Page 50 of A More Perfect Union

Rook took the phone.She barely got two words out before Newman’s panic took over. What if an arrestwarrant was issued? What if the sheriff showed up at his office or, God forbid,one of the many functions he had scheduled with his constituents this week?

She let him ramble onfor a few minutes, but cut him off when she couldn’t take it any longer. Lacywas right. It would be much easier to calm him down and control the damage inperson. As much as she trusted Eric’s expertise, she also believed he’dexaggerated a bit when he said he could write a program and crack a code in afew hours. Taking care of Newman might be the perfect solution to her growingimpatience at not having answers and not hearing from Zoey. Decision made, sheinjected her voice with calm and said, “Senator, I don’t think you haveanything to worry about, but I’m going to fly out to help you through this.I’ll be there in a couple of hours.”

By the time Rookcombed her hair, brushed her teeth, and squirted eye drops in her eyes, Georgewas waiting to take her and Harry to the airport. On the drive, she tried onelast text to Zoey, abandoning all pretense that she was trying to get in touchwith her for professional reasons.

I’ll be out oftouch for a while. Miss you. I have no regrets. Hope you don’t either. Talk toyou soon.

She spent the rest ofthe ride to the airport pretending she wasn’t waiting for a response, which wasjust as well since none came. It was for the best. She needed to focus onSenator Newman’s problems and then clear her head for whatever Eric found. Thenext few days were going to be busy and she needed to be at her top form, notmooning over some infuriating woman, even if that woman was super attractive,captivating, and one of the best kissers she’d ever met.

Chapter Seventeen

“I can’t believeyou made me come all the way out here.”

Zoeyresisted the urge to roll her eyes at Donny Bloomfield’s sulking disposition.He’d started grousing that morning when she’d called him to say they were doingfollow-up interviews and his presence was ordered at the Pentagon this afternoon.She was actually surprised he hadn’t ratted her out to his daddy, but at thispoint she cared more about answers than diplomacy, which was why she’d demandedthe meeting on her time and her turf.

Funny how she alreadyconsidered the Pentagon her turf. It wasn’t really. She’d been here only a fewdays and didn’t at all know her way around, but she had an office here and, inaddition to the helpful Lieutenant Louden, she now had a friend in Major JackRiley. She thought back to her first day when she’d tried to fake knowing herway around to keep from looking foolish in front of Rook.

Where was Rook now?Was she working her own angles on this case? Zoey could hardly blame Rook ifshe was working without her since she’d ignored Rook’s texts and calls sinceshe’d stormed out last night. Kicking herself for cutting Rook out, she itchedto call her now, to see if they could connect, but she’d have to wait. DonnyBloomfield was in the hot seat, and Jack was waiting for her to take the lead.

After looking throughall the files earlier, Jack had excused himself from her office and cleared hisschedule. She didn’t know what he was working on, but she did know that he hadautonomy because he’d told her that much. He’d escorted Lieutenant Bloomfieldto the conference room, and she could tell that Donny was a little intimidatedby the buff and handsome major who didn’t look like he took shit from anyone.All it took was one fierce glare from Jack and Donny quit his whining.

“Tell me everythingyou know about your professor, Colonel Mitchell,” Zoey commanded.

“You’re barking upthe wrong tree there. I don’t know anything about him.”

Zoey held his gazelong enough for him to start squirming in his seat before she pressed on.“That’s funny. We have information that he was a customer of the Darcy Agency.With that in common, you would think you might have some other details abouthis personal life.”

Donny shrugged. “Newsto me. I may not like him, but I’m not going to lie to get him in trouble.”

“Why don’t you likehim?” Jack asked, his tone deceptively light and friendly.

An oh-shit expressioncrossed Donny’s face as he realized he’d revealed too much. “He’s a hard-ass.Treats us like plebes instead of officers. The guy never lets up.”

Zoey reflected aboutDonny’s continued use of the present tense to refer to Mitchell. She supposedit was possible Donny didn’t know about Mitchell’s death, but she’d besurprised if word hadn’t made it around among his students. She decided to waiton revealing the truth to see how this interaction played out. “He says youdon’t take this program seriously. That you and your friends think your time atMcNair is a pass to party and he’s only pushing you to be better.”

“That’s bullshit.”

“I agree.” She letthe statement settle for a moment and then pressed on. “I mean the guy ismarried and he’s paying prostitutes for sex? Who’s he to lecture you?”

Donny’s eyes gleamed.“Exactly. Especially since he’s the one who hooked us up in the first place.”

Now it was Zoey’sturn to be surprised. She glanced at Jack, but his face was stone. Not surewhat else to do, she played along. “We thought that might be the case. What doyou think was up with that?”

“I have no idea. LikeI said, I don’t know jack about the guy. Maybe he was getting a kickback or alittle something something on the side.” He punctuated his remark with a lewdgesture. “All I know is he slipped us the number for the hookers with our lastexam. At the time I thought he was cool, but then when we got busted at thathotel, he went bat-shit crazy. I guess he figured he was going to get introuble for hooking us up in the first place.”

Zoey stared at him,focused on keeping her expression neutral which was pretty damn hardconsidering the bombshell he’d just dropped. Mitchell, who’d stormed into heroffice, pissed off that he’d been swept up into this investigation, had turnedhis students on to prostitutes? But why?

“Is he?”

“What?” Zoey asked,confused by the question.

“Is Mitchell going toget in trouble?” Donny asked, his tone sounding sincere for the first time.“Are we? My dad’s already pissed off enough. I don’t need a disciplinary actionin my jacket to fuel his fire.”

Angry that all hecared about was his record, Zoey growled, “I don’t know what’s going to happento you, but Colonel Mitchell ate his gun last night, so you don’t need to worryabout him anymore.”

* * *

“I don’t understandwhy you can’t represent me,” Newman said for the tenth time.

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