Page 27 of Exposé

"It was nice meeting you, Ava."

"You too. Have fun contemplating your life's choices." I smiled at Nate and waved at Trina, who hadn't taken her eyes off of him. "Bye, Trina."

"What?" Nate's brows dipped together.

I let out a dry chuckle as I hit the stairs. "Never mind."

"Wait." Nate's voice echoed off the stairwell. He bounded up the stairs as though it were nothing, then handed me a small rectangular business card. "In case you need anything. Here's my card."

"Thanks." My brows furrowed as I flipped the card over. "Shouldn't I call the maintenance line?"

"Yeah." He gave a lopsided shrug as he turned and made his way back down the stairs. "But then you wouldn't get me directly."

I stared at his broad shoulders, his foot hitting the bottom step. Nate turned and glanced up at me. Heat rushed through my body, ending at my cheeks with a searing burn.

There's no way he couldn't see me blushing.

God, what is wrong with me?

6

Ava

Knock.

Knock.

"Come in."

I pushed open Whitney's door with a hitch in my breath and took my first step inside.

"Just the girl I wanted to see." Whitney pulled her glasses off her nose and placed them upside down on the desk.

I took a seat. "I'm afraid I don't have good news."

"Oh?"

"My FOIA hasn't come through—"

"We know those take time."

"Yes, but I was hoping for a little more information by now." I sighed and hung my head, tucking my hair behind my ear. "I'm not sure there is a story here."

Whitney mirrored my sigh and folded her hands. "What's changed? Your enthusiasm for this story doesn't match the way you walked into my office the other day."

I shrugged. "I'm coming up short. I was expecting to find something to bring you by now, but the only thing I have is a mysterious black SUV driving through a lower-income neighborhood."

Whitney raised her brow. "How does that make it mysterious?"

Leaning back in my chair, I flipped through the folder of notes on my lap. "It wasn’t mysterious or suspicious before—just a fixture in the neighborhood, arriving like clockwork—"

"So what made it something other than an SUV traveling home?"

"I followed it."

She raised her brow, her clasped hands dropping to the table. "Go on."

"There's no plate, blacked-out windows, and it tried to lose me."

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