“I’ll probably have to move to DC.”
“You hate DC,” Evan said. “You called it a cesspool.”
“That was the Pentagon. And it doesn’t matter. As an FBI agent, she would have to be there. They can’t move around as easily.”
“You might want to ask her about that,” Micah said.
Rome shook his head. He couldn’t do that. Truth was, he wasn’t sure she would say yes to moving to Hawaii. He was worried if he asked her to choose between her career and him, he would lose out. That he couldn’t have.
“No. She’s probably going to easily end up a hero in this. She put her life on the line, picked up that it was someone in law enforcement, and with me, she defeated the bastard. So her career should take off. I can easily get a job there.”
Even if it would kill him. Hawaii was his home, his love, but he couldn’t be here without her. She was more important to him than anything in the world.
“No, I’ll move to DC.”
· · · · ·
“We have no idea who he is.”
She stared at her supervisor. “What do you mean?”
“We have taken his prints, his DNA, nothing. But the bastard has no record. Nothing to link him to any other identity.”
She sipped the water he had given her and looked out the window. The sun was just peeking over the mountains, and she sighed.
“So he stole an identity?”
He nodded. “Kid who died of leukemia. He invented a whole life.”
“Not good that we didn’t pick up on that.”
“Us?” Her supervisor crossed his arms over his chest. “No. Three police departments hired him. Hell, he turned down a detective position with Phoenix to come here.”
“Do you know anything else?”
He shook his head. “He wasn’t really fixated on Rome until he came here. It was hard to work with a man who had so much respect. Jack had little from what I have been told. The other officers didn’t like working with him.”
She nodded.
“There’s going to be an investigation at some point, but the fact that you picked up that he was in law enforcement will definitely get you some leverage. I have a feeling you’ll end up with a promotion out of this.”
“What?”
“Oh, don’t look so stunned. You caught a serial killer that has been haunting us for two years. You got caught by him, but by doing that, I’m sure you’ll end up with a promotion. Might mean you have to move. I do know there will be an opening in the Phoenix field office.”
She waited for the joy that should bring, but there was nothing there. Nothing that made her feel good about getting a promotion. It should have made her ecstatic, but it didn’t. In fact, she felt somehow deflated.
“Now, agent, you’ll explain just what the hell you were doing.”
She shook herself out of her thoughts. “Catching a killer.”
“No. Your phone was left at this Detective Carino’s house. What were you doing there?”
“Are you asking me about my personal relationship with Rome?”
“Yes.”
“As my supervisor or as my honorary uncle?”
“As your father’s best friend. Just what the hell is it? I hear you were going to a BDSM club with him, living with him? Was that just part of the job?”
Not for her. She shook her head.
“And just what the hell is going to happen between you two?”
“Are you by chance asking me if his intentions are honorable?”
He looked uncomfortable, but he nodded. “Someone has to.”
“I wasn’t a virgin. I’m close to thirty.”
“And you might be able to fool other people, but I know that none of your relationships were like this.”
She straightened her spine. “Keeping tabs on me?”
His expression softened, and he reached across the table to pat her on the hand. “No, honey. I hear it when you say his name. You’re in love with him.”
The tears started to burn the back of her eyes again, but she would not cry. She would not fall apart again. “Yes.”
“So, what ya going to do about it, little girl?”
“Nothing. Rome isn’t into long-term relationships, and I knew that when I went into the this. Don’t worry about me. I can handle it.”
The look he gave her told her that he thought otherwise.
“I have to talk to you about something else,” she said.
“What would that be?”
“My future at the FBI.”
· · · · ·
“You didn’t have to drive home.”
Rome was grumbling, and he knew he sounded like a little boy. He didn’t care. He hurt. Inside and out. His shoulder was hurting like a bitch because he had refused his last painkillers. Probably a bad idea now that he thought about it, especially since Maria had insisted on driving.