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He winced. "I always try to be honest. I know it's important to you. There are times, though..." He shifted in his chair. "Sometimes I canna explain things."
"Like the red glowing eyes."
A pained expression flitted over his face. "I will explain. But I need to do it in person."
"What was wrong with last night?"
"I - " He ran a hand through his hair. "I thought ye'd been through enough trauma for one day."
She sat back. Telling her the truth about himself would be traumatic?
"And then I...I became a bit single-minded," he continued. "I wanted to make sure ye enjoyed losing yer virginity."
"Yeah." She gave him a wry smile. "You made sure of that about ten times."
He shrugged one shoulder. "I got a bit carried away. Will ye be free next weekend?"
"Yes." That would be the first weekend in June. "You're coming back?"
He nodded. "We need to talk."
A chill skittered down her arms. "How did you get out of the apartment this morning and lock the door?"
He looked away, frowning. "I'll explain it next weekend."
"Isn't there an easy explanation? Like you took my key to an all-night hardware store and had a copy made while I was sleeping?"
"That would be an easy explanation." He grimaced. "But it would be a lie."
"Oh God." She leaned back against the love seat cushions.
"Olivia, are ye still planning to see Otis Crump tomorrow?"
"Yes." She sat forward so she'd be back in camera range.
"Is there any news from Forensics regarding the box?"
She shook her head. "Not on a Sunday. We might get some results tomorrow."
"Let me know what happens. I'll be happy to deal with him myself, but it would take some planning."
What kind of planning? "I'll update you tomorrow night."
He nodded. "And I'll see you Friday night, so we can talk." He gave her a searching look. "Remember I love you."
"I love you, too." Why did he look so worried? "Can you spend the whole weekend here?"
"Possibly. It...depends."
"Depends on what?" she asked.
He touched the screen. "You."
She opened her mouth to ask what he meant, but the screen went blank.
He was gone.
CHAPTER 20
We're here to see Otis Crump." Olivia showed her FBI badge to the security guard at Leavenworth. "The warden has authorized it."
The guard studied her badge, then J.L.'s. "Sign in, please." He slid a clipboard across the counter.
Olivia signed in, noting the log-in sheet was just for that Monday. "Last time I was here, I signed into the book."
The guard nodded. "Change in procedure. We'll add this page to the book tonight. We get all kinds of visitors - wives, girlfriends - it protects the prisoners' privacy if their visitors don't know who else is coming to see them."
"I see." He was telling the truth. Olivia passed the clipboard to J.L.
The guard stepped back and yelled into an adjoining room. "Hey, Joe, you need to move Crump into the visitation room. Some FBI agents want to see him."
"Harrison again?" Joe shouted back.
Olivia exchanged a look with J.L. He'd told her a month ago that his investigation had cleared Harrison.
"No," the guard replied. He looked at the sign-in sheet. "J.L. Wang and Olivia Sotiris."
The second guard, Joe, peered out of the adjoining room. Even though he kept his face blank, Olivia could sense a frisson of alarm sizzle through him.
"Is there a problem?" she asked.
"No," Joe said quickly. "I'll get Crump ready." He slipped back inside the adjoining room, and they heard the banging sound of a metal door shutting.
"It'll be a few minutes," the guard told them.
"We understand." J.L. dragged Olivia across the waiting room. "You stiffened up," he whispered.
"The other guard lied," she whispered back. "And he's seriously freaked out about us being here."
"That's...interesting." J.L.'s eyes narrowed.
Olivia could sense his growing concern. "Are you sure Harrison checked out?"
"Yeah. I came here a month ago and asked to see the videotapes of every interview he had with Crump. The last one, he threatened to do some nasty things to Crump if he didn't leave you alone."
"That's all?" When J.L. nodded, she continued, "Then why did Harrison lie about seeing him?"
J.L. shrugged. "His threats weren't exactly ethical behavior for a special agent. And I don't think he wants you to know that he was standing up for you."
Olivia sighed. "Why was that guard upset that we're here? I've been here before, so it's not that strange."
"But it's been a long time." J.L. rubbed his chin while he considered. "I might have made a mistake asking to see only the Harrison videos. I should have asked to see yours."
"Mine? Believe me, you don't want to see them."
J.L. walked back to the counter. "I need to see all the interview videotapes of Ms. Sotiris and Otis Crump."
"Just a minute." The guard retrieved the log-in book from beneath the counter and set it down. He thumbed through a few pages at the back of the three-ring binder and shook his head. "Ms. Sotiris declined to have her last interview taped."
"What?" Olivia strode to the counter. She'd always had her interviews taped, and yet she could tell that the guard was telling the truth. "What date was that entry?"
"Last Monday."
Her breath hitched. "Let me see that." She rotated the binder and found her name listed on last Monday's sign-in page. The signature resembled her own. "This wasn't me."
The guard's surprise and confusion was genuine. "We always check IDs before anyone signs in."
"Were you working the desk when this woman signed in?" J.L. asked.
The guard frowned and studied the log-in sheet. "It was after eleven. I was on lunch break. It would have been Joe."
Olivia's heart rate sped up. "We need to talk to him."
The guard nodded and punched a button on a walkie-talkie. "We need Joe Kitchner at the front office."
"Look at this." J.L. had flipped back a few more pages in the log-in book. Four weeks earlier someone calling herself Olivia Sotiris had signed in. He kept turning pages. Every four weeks, Olivia had supposedly visited Crump.
"Check November," she said.
J.L. found an entry for the eighteenth of November. "You weren't even in the country. Harrison should have caught this. The moron spent more time threatening Otis than actually investigating."
Olivia motioned to the surveillance camera in the corner. "Whoever impersonated me was recorded when she signed it."
The guard groaned. "It'll take a while to find the right tape."
"We've got all day," J.L. muttered.
The guard's walkie-talkie made a clicking noise. "Crump is ready," a voice declared. "He's in Visitation 3."
"Is that you, Chip?" the guard asked over his walkie-talkie. "Where's Joe?"
"I don't know," Chip replied. "He told Bob and me to move Crump, then he left. Do you need me to escort the visitor?"
"I know the way," Olivia said.
J.L. dragged his gaze away from the log-in book. "Do you want me to come with you?"
"I'll be okay," she said. "You find out who's been impersonating me."
"I think I already know." He grimaced. "I hope I'm wrong."
Olivia hoped she was wrong, too. No doubt she was suspecting the same person. There was only one woman in the office who had access to her ID and her signature.
She strode to the visitor door and waited to be buzzed in, then walked down the plain hallway, her steps echoing on the shiny linoleum floor. She halted outside the door labeled VISITATION 3 and took a deep breath.
Otis Crump was a master at detecting weakness and exploiting it for his own sick pleasure. She needed to be calm and stay in control. If all went well, she'd never have to see the bastard again.
He was standing in the small room, plain walls on all four sides and a fortified Plexiglas wall dividing his half of the room from hers. There was a metal door behind him, and beside him, a plain metal chair was bolted to the floor.
