Page 24 of Missing Justice
Chapter Five
Today wasn’t a three-and-a-half-inch heel day. It was only eleven and Taylor’s feet were killing her.
Thank you, Mad Dog.
She’d picked out the designer heels and the red satin bra and panty set this morning with Matt on her mind. Now her feet ached as she marched to the conference room, ready to get some answers from the good senator, and the underwires in the new bra felt like a vise around her chest as they lifted her matching Cs to epic heights.
Stupid. Even after she hadn’t heard a word from Matt, she’d designed the day’s wardrobe around the infinitesimally small chance she might see him today. Now, she was paying the price for letting her personal life get in the way of work. Meredith would cuff the back of her head if she knew.
Not for long though. The senator was hers to question finally and she was in warrior mode. No more of his dancing around. She wanted answers and he had them. He and his lawyer were about to learn that she wasn’t one to mess with. She had her notes and her strategy outlined and Taylor, agent extraordinaire, was ready for battle.
The conference room was small and clean, but she pulled up short in the doorway. It was also empty. Taylor glanced at her watch and frowned. The senator should have arrived five minutes ago.
A fresh wave of annoyance hit her. Who did this asshole think he was? She’d been patient and understanding—at least as much as she could be when her gut was telling her flat out that Senator Jarvis had played a hand in his wife’s disappearance.
Women and girls made up the bulk of the cases on her desk. From past experience and sheer numbers, she knew the majority of them had been hurt, raped, kidnapped, or killed by someone they knew. Someone who supposedly loved them. It made her absolutely sick.
Smacking her files down on the glass tabletop, she checked her phone for messages. None from the senator or his lawyer.
Dammit.
None from Matt either.The fink.
She straightened her pen next to her files and huffed out a breath. Her yellow notebook sat on top of the stack of files with her list of questions—a list she’d gone over a dozen times last night. Things did not add up with this case and she was sure the senator knew more—much more—than he was letting on.
Beckett Pearson blew into the room, fixing his Burberry tie with one hand while he balanced a white paper cup with the other. “Wait…no senator?”
Beck was her right-hand investigative specialist. Men like Senator Jarvis often opened up to him better than they did her—a female in a strong, high-raking position of authority. Beck would start talking about the Sabers or Jets and the next thing she knew, the person across the table would be telling him their deepest, darkest secret.
“He’s late.” Taylor drew a fingernail down the corner of the folders. She would have been pacing if not for her feet screaming at her. “I get the feeling he doesn’t want to talk to me.”
Beckett plunked down beside her and handed her the white cup. “Green tea with jasmine. It will detox your liver and open your crown chakra.”
She’d rather have a scotch. “Thanks… I think.”
“So old Walt is letting you know he’s in control.”
Beck had once been a defensive lineman in college. He kept himself in good shape and dressed like a GQ model. Rumor was, he’d modeled for Vogue during his college days as well. If Taylor had a guess, he finally got tired of people seeing him for his outward appearance only and not for the high IQ and natural analytical skills he possessed that they couldn’t teach at Quantico.
“He thinks he is. He kicked me out of his house yesterday morning, insisted on having his lawyer present for the interview, and now, he’s not here at the time his assistant cleared his calendar for. If he were innocent, why the power play?”
Beckett made a big deal about looking over one shoulder and then the other.
Taylor took a sip of the tea. It wasn’t bad, but too hot. “What are you doing?”
The man grinned, those gorgeous cheekbones above his closely trimmed beard bunching. “Looking for your balls, boss.”
“Haha, be careful or I’ll have yours in a sling.” She set down the paper cup and checked her messages again. Nada from any of the men she was currently waiting on.
Leo Wellington walked by the glass wall, saw her and Beckett, and backtracked. “Hey, I heard about the Jarvis case. I want in. Let me know when Walt gets here.”
Fat chance. “You bet.” She gave him a thumbs-up and he smiled before continuing on his way.
“Now there’s a surprise,” Beckett murmured, fiddling with the digital camera set up to record the interview. “Fresh life gets breathed into an old, high-profile case, andbam, the shark shows up to catch a slice of the limelight.”
Last week, Taylor would have admonished Beck for his insubordination. Today, she felt the same way. He was interested in her cases, including thinking he could solve Isabel’s where she couldn’t.
Fink number two.
