat, get out of the f**king kitchen."
"Hey," J.L. protested. "Don't talk to her like that."
"It's none of your business, Jail," Harrison replied, using his nickname for J.L.
"Hold it, you two." Olivia raised her hands. She returned Harrison's glare. "I'm not calling the case closed, because you didn't do a thorough job. Since you can't be bothered, I'll do it myself."
Harrison made a sound of disgust. "You're freaking obsessed with the guy. You two deserve each other."
J.L. muttered something rather nasty-sounding in Chinese, but Olivia hushed him with a slight shake of her head. She focused on Harrison. "How many times have you seen Crump?"
Harrison turned back to his monitor. "Just a few times. I hate seeing that ass**le."
"When did you see him last?"
"I don't remember."
She stiffened.
"Now buzz off and let me get back to work," Harrison grated through clenched teeth.
Olivia opened her mouth, but J.L. grabbed her arm and hauled her away.
"Come on, Sotiris, you heard the man," J.L. said loudly as he dragged her across the room. "Let him work."
"I wasn't done," she whispered. "He - "
"Shh." J.L. shot her a warning look and whispered back, "We need to activate the cone of silence."
"We don't have a cone of silence."
"We'll improvise." He glanced around the open work area. "Go to Yasmine's office. She's out today. I'll meet you in five minutes."
"Fine." Olivia headed right, while J.L. veered left toward the hallway.
She slipped inside Yasmine's office and turned on the light. The supply closet was attached, so she could always claim she was getting paper clips or staples if anyone asked what she was doing there.
She paced across the office, her heart racing as the severity of her new suspicions hit home. Why would Harrison lie about meeting Otis? What was he hiding? It seemed too far-fetched, too awful to imagine a special agent helping a criminal to harass her. But there was no mistaking the truth. Harrison had lied. And he'd tried to convince her that Otis wasn't the one responsible for sending her apples. She knew that wasn't true.
She continued to pace, her thoughts growing increasingly alarmed. She spotted the sweater she'd give Yasmine, neatly folded on a shelf. Thank God Yasmine had never told anyone about her meltdown in the restroom. She wondered where the office manager was, and stopped by her desk to check her calendar. A doctor's appointment.
