Page 40 of Fatal Betrayal

He didn't know how to answer that question. "I don't know. Different—kind of the same," he said with a vague shrug.

"That doesn't tell me much."

"She's Andi—dogged, determined, and tough. I don't doubt that she wants to find Neil's kid more than she wants to take her next breath. She can't stand a question that she can't answer, a puzzle that she can't solve. But I hate the fact that she's the one on this case, with my friend's daughter's life on the line."

"Do you think she's going to make another big mistake, like she did with Kyle? Or are you just unhappy that you have to spend time with her?"

He considered her questions. It would be easier to say he thought she might make a mistake, but that wasn't the truth, and he didn't like to lie, especially to himself. "It's mostly that I don't want to spend time with her, but the flip side is that I can keep an eye on her actions."

"What do you think so far?"

"That she's doing what she needs to do."

"I'm not surprised she became an agent. Playing detective was her favorite game—yours, too. Sometimes, you two even let me play, although not that often. And I always had to be the lookout."

"That was an important job."

She rolled her eyes. "It was a job to keep me out of the way." She paused. "Did you know she was an agent before yesterday?"

"Yes. But I thought she was working on the East Coast. Apparently, she just moved back this week."

"For good?"

"It sounded that way."

"So, you spent half the day with her, and you didn't kill her? How is that possible?"

"Not entirely sure," he admitted.

"Did you talk about the past?"

"A little. She said she was sorry about Kyle's death. But I don't believe she takes responsibility for the things she said that got Kyle arrested. She still doesn't believe she did anything wrong."

Monica stared back at him. "I know that you've hated Andi for a long time, but I sometimes wonder—"

"There's no wondering," he interrupted with annoyance. "I know what she did. She betrayed me."

"She was fourteen years old. She said what she saw, and she was wrong. But I don't think she tried to get Kyle into trouble."

"You don't know what she did," he said, shaking his head. "You were too young."

"I wasn't too young to know that Kyle had issues, Cooper. He didn't always act appropriately, and it wasn’t just Andi's comments that put attention on him."

"It doesn't matter anymore. I don't want to talk about that."

She gave him a sharp look. "Then you must have come here to talk about Andi."

He ran a hand through his hair. "How did you get to be so smart?"

"It runs in the family. You're incredibly smart, too, but when it comes to Andi, you're blinded by emotion. I'm not saying she didn't stir up problems for us. She did. I just don't know if everything that happened to Kyle is all on her. You should get to know her again. Maybe you could be friends."

"I don't want to be her friend," he said immediately.

"Maybe you want to be more. And that's what really bothers you."

"Well, I think we're done talking about Andi," he said, disliking the new gleam in her eyes.

"I just hit a nerve."

---