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Camila let her mind go back to the bank. Her pulse was tempted to quicken, the fear from this morning threatening to take over. But she was safe here with Roman, and the truth was, she did want to know more than the measly “we’re working on it” that her brother had given up.
“I thought Intelligence was taking the case. Are you working with them?” Roman had worked several cases jointly with the Intelligence Unit, including one recently, according to Delia. If Roman’s claim was anything to go by, they’d do the same for this one.
Except rather than nod, he winced. “Not…exactly. Not yet, anyway.”
“That’s a story,” she said, and oh look, there was the grumpy Roman she knew so well.
“It’s not astory.”
Camila’s laughter flowed out of her loosely. He was so cute when he was trying to be all FBI-agent serious. “Look, I come from a huge family who treats gossip like a cross between an Olympic event and the Hunger Games. Believe me when I tell you, I can smell a story from a hundred yards out. If you don’t want tosharethe story, that’s cool. Just don’t tell me it’snota story. Because then I’ll be forced to call you out. Again.”
For a long minute, he was quiet, and she was sure he’d drop the subject, much to her curiosity’s dismay. But then he surprised her—or maybe both of them, if his expression was anything to go on—by saying, “It’s not a big deal. But right now, both Sergeant Sinclair and my boss think I shouldn’t work on the case because I’m too personally involved.”
“Ah.” Wellthatmade more sense now. “I take it that was your boss you were arguing with at the precinct.”
“Yeah.”
“So, Sergeant Sinclair said no, then you went to your boss to see if she’d, what, override him? Andshesaid no?”
A muscle tightened across Roman’s clean-shaven jaw. “Yes.”
“Oh, my God. I bet that just pisses you right off.”
He let go of his breath in a huff. “What makes you say that?”
“Come on, Roman.” She turned toward him, brows arched. “Have you met yourself?”
“I’m pretty sure that’s not a valid question,” he said.
But it only prompted her to laugh again. “Thank you for illustrating my point. You’re so freaking serious.”
“It’s not a dirty word,” Roman grumbled, and Camila shook her head.
“I know. But you were held at gunpoint just like the rest of us in that bank. I know you’re trained to handle it differently than the rest of us, but like you said, itisstill traumatic. Maybe they’re right. Maybe thatistoo personal.”
Although his focus was on the road ahead of them, his expression told her in no uncertain terms that he was working up an argument. “I’m not saying I’m immune to things like having a gun pointed at me in malice. But I’ve been shot at in the field plenty of times, and you’re right. Idoknow how to handle it. Plus, your brother is close to this case, too, and no one’s pulling him.”
“That’s true,” Camila said slowly. If Matteo, or anyone else in Intelligence, had been in that bank, they wouldn’t just want to bring these robbers to justice—they’d expect to be on the case.
Roman continued. “Given the lack of physical descriptions of the robbers and how well-orchestrated the crime was, this case is going to be tough to break, and I was literally there. Intelligence could use my help.”
Camila’s temples throbbed dully, and she let herself relax against the plush passenger seat. “They’re a great unit. I know that. But, yeah, with how those robbers were so well disguised, I don’t get the feeling they have a lot to go on. The eyes thing was the best I could give them.”
Roman’s curiosity was instant. “What eyes thing?”
“Oh.” Of course he didn’t know. They’d all given their statements separately. “I don’t think it means much, but when I realized Rosalie was having an asthma attack and told the robbers I wanted to help her, I went to take her inhaler out of her pocket, but…I guess the smaller robber didn’t want to take a chance that we’d try to pull anything funny, so he leaned down to do it instead. When he did, I caught a glimpse of his eyes.”
Roman slumped ever so slightly, looking a little defeated. “Well, that’s something, I guess, but eye color alone probably isn’t enough to get very far on.”
Damn it, now Camila was defeated, too. “Even though they were two different colors?”
“Wait, what? Are you serious?” Roman whipped a wide-eyed stare at her, holding it for just a beat before turning back to the road.
“Yes. Both of his eyes were blue, but one was also half brown. Like an amber color, on the bottom half of his iris.”
Camila’s heart beat faster as Roman processed what she’d said. “That’s got to be rare as hell.”
“Capelli said less than one percent of people have it,” Camila confirmed. “But I don’t know if it’ll help. I didn’t see anything else and he never said a single word.”
