Page 124 of Nocere

"I want to talk to the analyst who found this shit," the woman demanded. "Where's Ramos?"

"Ramos didn't find it. One of her team members did, and you need to calm the fuck down before you go barging around here. Walsh'll be pissed."

"What's he gonna do? Fire me?" The woman scoffed.

"He'll take it out on me. Calm the hell down."

"Fine," she grumbled.

"Who is that?" I whispered to Ainsley who listened just as intently as me.

"Ben's old partner. Sali James. Ever meet her?"

"No. The name's familiar though."

"It should be." Ainsley returned her attention to me when the two in the hall stopped shouting and spoke quieter. "She's the one who took down the Four Point Killer and his partner all those years ago. She was also one of his victims."

My mouth fell open slightly as Stiles made a grab for the woman who stormed my office in the middle of their heated exchange. She stood there, nearly a foot shorter than him, with her arms folded over her chest. At first, I didn't think she could've been who Ainsley said she was. She appeared like a grumpy teenager in sagging jeans, tattered sneakers, and a floppy hooded sweater. A single eyebrow lifted when her gaze met mine. Bright blue eyes laden with an impassioned stare didn't match the rest of her.

"'Sup, Monson," said Sali, nodding in Ainsley's direction.

"Not much. Just listening to your tantrum. Good one. Solid nine." Ainsley pretended to hold up a scorecard. It took Sali a second before she laughed.

"Shut up." She rolled her eyes at Ainsley then looked back at me. "Are you Rose?"

"Yes." I gulped and glanced to Stiles who offered me a small smirk.

"Can I have your data on the serial rapist case, please?" Sali smiled and hopped up to sit on the desk across from me.

"Um…" I glanced to Stiles again then shook my head. "No. You can't. Who are you?"

Sali flailed her arms, and gave the desk a kick before she rounded on Stiles again. "You said be nice. I was nice and now look." She swung back around to me. "Give it to me or I'll just figure out how to take it."

Ainsley smacked Sali's arm, Stiles shouted, and I stared at them.

A laugh escaped me at the ridiculousness of the situation. "You can't take encrypted data off police department servers. And you're very rude."

"And you're pretty hot. Now that we both stated facts, let's get to work here." Sali clapped her hands and glanced between us. "C'mon."

"Looks like you'll just have to follow the rules this time, Sali." Ainsley's amused grin made her eyes twinkle with mischief. "Walsh will have to give it to you."

"You can always ask the FBI," I said, pointing toward the door.

"FBI?" Sali hopped off the table. "Is Caroline on this case, Ben?"

"Yes." He laughed and tossed his hands in the air. "I give up. Do what you're going to do, but I'm tattling on you to Maggie."

"Shut up." She punched his arm on the way past before storming out of my office.

"Sorry, Rose." Ben chuckled. "She's a runaway train at times so warnings are minimal."

"Well, she seems effective at least." I shrugged.

He nodded toward the door before heading over. "Better go apply the brakes. Later, folks."

"Bye." Ainsley snickered before returning her attention to me.

"Was she always like that?" I asked, shaking my head.

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