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“No, it’s specific to the body and any information, materials, or samples taken from the body in the course of our initial investigation.”
“You’re not telling me something.” I watched his jaw clench as he pressed on the brake a little. We were getting closer to town and the traffic was heavier. Most people in cities learned to get out of the way when emergency vehicles had their lights on. The people in Bloody Mary slowed their pace and gawked as much as possible while whispering speculation.
“The prints belonged to Dean Wallace. He was a SWAT officer out of DC and transferred six years ago to join the Capitol Police. He was a sergeant there and had a good record.”
“Six years ago. He was one of yours?”
“Yeah. He was one of mine.” Jack hit his hand against the steering wheel in a rare showing of temper.
The late afternoon sun was a flaming ball of orange in the sky and it glared through the windshield as we turned onto Catherine of Aragon. Jack turned the sirens off but left his lights flashing as he parked the cruiser at an angle in the driveway.
“Tell Carver I owe him one,” I said, looking at the fleet of black SUVs that pulled up seconds after us.
“You can tell him yourself. He’ll be here a little later to check on things.”
“What exactly does Carver do at the FBI?”
“Nobody knows. But he’s a good friend to have in our corner. Let’s go get this over with. The easier we make things for them the less complicated it will be.”
“They’ll have run my background before they got here.” I wiped my sweaty palms on my jeans and reached for the door handle.
“Yeah. They’ll have done a full background. We’ll deal with that too.”His voice was strained and he didn’t reach out to soothe me like he normally would have. He was still angry. Still hurt I hadn’t confided in him.
I hadn’t realized how much I’d gotten used to his touch—a squeeze of the hand or the way he always ran his hand down the back of my hair.I felt the absence of it now.
I stepped out of the car and my boots scraped across the driveway as I moved to stand next to Jack.A squat rectangular building sat across the street. It had once housed a variety of businesses, but the economy had hit the area hard and the only thing left was a Laundromat. I recognized Molly Beamis and Lena Rodriguez as they lost interest in their laundry and came out to stand on the sidewalk to watch.
I felt their gazes boring into me, and when they started whispering to each other behind their hands, I knew they were thinking the FBI was back for me. If that rumor got out it would be bad for business, and business was already bad enough as it was. I sighed as I watched Molly dig her cell phone out of her pocket and make a phone call. The whole town would be out watching the show before too long.
Wewaited as the doors of the black SUVs seemed to open in tandem. A man in a black suit with a thin black tie took the lead and headed in our direction. He pulled off his sunglasses and hooked them in the front pocket of his jacket.
“You must be Sheriff Lawson,” he said, extending a hand. “I’m Special AgentGreer. You have good contacts. We’ve barely had the warrant for an hour, and it took us about that long to get here.”
Greer was probably late forties with thinning brown hair and intelligent hazel eyes. He was trim andwas a couple of inches taller than me.
“An hour’s a long time in this business,” Jack said. “This is Doctor Graves.”
I shook hands with Agent Greer.
“If you’llgo ahead and open up for us we’ll be out of your way sooner rather than later,” he said.
“Are you just retrieving or are we going to be here a while?” Jack asked before I could answer Greer.
Greer’s eyes were shrewd as he stared hard at Jack. “You’ve got an impressive record, Lawson. Good experience and leadership qualities. What are you doing wasting your time here?”
“I take it that’s the non-answer way of saying we’re going to be here a while.”
“After you, Doctor Graves,” Greer said.
“Sure.” I started tomove away from Jack and let the team assembled at the door inside, but Jack stopped me with a touch on the arm and then he immediately dropped his hand back to his side.
“Just so we keep everything nice and tidy, I need to see the warrant.”
“Of course.” Greer turned and gestured to the SUV he’d gotten out of and the passenger door opened. The first thing I saw was bronze heels attached to an endless amount of legs.
I felt Jack stiffen besideme and turned to look at him, but his face was impassive as ever. I looked back at the woman and had one of those moments of utter and complete jealousy. Not because of the way all of the men in the vicinity had stopped and directed their attention solely at her, but because she was just one of those naturally beautiful women who commanded her sexuality and used it to get exactly what she wanted.
Blond hair shimmered under the setting sun, and it fell in waves around her shoulders. Her cheekbones were high and her skin pale and flawless.Her lips were crimson and she smiled smugly as she walked over the uneven ground with a smooth glide that should have been impossible. As she drew closer I saw the tiny mole just above the corner of her lip and caught myself before I rolled my eyes.
