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I came up with the exact figure I had before.
Seventy thousand dollars of taxpayer money had been spent and was unaccounted for.
I didn’t know how to react to what I was seeing.
I had to admit that a part of me was excited. This was big. I could take this back to Grummond, and he wouldn’t be able to question whether I’d been a good hire. He would have to admit that I was right for the department and the job.
I sighed. I hadn’t wanted to find anything. And how would I tell Brian that his SEALs weren’t as squeaky clean as he’d thought they were? I was sure he wasn’t involved in whatever this was, but people he trusted definitely were, and he wasn’t going to like finding out about it.
I flipped the folder I was holding closed and read the cover.Automotive.
That told me what I needed to know. Whoever was in charge of automotive spending would be the person responsible for the missing ten thousand. I was going to have to find out who that was.
Maybe it’s a mistake. Mistakes happen.
But a mistake to the tune of ten thousand in taxpayer money? There would be consequences for this, even if it had been accidental. It would make the SEALs look bad, and someone Brian trusted and cared about would take the blame.
I had no idea how I was going to tell him.
After that, I definitely couldn’t sleep. I sat up the rest of the night, brooding over what I had found. When the sun started to rise, casting light in the windows, I blew out my candle, feeling no closer to an answer to this new problem than I had been when I’d discovered it.
“Hey, have you been up all night?”
Brian had emerged from his makeshift bedroom, and I had to close my eyes for a moment. He’d slept in nothing but his boxers, and my whole body ached at the sight of his. I wanted to forget what I’d found and go over to him, losing myself in his arms and the heat of him.
But he stepped into his pants, pulling his shirt over his head. “Monday morning,” he reminded me.
Of course. How could I have forgotten? Our time in purgatory was over. Someone would be coming soon to let us out, and then the little island we’d seemed to exist on for the past forty-eight hours would just be gone.
I was suddenly very conscious that I wasn’t wearing underwear. Whoever came to let us out wouldn’t be able to tell, but even so, I was bare-assed in a government building because I’d ruined my panties by having sex with the subject of my investigation. I felt like I practically had it printed on my shirt.
“When will they be coming?” I asked Brian.
“Well, I don’t know what time it is now,” he reminded me. “But people usually start showing up to work at around seven.”
I looked out the window at the sunlight. It had to be close to seven.
“What have you been doing all night?” he asked me.
“Oh, just… looking at the files.”
“By candlelight? You’re going to strain your eyes.”
“Just trying to get the job done.” I couldn’t tell him. Not when I didn’t yet have all the information myself.
“What are you looking at?”
“Two years ago.” I held up the folder and showed it to him. “Automotive.”
“Ah. Your boyfriend’s department.”
“My what?”
He laughed. “I’m just giving you a hard time,” he assured me. “I know there’s nothing between you and Jack.”
“But—automotive—you’re saying that’s Jack’s department?”
I thought of the young man I’d met just a few days ago. He had offered to help me with my investigation. I’d thought he was being helpful.
