Page 24 of Crash and Burn

With a firm hand, and an irritation level that matched them interrupting her first chance to sleep in over thirty hours, she motioned them onto the uncomfortable couch. Then she quietly lowered herself into the matching ornate chair and waited.

The two agents looked to each other, one of those passing glances of understanding that didn't require words.

It was Watson—a blonde woman whose hair was scraped back into a bun and who could only have looked more like a TV version of an FBI agent were she wearing dark sunglasses inside the house—who spoke first. “It would appear that you already know why we're here.”

Maggie wanted to nod. She wanted to tell them how angry she was that it had taken this long for her to be told what was going on. Instead, she offered only information. “A week ago, I handed a jewelry box to officers at my local police station. I had found it hidden under a floorboard. The tangle of jewelry inside seemed odd. I also had a burglary … actually just a break in. I can't be confident they took anything.”

The two nodded but, once again, didn't say anything. She could feel Sebastian’s presence behind her, and she wondered if he had those big arms crossed and was offering her brute muscle as a backup. It probably wouldn’t intimidate the agents, but Maggie appreciated it. Shame she couldn’t turn her head to look without losing her authority play.

“Since you're here,” she continued almost rudely, “I'm assuming the jewelry in the boxwasassociated with the Blue River Killer.”

The two agents looked to each other again, and Maggie felt her stomach drop. Then Watson spoke and it got worse.

“Not exactly.”

Chapter Twenty-Two

Maggie swallowed hard. Agent Watson’s words could not indicate anything good.

Sebastian had reacted, too, walking out across the room and grabbing the chair that matched the one she was sitting in. He picked it up, rather than risk scraping the floor, and pulled it over to sit next to her. He made it look as though the piece was as light as a folding chair and not the massive beast Maggie knew it to be.

For a moment, she thought he might reach out and take her hand again, he was close enough. Instead, he sat there, leaning forward, elbows resting on his knees, hands clasped in front of him. Something about his expression let Maggie—and the agents—know that he meant business.

It was Decker who began speaking this time. “What I'm about to tell you is sensitive information. I'm sharing this with you because we're going to need your help putting the pieces together.”

Maggie nodded, she considered it more of an acceptance that he had said the words than an agreement to do what he suggested. She was still pissed that she hadn't been told what they’d found before now. She was well aware they weren’t legally obligated to tell her anything other than if she was in direct danger. It didn’t mean she couldn’t argue about it though.

“I'll be honest, agents. It's very concerning to me, as a citizen, that it took this long to get back to me. My evidence was turned in a week ago. You clearly know there's a link between my jewelry box and very serious crimes, yet no one told me about this before today.”

Watson let a quick expression betray her, but when she opened her mouth her tone was neutral. “Youweretold about it before today. You were the one who told us about the connection.”

“No, ma'am,” Maggie countered sharply, her lack of sleep adding to her irritation. “It's a connection I surmised on my own. When I called the police station to ask for my jewelry back, they would only tell me that the FBI had confiscated it. I merely putobvious pieces together.” She emphasized each of the last three words.

“Yes, ma'am. I understand.” Watson nodded, walking back her earlier irritation.

Maggie didn't mention what information Marina Balero had exchanged with her, because the fact was Marina hadn't explicitly said any of that. Maggie found herself very grateful that she'd given the officer a way to answer without having to say the words.

Sebastian remained silent, but still sat beside her acting like he would take out anyone who pissed her off. It took a moment, but Agent Decker picked up the thread. “The reason you haven't been contacted before now, was because we were still putting pieces together. We received the box in our possession only three days ago and our analysts have been working on it nonstop, given what we found inside. We can't act until we have certain information, but Agent Watson and I were dispatched here as soon as we were given the go ahead.”

As a lawyer, Maggie understood what laypeople often didn't, that law enforcement was very strictly bound in a lot of cases. She was still irritated, though. Her safety, after all, was at stake. She thought so, even if they didn’t.

She waited them out, hoping to get the agents to cough up more information, but it was Sebastian who offered a stern look and prompted them. “Well then, tell us what you found.”

It seemed legal concerns were on agent Watson’s mind as well. She turned to face Maggie but gestured toward Sebastian. “This man introduced himself to us at your door. I'm assuming that you're accepting of his presence here. And that you're okay with him hearing the information that we're about to give you.”

She watched as Sebastian almost rolled his eyes, but legally they needed her permission to say anything personal in front of him.

“He's a friend and he absolutely can stay and hear anything you have to say,” she offered her explicit agreement.

Watson nodded. “Three pieces of jewelry appear to belong to victims of the Blue River Killer.”

Maggie felt the words like a sharp pop to her chest. She’d thought she was ready, but she wasn’t.

Her brain scrambled and her thoughts went simultaneously in two directions. One concern was that she had been right—the FBI had managed to confirm what she suspected all along. But the second thing? “Only three?”

There had been close to seventeen pieces of jewelry tangled in that box. Her stomach churned harder now.

“Yes, ma'am. Only three so far. But that is what makes this case so concerning.” Watson looked to Decker and he told Maggie the rest.

---