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“A person’s life is at stake and you’re going to play that game?”
“It’s no game, Special Agent. I take the anonymity of my sources very seriously. If I give you a name, how do I know I’m not then putting their life in danger? Or their freedom? Sorry, but I’m not going to roll over just because you have a badge and you want to be the hero for the pretty scientist. She is pretty, isn’t she? You going to ask her out once this is over? Or maybe you don’t mind breaking the rules now and then.”
“Is it Theo Robinson? Is he your source?”
Her face fell, but he couldn’t tell if it was because he got it right, or because he wouldn’t rise to her provocation.
“Court. Order.”
“That’s it?”
“That’s it.”
“Well, thank you for your time. You’ve been an enormous help.”
“Anytime, Agent.”
She blew him a kiss and Aaron wanted to stare her down, but he knew it was time to back out before he made things worse.
He slammed his car door when he got in and ripped out his phone, hoping for a response from Lewis. When he saw there were no new messages, he tossed the phone on the passenger seat too hard and it slid across and down the side beside the door.
He gripped the steering wheel and looked up at the cloudless sky. Things were easier when he believed he had God’s ear. This case was getting under his skin and he had no resource in God to settle him.
He leaned across the seat to retrieve his phone but came across a folder tucked down the side of the seat. After getting ahold of his phone, he dragged the folder out. It was the file that Knightly gave him on Sydney. The one he never looked at.
He flipped it open on the seat beside him. Now was as good a time as any to finally have a proper look. There could be a clue that he’d missed before. Although he couldn’t say he missed anything, because he hadn’t yet looked.
He flipped past the cover page to the photo of Sydney he’d already seen. He didn’t mean to pause on it, but it took him a second before he turned a few more pages and found a surveillance photo of Sydney walking out of her previous lab. Scaffolding covered the side of the building.
He lifted the photo and studied it before making a call.
“Hey, Sydney, it’s me.”
“Good morning.”
“Morning.”
“How’d you sleep?”
“Uh, fine. You?”
“Better. The guy who brought me home last night was very thorough and it was good having McCaffrey there again.”
“Okay. Um. I, uh, I have a question for you.”
“Yeah? Did you find something? Did Gretta actually cave?”
“No. You were right. Gretta Lakeland is not going to help without a court order.”
“Can you get one?”
“Maybe eventually, but it’s not easy to get permission to force a reporter to divulge a source.”
“I told you.”
“Thanks. That’s helpful.” His laugh surprised him. He stifled it. “I have a question about the lab you were in before.”
“Okay.”
