He hesitated, exchanging another of those glances with Brandon. Then, with a low sigh, he admitted, "Because a long-distance truck driver from North Carolina was murdered and dismembered in a Pennsylvania hotel sometime between midnight Sunday and Tuesday morning. The coroner hasn't given us the time of death yet."
Not understanding what that could possibly have to do with her, she mumbled, "That's very sad, but what does it have to do with me?"
He thrust a hand through his thick hair, more visibly anxious than she'd seen him since those first days after he'd rescued her.
"Lily," he finally informed her, never looking away as he hit her with the rest of it, "your badge was found clutched in his bloody hand."
Jackie Stokes had known for weeks that something was up with her boss and her coworker Brandon Cole. But she hadn't even begun to imagine it might have anything to do with Lily Fletcher, her late friend. Now, though, she was beginning to wonder. Because today,
Brandon and Wyatt were both gone, and Lily was all anyone was talking about.
"Can you friggin' believe this?" Kyle Mulrooney snapped as he-as all of them-watched Tom Anspaugh and one of his goons dig through the box of personal effects from Lily's desk. They’d kept her things, since there was no one to give them to. And Anspaugh apparently knew it. He'd also demanded access to case files from any investigation she'd worked on.
"It's like watching a gorilla sort through a china tea set," Alec Lambert murmured. "The destruction doesn't matter, just finding whatever it is he's looking for."
Wasn't that the truth?
Anspaugh had shown up here a couple of hours ago, claiming the team-the Black CATs, as they thought of themselves these days-needed to hand over every bit of information they had on Lily Fletcher. When Jackie, who was again acting as supervisor in Wyatt's absence, demanded to know why, Anspaugh had snarled something obscene. He'd then handed her the phone, asking her if she wanted to call Deputy Director Crandall and question him directly, or if she just wanted to get out of his way.
She'd called, of course. Screw Anspaugh. Lousy little scumbag. None of them had ever gotten over how badly he'd messed things up with his Lovesprettyboys investigation, letting one of his own agents, as well as poor, sweet Lily, pay the ultimate price.
But Crandall had confirmed the other agent's story. Jackie had been told to give the man full cooperation. Considering Anspaugh had gotten slapped pretty hard over the balls-up in Virginia, she had to wonder just what it was he had that Crandall wanted so badly.
Maybe Wyatt knew something. Crandall seemed to think so, because he'd ordered her to get her boss in from wherever he'd gone off to and have him report to the DD's office by the end of the day.
Good luck with that. Wyatt was in Maine-he'd told her that much when she'd called him to tell him what was happening. And he didn't seem to give a damn that Crandall wanted him back.
"What's going on?"
Christian Mendez, who'd been with them for about a month now, walked into the office, having just returned from interviewing a witness in a murder-for-hire case they were investigating. The agent, with his sultry Latin looks, was good at talking to witnesses. As good as Alec had been before he'd gone so gaga over his new fiancee and seemed to lose any interest in flirting with other women.
Not that Christian flirted. Oh, no. He just steamed up a room enough with all that dark intensity to get any woman talking, if only to get him to stick around a little longer. If she were ten years younger and, of course, single, he would definitely have been someone she would want to keep around.
Good God, it wasn't always easy being one of only two women to work among several of the hottest men she'd ever seen. Even a happily married, settled wife and mom could occasionally be overcome by all the sexy testosterone heating up these offices.
"What are they looking for?" Christian prompted when no one answered his original question.
"We dunno. Dickhead's going through all of Lily's things," said Kyle, not looking away from the atrocity taking place in the next room. "Lily Fletcher's."
Christian probably hadn't needed the clarification. Jackie imagined that in the month he'd been here, the murdered agent's name had been mentioned a hundred times.
"Why?"
"That's what we'd all like to know." That came from Dean Taggert, whose brow was pulled down over a fierce glare cast directly at Anspaugh's back.
All of them were huddled in the hallway outside the conference room, which also served as the team's only storage closet. Boxes and files were stacked in all four corners, and Anspaugh was busily sticking his nose into every one of them. It was all Jackie could do to remain calm when the thickheaded bastard took the framed photograph of Lily's sister and her boy, which used to sit on Lily's desk, and slid it into a plastic evidence bag.
"Did you say they're investigating the Lily Fletcher case?" a woman's voice said. Anna Delaney joined them, having just returned from going over the ACES report on the computer used in the hit-man case.
"Not sure what the hell they're investigating," Jackie mumbled, not wanting to go into yet another explanation as every member of the team came through the door. She was too busy watching Anspaugh, making sure he didn't try to abscond with evidence or confidential files. Or any personal item of Lily's that he could never justify touching, much less taking.
"Maybe it's because of the hearing."
Jackie turned her head toward Anna. So did all the others.
"What hearing?"
The other IT specialist, as efficient and self-confident as Lily had been unsure and quiet, who occupied Lily's chair and did her former job, lifted a brow. "You hadn't heard about the hearing? It's been on the news. I recognized the name immediately, of course, knowing the connection to Agent Fletcher and her family." She shook her head sadly. "Maybe it's just as well she didn't live to see the day."
Thoroughly distracted now, as was everyone else, Jackie stepped closer to the other woman and put a fist on her hip. "You know, I think you better start at the beginning and tell us exactly what it is you're talking about."
The color fell out of Lily's face in a rush, as if someone had pulled the plug on her every vein. Her mouth open in astonishment, she remained silent, having immediately grasped exactly what Wyatt was telling her.
Someone was trying to implicate her in a murder. Someone who had access to the FBI badge that had been lost when she'd been attacked all those months ago. Someone known as Lovesprettyboys. Wyatt had been tipped off to the situation by an old friend in Crandall's office and had immediately gotten Brandon to come up to Maine with him to see Lily.
"Tiger Lily, baby, are you okay?" Brandon scooted his chair closer, putting his arm around Lily's shoulders, his other hand on her clenched ones. He appeared ready to draw her into a comforting hug.
Wyatt suddenly had the urge to pick Brandon up by the front of his shirt and toss him through the patio door.
He resisted.
He had no business getting bent out of shape because another man's hands were on her, another man's arms about to draw her into an embrace. No reason for his body to tense and his breathing to grow labored just because Brandon was whispering soft, consoling words to her, treating her as delicately as a paper-thin seashell that sometimes washed up on the beach below. One that would break apart simply if touched the wrong way.
No business at all.
Yet knowing that didn't stop his temples from pounding and his teeth from slamming together in his mouth.
Then something surprising happened. Lily ducked out from under Brandon's arm, pulled back from him physically, almost imperceptibly shifting her chair an inch or two away. Though still pale, she didn't look distraught, or soft. In fact, her flinty-hard eyes were glued on Wyatt, any signs of dismay having vanished.
"What else?" she asked. "I know there's more."