Testing The Boss(46)

“What was that?”

“Evelyn told me that she wants to transfer back to her old position when this is all over. I’m just worried that the investigation will stretch on too long and she’ll go back sooner.” Or she’d finally let her anger take over and leave as soon as possible to get away from him. Luke was reasonably certain he could get Evelyn to come back to him if he had time. But he couldn’t woo her from across the country. Well, maybe he could, but the kind of chemistry he and Evelyn had in person was electric. He needed her to remember that feeling.

And hopefully she’d realize how unique it was.

“I’m sure Evelyn will stay until everything is taken care of,” said Hotchins.

“I’m going back to the city tonight,” said Luke.

“Are you sure that’s a good idea?”

“I have no idea if it’s a good idea, but our theory about hiding out obviously didn’t get us anywhere and I have shit to get done.” True, but not work shit. As much as he trusted Evelyn as an agent, this situation with the Thirteen Stars was getting out of hand, and he needed to take over.

He had one major advantage over the FBI. He had no problem breaking all laws necessary to get what he wanted. And he wanted Evelyn Price.

In order for that to happen, Brian Longineu was going to have to go down.





CHAPTER EIGHTEEN


“Hi, Gail,” said Evelyn with a fake smile as she sat down on the other side of the interrogation table.

The older woman looked as if she’d been through hell. Her eyes were red and puffy, her hair a tangled mess. Despite her attempts to be cold, Evelyn had to admit she felt bad for her former friend. She knew that Gail had been kept in nice conditions under the circumstances. She’d had a bed and blanket and, except for Hotchins, no one had interrogated her at all. So her deteriorating physical condition was almost completely due to stress and her guilty conscience.

Which meant that there was still a federal agent in there somewhere.

“Evelyn,” said Gail. “Believe it or not, I’m very happy you’re okay.”

“I don’t know if I can believe that.” Gail had refused to talk to anyone but Evelyn after she was brought in on Monday, so she and Luke had split up. He was going to be secluded in his office for the morning, and Evelyn took the opportunity to get this interrogation over with as soon as possible. “I’m assuming you had your reasons for talking with Longineu.”

A tear rolled down her face. “I don’t even know who I talked with. They never told me their name.”

“This person offered you money to give information about my investigation?”

“No! Well, yes. It’s not that simple.”

It never was. “Explain it to me.”

“They stole our savings. Almost every penny from my husband’s 401k. We’d be left with nothing and the boys are still in college...”

“You work for the FBI. If they committed financial fraud, why wouldn’t you come to us?”

“Because they didn’t even take it!” She took a few deep breaths, as though trying to calm herself down. “They made it disappear. He didn’t direct the investments himself. He doesn’t know the first thing about money. So we checked the box that had the fund direct investments for us. And last year, every single cent was put into the highest risk investments in the market. There was nothing we could do.”

They both knew that was a lie. If she had come to the agency, it would’ve raised alarms. Got people looking into it. But, that being said, they might not have been able to recover the money either. And money made people do things they normally wouldn’t do.

“I tried to avoid giving them anything useful. They only asked for easy things at first. They only started asking harder questions recently. But I never told them the Devereauxs were working with you, I swear!”

“You didn’t have to. You told them I was working the case and Longineu spotted me at Luke’s office. You remember how you recommended I go to his office?” Though Longineu had still somehow known exactly where she was sitting...

“I didn’t want to.” More tears poured down Gail’s face.

Evelyn wanted to be dispassionate about the whole scene, but it was hard not to feel sorry for the woman who’d almost caused her death. “Do you know if any other agents were working with them?”

Gail shook her head. “I think I’m the only one. They didn’t seem to know things before I told them.”

“What about Hotchins? Did he seem suspicious at all to you?”

For the first time, Gail seemed truly confused. “Hotchins? No. He’s one of the best agents I know.”