“I just didn’t think… I didn’t connect. I was lucky I got away from him.”
“He chased you?”
“Yes. You don’t think…”
“Think what?” he asked when she hesitated.
“Maybe Shields hired him. Maybe he was waiting outside the conference center because he knew I was inside, and maybe he was there to scare me, which he certainly did.”
“You’re really hooked on your idea that Shields is behind it all, aren’t you?”
“It makes sense, doesn’t it?”
“I’m not going to guess yet because I don’t have enough information to form an opinion, but when I do, I’ll let you know. Now, I want to know exactly what happened from the minute you stepped outside Liam House.”
“I just did tell you everything that happened.”
“Tell me again.”
She went through it again just as he’d instructed. “When I fell, everything spilled out of my purse, but at the time, I thought I’d shoved it all back in. I must have left the phone on the ground. I was desperate to get into my car and lock the doors,” she said. “He was holding up something and yelling at me to stop, but I didn’t. There was something all wrong about him.”
“Like what?”
“His face,” she said. She rubbed her arms to ward off a sudden chill. “It gives me the shivers to think about it. I called the police,” she added. “And I went to the police station nearby to make a report.”
“That was good. Now tell me. What about his face?”
“Rage,” she said. “I’ve never seen rage like that in anyone’s eyes. And then the oddest thing happened.”
“Yes?”
“It might be my imagination. I was in pain because of my knee and soaked from the rain, but when I was inside the car, I looked, and he was standing under the streetlight, still staring at me. I was crying,” she admitted. “And I think he could see me crying. His expression changed.”
He cocked his head. “Changed to what?”
“Sympathy,” she said. “I think he felt sorry for me.”
Chapter Nineteen
The timing couldn’t have been better. Alec was on his way back to the station for round two with Lieutenant Lewis when the call came in on his cell phone. Ward Dayborough, the FBI agent who had been relentlessly recruiting him, was on the line welcoming him into the Bureau.
Ward was all but gloating. “I knew I’d get you,” he boasted. “Tenacity,” he said then, drawing the word out in his deep southern accent. “I have a butt-load of tenacity. How many years did it take me to get you interested?”
The question obviously didn’t require an answer because Ward, still high on his conquest, continued on. “Training’s going to be tough, but I’m not worried about you. You’ll do just fine. Your scores on that test were phenomenal. You’ve got seventeen weeks ahead of you at the academy,” he added. “No matter how much law enforcement experience you’ve had, you’ve still got to do the full seventeen weeks.”
“Are you trying to get me to change my mind?”
“No, no, of course not.”
“When do you want me to start?”
“New sessions start every two weeks, but I went ahead and slotted you to start two months from now. That’s eight weeks from today. I figured you would need time to pack up everything and tie up loose ends there in Chicago and get a little time off.”
“Yes, that’s good,” Alec said. “Eight weeks will give me time to get organized.”
Like that’s ever gonna happen, he thought to himself as he hung up. Though he was extremely organized in his professional life, he was extremely disorganized at home. He was considered the slob of the family. When he was a boy, his room always looked like a cyclone had hit. He’d gotten better about all that, though. He’d hired a cleaning crew to blitz his apartment every other week. One of the women even did his grocery shopping and made sure his refrigerator was stocked with all his favorite foods. She was an expensive luxury, but one he’d hate to do without.
She couldn’t go with him to the academy, however, and for those seventeen weeks, he was going to have to shape up. That seemed tougher to him than any obstacle course.
Alec felt good about his decision. He knew he was going to miss Chicago, and he had absolutely no guarantee that when he graduated from the academy, he’d be assigned to the Boston office. Ward had told him it was as good as guaranteed, but Alec wasn’t banking on it.
He decided to stop by Human Resources and give his notice before seeing Lewis. The woman behind the desk was a real sweetheart who had been with the department for close to twenty years. She wore such thick bifocals her eyes looked milky and twice their size.
She smiled and shook her head the minute she spotted him. “Oh, no.”
“Oh, no, what?”
“You can’t put in for a transfer. I mean, you could, but it’s not going to go anywhere. Lewis has made it abundantly clear that he needs you in his department.” Her voice softened as she added, “Which means he wants you under his thumb. I’m sorry, Alec. I think just about everyone knows what a worm he is, but he’s got seniority and his wife has connections, if you get my drift. We’re not going to be able to get rid of him unless he really screws up.”
“I understand. You are going to get rid of me, though. I’m giving my notice today. What papers do I need to fill out?”
She became teary-eyed. “I hate to see you go. You’re one of the good ones.” She pulled a tissue out of the box she kept on her desk and dabbed her eyes. “It’s like the old song Billy Joel sings. You know, only the good die young.”
He rolled his eyes. “Hell with that. I’m not planning to die young.”
“But you’re leaving.” She sniffed as she opened a file drawer and pulled out the necessary papers.
Resigning turned out to be more complicated than Alec had anticipated. There were all sorts of forms to fill out and a long conference with the commander, who was determined to talk him into staying. What Alec had naively estimated would only take a couple of minutes dragged on for over an hour.
By the time he got back to the office, Lewis had worked himself into a fury. He was on the phone, but the second he spotted Alec making his way across the room, he jumped up and angrily motioned for him to come in.
Alec was halfway there when his cell phone rang. He knew it couldn’t be Lewis’s assistant calling him yet again because he’d just passed the man on the steps.
Gil was calling. The second he heard Alec’s voice he exclaimed, “Say it isn’t so.”
Alec was impressed. “How did you find out so soon?”
“You know me. I’ve got my sources. It’s true then? You’re really leaving the department?”
“Yes,” he said. “I’m about to go in and tell Lewis. I’ll call you later.”
He ended the call and walked into Lewis’s office. The lieutenant had a white-knuckle grip on the receiver. Alec shoved his hands in his pants pockets and patiently waited until he ended the conversation.
“Yes, sir,” Lewis said, his voice a tight whisper.
The call finally ended. As Lewis slammed the phone down, Alec casually asked, “You wanted to see me?”
“You know damn well I want to see you,” Lewis shouted. “I’ve been waiting for over an hour. My reasons have changed, however.”
He stood there glaring at Alec for what seemed like a full minute. Alec wasn’t fazed. He simply stared back.
“You resigned.”
“Yes.”
The vein running down Lewis’s forehead began to pulsate.
“And you didn’t think you owed it to me to give me your notice first? I had to find out about it over the phone from my superior?”
By the time he finished his question he was bellowing. The vein in his forehead was going wild. Alec couldn’t stop staring at it. If Lewis had a heart attack and suddenly stopped breathing, would Alec give him CPR? Hmm… definitely a tight call, Alec thought.