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Leaning forward, I ask in a low voice, "Come on, level with me. Do you really think the evidence could have been planted?"
She glances around before responding equally softly. "Honestly? I have my own concerns. Nothing concrete," she adds when my eyes sharpen with interest. "But there are several inconsistencies in the raid reports that don't sit right with me."
"What kind of inconsistencies?" I press.
Evelyn hesitates, clearly wrestling with what she should reveal. "I can't discuss details here," she says finally. "You want to know so bad, do the psych eval and get back in the office. But suffice to say, the higher-ups have nixed extra surveillance on de Luca, and they're already looking at other ways to hit the Mancini Family. Whatever they got on de Luca, they don't seem convinced it'll hold up." She reaches out for my hand. "And Nat, I reallydowant you back in the office. I miss you."
I have to smile at that, and nod. "Okay. Okay, I give in. I'll book a time with Hays."
Evelyn nods, relief flickering in her eyes. "It's the right thing to do." Her phone buzzes, and with a glance at it, she collects her purse. "Damn, I need to run. But let's do this again soon—your first day back, I'll take you out to lunch?"
"Absolutely." I summon a smile and we exchange goodbyes. But as Evelyn heads out, my thoughts drift inexorably back to Alessa.
Couldshe have been set up? The possibility of corruption in my own team sickens me.
There's only one way to find clarity. I need to talk to the one person who knows this case as well as I do. The one person who's heard all my doubts and concerns from the beginning.
The one whose clinical perspective might pierce through the conflicted tangle of my feelings.
Dr. Kristen Hays.
* * *
"You're distracted, Agent Miller."
Kris Hays' voice anchors me back to the present. I'm sitting in her office the next morning, staring blankly at a painting on the wall rather than meeting her too-perceptive gaze.
"Sorry." I take a bracing sip of the coffee she offered when I arrived. The earthy bitterness helps sharpen my focus. "I've just had a lot on my mind since the operation ended."
"Understandable. Going undercover can take a psychological toll even under ideal circumstances." She pauses delicately before continuing. "And I think we can agree, your situation was less than ideal."
I resist the urge to shift in my seat under her scrutiny. When I requested a meeting and she cleared her schedule for me to come in this morning, I should have known she would cut right to the heart of the matter.
"It got results," I say. "We took down Alessa de Luca." Saying her name still sends an illicit thrill through me. A visceral reaction I can't seem to erase, no matter how hard I try.
Hays regards me steadily, her expression calm despite the tension thickening between us. "Yes, we secured an arrest. And she was out on bail only a few hours later. But there is also a human cost to consider." She leans forward, holding my gaze. "Natalie, be honest with me. What is really going on here?"
I briefly consider more evasions, but Dr. Hays has always seen through my defenses with eerie acuity. If I want the truth from her, I need to offer it in return.
I take a slow breath. "I have...concerns," I admit. "About Alessa. About the case, the operation." Needing an anchor, I wrap my hands tightly around my mug. "Maybe she's not the villain I thought she was. Her lawyer says the evidence was planted by the team." I glance at her to see how she takes that.
We were both part of that very team, after all.
"Do you believe her claims of being framed?" The question is delivered without judgment, but I backtrack anyway. This isn't going to get me where I want to be.
"I saw the casino with my own eyes. I know she was breaking the law. But from my understanding, that's not the evidence that the Bureau is bringing against her."
But Hays is too professional to let me prize any information out of her. "We're not here to discuss the case," she reminds me in a neutral tone. She assesses me with a psychologist's keen intuition, and I fight the urge to shrink from her scrutiny. "And I'm concerned this may go deeper than just stress, Agent Miller."
I stare fixedly at the dark surface of my coffee to avoid meeting her eyes. "What are you suggesting?"
"That your feelings for Ms. de Luca may have compromised your professionalism."
My hands spasm around the mug at her blunt delivery. I open my mouth to object, but she continues remorselessly. "You became emotionally entangled, Natalie. Don't insult either of us by denying it. Captain Bell informed me of your own confession to him—that you were sexually intimate with the target."
Heat creeps up my throat, and I lower my gaze, unable to refute her charge. Is my judgment so clouded by desire that I would actually entertain the idea that Alessa was unjustly accused? When I saw for myself that illegal casino in the Ruby's basement?
HaveI been compromised?
