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“The agents are following her closely. She’s in contact with them.”
“That doesn’t make me feel better! What if she gets hurt?” Vanessa wasthisclose to grabbing Stella by the shoulders and shaking her off her seat. “What if that woman figures out none of it is genuine?”
“None of what?”
Vanessa curled her anxious fists against her chest. “You think I don’t know what she’s doing? You’re only confirming my nightmares!”
She stormed out of the bar with Stella right behind her. “Where are you going? Vanessa!”
As if anyone had to ask.
Maybe Stella called ahead, or maybe Agent James and her buddies were already tracking Vanessa the moment she left her house. But Vanessa didn’t make it far before a white van pulled up beside her and a familiar face poked through the sliding door.
“Get in,” Margaret James barked.
Vanessa didn’t know what to expect from a roaming FBI van. Was it like in the movies, with so much tech and blistering, humid heat? Or was this purely for transporting people?
It was dark enough in the back of the van that Vanessa still wasn’t sure. She saw the twinkling lights of computer screens, but she also saw the single holding area where someone in cuffs could sit while in transit. She almost worried that was her fate.
“You need to stop meddling.” As usual, Agent James was chipper than a woodpecker. “You might compromise the evidence we’re gathering on Lister.”
“Mypartneris with that monster right now!” Vanessa submerged herself deeper into her winter coat.You’d think it’d be hotter in here.There were at least three other people, including the driver who took them toward the field office and another agent on his laptop. Vanessa only had the attention of Agent James, who snapped her fingers every time a certain heiress with more money than sense became distracted. “I don’t know what’s going on!”
“Ms. Cruise is a great help in assisting our investigation. Obviously, I am not privy to share any of it, but thanks to her we’ve gathered almost enough evidence to make our move. We’re waiting on the money shot.” Margaret cleared her throat. “So to speak.”
“What? What more could youpossiblywant from us?”
The van hit a pothole, making the male agent with his laptop curse and Margaret brace herself against both walls of the van. Vanessa helplessly slammed against the back of the front seat and cried out more in frustration than pain.
“We need her to implicate herself on audio. She’s almost done it half a dozen times, but nothing that’s admissible in court. We’re afraid if we go in now and take all her paperwork, it won’t be enough to nail her. We want this woman out of operation… and off the street.”
“Audio? Mitch is getting audio for you?”
Agent James gritted her teeth. “Yes.”
“So, you can hear her? Where is she?”
“Far away from here. We only get snippets of audio when she has a reliable connection. So far, Lister hasn’t taken her phone, and she’s not suspicious of Ms. Cruise’s motives.”
“Let me listen!”
“Oh, absolutely not. Besides, there are some things you don’t want to hear.”
“Don’t tell me what I can’t hear. That’s mypartner.Mitch ismine!” Vanessa knew she sounded deranged as she asserted her authority in front of three armed agents, but she didn’t care. Mitch was out there, endangered, and there wasn’t a single thing Vanessa could do?Bullshit.Were they not in this together? How could Mitch go off on her own to end this? This should have been a team decision!
With a grunt, Agent James nodded to the man with a laptop. Vanessa did not expect to hear Mitch giggling like she had never had such a good time.
“...Please,as if I would!” The clattering of dishes suggested she ate with someone, probably Candace. “You must know by now that I prefer the company of women. I saw enough in the military to know my preferences.”
Who the hell is that?It wasn’t Mitch, or at least that wasn’t the soul of the woman Vanessa slept beside every night. No, she recognized that tone but wasn’t used to hearing it during the day.Michelle.Mitch only spoke like that, with overtly feminine inflections and soft giggles, when she entertained certain women. How long had she been “on?” How much longer could she go before cracking under the onus of being a persona, not herrealself?
That was all Vanessa could think until she heard Candace’s voice.
“It doesn’t matter now.” Controlled. Powerful. That was Candace as she drank something with ice loudly tinkling against a glass. “Because as long as you’re mine, there is no one else. Man or woman.”
As long as you’re mine…?
“What.Happened?”
