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But on the last case, Jake had trusted Fiona’s intuition over Lauren’s. In the end, both Fiona and Lauren had made good points, and he understood why Lauren was hurt by it. He didn’t fully get the jealousy, but he wished now that he’d made more of an effort to try.
Damn it.
It was too late for this.
All he could do was try to find closure and accept that it was over. It wouldn’t be easy, but he had to keep his head up and focus on the case.
With a heavy heart, Jake turned toward the coroner’s room. He still had a job to do, and he had to put his feelings aside and focus on what was important.
He had to keep going.
He was about to back inside, to see how long Fiona would be, when the door burst open. Fiona was standing there, staring up at him.
“Jake, we’re all done,” she said. “I’m ready to run down the other leads now.”
Jake nodded and followed her out, his mind still on Lauren. But he pushed the thought to the back of his mind, knowing that there was no use in thinking about it anymore. He had to focus on the case.
He had to find the senator’s killer.
CHAPTER SEVEN
This was Fiona’s chance to shine.
As she sat in the car with Jake—each with their laptop open on their lap—she knew this was her chance to prove herself as a capable and worthy member of his team, more so than ever before. With Lauren gone, there was even more pressure on Fiona to be a good ally to Jake. But in all honesty, she wasn’t worried—because this case happened to be right up her alley.
“So, here’s what I’m thinking,” Fiona began. “We should still look at the senator’s list of enemies, and cross-reference them with a list of exotic pet keepers, entomologists, et cetera. If we find any connection, that might be the best place to start.”
Jake went quiet, and Fiona hoped she hadn’t spoken out of turn. But then he nodded and said, “Sounds great, Red. Let’s do that. I’ll start with the list of enemies, you find the others.”
Fiona smiled, grateful he was on board with her plan. But Jake still seemed too tired, with deep bags under his eyes. Fiona’s eyes lingered on his profile for a moment; the sun seeped in through the windshield, accentuating his features. She had to admit, he was very beautiful in this light.
She snapped from it. What was she thinking? She had made it a mission to forget her strange crush on Jake—things were going great with Mark, and besides, Jake was clearly torn up about Lauren.
Even if Jake and Lauren’s relationship was over right now, Fiona had her doubts it would be for long. It seemed they always found their way back to each other.
Pushing that aside, Fiona focused on her task. She needed to gather a master list of exotic pet keepers, insect keepers, entomologists, and anyone in a related field.
Fiona took a deep breath, and opened up her laptop. She typed in the search bar “Exotic Pet Keepers” and hit enter. Instantly, hundreds of results appeared on the screen—websites, forums, blogs, articles—all related to her search query. Fiona felt a wave of excitement rush through her; this was exactly what she needed!
She quickly began browsing through the various websites and forums, gathering information about the different types of exotic pet keepers operating in Portland.
She read through posts from people who had owned or worked with rare species of animals or insects before.
She started to compile a list of names and contact information for each person she found—if they had posted their name or contact info somewhere online, she saved it, but they would be in the FBI database as well.
Fiona glanced at Jake as he worked. He must have sensed her eyes on him, because he said, “We have the list of potentials from Maria, and I’ve gathered some public names as well,” he explained. “I hope we get a match on your list, because if not, we’re in for a really long day.”
Fiona refocused on her work. She didn’t want to end up with a ridiculously long day either. She wanted to find this guy, and fast.
As she was going through her findings, one name in particular stood out to her. Theo Grayson.
Her teeth instantly clenched. Fiona knew Theo more than well, and she was not a fan of his, not at all. He’d been in the same program as her at Harvard, and they both happened to be from Portland; they’d been academic rivals all through Harvard, with Theo having a keen interest in entomology as well. However, once back in Portland, Fiona found herself still competing with that smug jerk.
He’d wanted the job at the FBI. There were many prospects, but it had come down to Fiona and Theo in the end.
Fiona had gotten the job.
She never saw or heard from Theo again, and that was over a year ago. She never bothered to check in on him, because she’d rather just forget he existed. But according to the database, he had settled for a job at a publicly funded research center, a greenhouse, right in the middle of Portland.
