Page 61 of Operation: Reckless Angel

She told them about how the client contacted her, what was discussed during the few exchanges of emails they had, and the avenues she’d pursued in public records to verify her client was who she said she was. She told them about the aborted first attempt to get her client out of town.

“Do you have the name of the friend who was supposed to create the reason the sheriff left your client at the diner?” BT asked.

“No, she wouldn’t give me the name. She was too worried about her friend’s safety,” Briana answered. She could see BT’s reaction was not favorable. “You have to understand, the women I help are scared and desperate. They know what their husbands are capable of, and they don’t trust easily. Amanda Elsworth was no different. I’m not sure if her husband even knew that she had someone she’d call a friend enough to confide in and ask for help, and she certainly didn’t want anyone knowing she did.”

BT nodded. “Trust me. I do understand. I know someone who was once that desperate. Let’s attack it from this angle to try to figure out who this friend was. We need to build a profile on who Amanda Elsworth would have had the opportunity to talk with without her husband nearby. Did she shop alone? Maybe she became friends with the clerk at the grocery store. Did she go to the library or fitness classes? Did she volunteer anyplace? If not, who lives in the neighborhood? Maybe that is where she made her mystery friend.”

Briana nodded. “Yes, we could narrow it down that way.”

Jackson rejoined them. “You ready, Roth?” He nodded towards the door to the hallway.

“Yeah,” he answered. “BT, I’m going to leave Briana in your trustworthy hands. Talk to you later.” He rose from his seat and followed Jackson to the door.

“Be right back,” Briana told BT.

She trailed Sebastian as he stepped away. She knew that she was being sidelined. She understood why, but she didn’t like it. She grabbed Sebastian by the upper arm and stopped him before he followed Jackson out the door.

“I’ll be in touch,” he told her. “Please, stay here at the hotel.”

“I’ll be good and stay here for now, but when he goes down, I want to be there.”

“You will. I promise,” Roth said. “But you have to realize you’re burned. Because he’s seen you, your presence as we surveil him could fuck everything up.”

“I know. That’s the only reason I’m okay with this.”

Roth brushed his lips across hers and then whispered in her ear. “Trust me. You’ll be there when it matters.”

Briana was left dumbstruck by that small, unexpected kiss. There was something about Sebastian Roth that made her heart race whenever he was near. She remembered her conversation with Finn. Yes, she could see herself staying wherever Roth lived to see if anything permanent could develop between them. He wasn’t the enemy, as she had originally thought. He’d proven that. And given that he was the first person she thought of to call for help, her rational brain knew it too. It wasn’t being driven by hormones.

She gazed into his beautiful blue eyes. “I do trust you, Sebastian. I risked everything by calling you. But I knew deep down I could trust you.”

“I’m glad you did. You had to know that I’d help you. I knew you’d be carrying on with business as usual after we drove away from your brother’s place in Iowa.”

She chuckled a guilty laugh. “And I knew you knew I would. I appreciated that you didn’t call me on it in front of your boss.”

“Lambchop,” Roth laughed. “He knew it too. He’s a good guy and, in spirit, supported what you do. We’ve worked a lot of cases where women in trouble had nowhere to go. It didn’t usually end well for them.”

Briana shuddered to think about it. “Nothing will change until the laws change.”

“I know,” Roth agreed. “And I have no faith that will happen anytime soon.”

“So where does that leave me regarding your team?” she asked.

Roth pressed a kiss to her forehead. “That isn’t anything you should be worried about right now.”

“You ready?” Jackson called.

Roth kept his gaze on hers. “Yeah,” he yelled back. “I’ll be in touch,” he said to her in a softer voice.

She nodded and watched his back as he walked down the hallway until he was out of sight. Then she returned to her seat at the desk. “How do we go about figuring out Amanda’s movements to determine who this friend could have been? She probably doesn’t even know Amanda’s dead, will assume Amanda fled with me.”

“Did Amanda Elsworth say her friend was a woman? If not, then it could be he doesn’t know she’s dead. First rule of investigation. Assume nothing.”

“Wow, yeah, you’re right. She never identified this friend with a gender specific pronoun.” She was impressed by BT.

“We start digitally,” BT said. “You’ve been in that town. I’m going to share with you a program we use to map people’s movements through their phones. I’ll dig into her and her husband’s spending patterns, and we’ll create two maps to overlap to try to discern her movements when she’s alone.”

“Cell phone tracking and spending records?” Briana repeated.

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