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“I made a copy,” Ashley was saying.
Kara didn’t need to hear the beginning of the conversation as she watched Ashley hand a memory chip over to Donna.
Donna pocketed it immediately. “Thank you for this. I’ll look at them. If the FBI steps out of line, I’ll put up a wall.”
“I’ll go out next weekend, too,” she said. “I’ll find something. I just need to put in more time.”
“Because of you, we have a solid photo journal of West End activities over the last three months. It’s only a matter of time before they violate the regulations, and we’ll have the proof—because of you. Just be careful, sweetheart.”
“I’ll go with you, Ash,” Bobby said, his arm around his girlfriend. “Thanks, Donna.”
Donna smiled, turned to Jane. “You brought a new member?”
“No, Emily is here on vacation. She’s working on a thesis.”
“Oh?” Donna turned to Kara. She didn’t look suspicious, but she was shrewd and Kara was going to have to be at her best. “On what?”
“I’m still trying to come up with the idea. I’m getting my master’s in nonprofit administration and have been going to community groups all over Washington trying to get ideas for my thesis. I’m leaning toward the challenges of community fundraising in times of recession, but it seems too... I don’t know, boring.”
“I’d be happy to talk through your ideas with you. We need more people who understand the business end of nonprofits. We have the ideas and the heart. We need to make sure we can pay for it. How long are you going to be here?”
“Through next weekend.”
“Where are you staying?”
“An Airbnb on Park.” Park was a long street that she had to walk down to get to where the FBI was actually staying, so she hoped Donna didn’t get more specific where Kara’s evasive answers might be called into question.
“I’m free tomorrow for coffee,” Donna said.
That was fast.
“My girlfriend made plans for us—we’re going to hike Bell Point Trail, have a picnic lunch. Do you have a card or something? I can call you Thursday or Friday and see if you’re free.”
Donna gave Kara her number, which Kara put into her phone. “Thanks.”
“Jane can join us,” Donna said. “She used to run a nonprofit in Oregon, didn’t you?”
“If you can call it that,” Jane said. “We were constantly fundraising, and though our overhead was barely existent—we had a donated space, most of the people who worked there were volunteers—we didn’t have enough time to do what we wanted.”
“Which was?” Kara asked, wanting to turn the conversation away from her to anything else.
“Housing rights. It was always a battle, every year, to pull together the budget and make it stick.”
Kara’s phone vibrated. She looked at it; a question mark from Matt.
“My girlfriend is looking for me,” she said. “I should go. I didn’t tell her I was going to be this late.”
“I look forward to talking to you more,” Donna said. “What college did you say?”
“Gonzaga.”
“I know the head of the environmental sciences department there, Wayne Epicott. Do you know him?”
“No, I was a psychology major. I had one intro class my freshman year, Professor Parks or Parker or Parkinson... I don’t remember. The only interesting thing we did was hike up Antoine Peak.” She smiled, said goodbye, and got out of there before Donna had any more questions. Kara figured she was just being sociable, but she could have also been testing her. Kara hadn’t formed a stand-up backstory, and didn’t want to be trapped.
Kara wouldn’t actually meet with Donna unless Matt thought she should, but Kara sensed that Donna would figure out she was a cop pretty quick—the only reason she didn’t have her pegged yet was because she hadn’t see her working today. But it was clear after that meeting that Donna had a lot of eyes and ears around town, and by the end of day tomorrow Kara’s cover would be blown.
In the parking lot, she saw Ashley and her boyfriend talking to Craig Martin and Valerie Sokola. Valerie was agitated, waving her arms around, and Ashley looked intimidated. Craig finally got Valerie into their car, and Ashley hugged her boyfriend. She was crying? Why?
