Page 71 of Missing Justice
Chapter Thirteen
The morning did not go at all like Taylor planned. Her usual morning of coffee and more coffee morphed into coffee and pancakes with Matt in his kitchen. At some point during the early pre-dawn hours, he left her and his bed and finished paring down their leads to three, so as he served her a hot breakfast, they hashed over how to divvy up their prospects.
The plan was for him to check out Kristina Caldwell, the Lamaze instructor whose income barely registered as middle-class but who lived in an expensive townhouse and drove an $80,000 vehicle. Not a silver truck, unfortunately, but she sure hadn’t received her cushy living arrangements from her divorce six years ago, nor from any family money. That alone raised suspicion.
The other two she would take lead on, bringing her team up to speed at their 7 a.m. meeting. She would have Beck pick up Dottie and bring her in for questioning while she hunted down a prospective silver truck owner.
Her second morning surprise was Matt chauffeuring her to the office and dropping her off in front of FBI headquarters with a kiss that scorched her down to her toes. Yeah, they’d shared plenty of intimate kisses, but none felt quite like this. Somewhere in the past twenty-four hours, Taylor had lowered her guard. She’d fallen head over heels for Mad Dog. Her partner.
Her off-the-books, shouldn’t-be-working-with-you partner.
Even now, as she headed for the front doors of the Bureau building, her heart fluttered like a manic butterfly. She couldn’t wipe the smile off her face. Before entering, she actually turned back and waved at him as he drove away like she was some silly schoolgirl.
He tooted his horn and rumbled off and her heart fluttered even harder.
She pushed the glass doors open, and there was Beck waiting for her on the other side of the metal detectors, his tablet and a hot tea in hand.
“Hey,” she said as she walked by the security guards and accepted the tea. “Ready for our big day? I have some leads for us to check out. We’re close. I can feel it.”
His suit was a beautiful dark blue and his tie the color of a pumpkin. Not many men could pull it off, but Beck looked like a GQ model even in old jeans and a T-shirt. He fell into step with her, heading for the cold case offices at the rear of the building. “You look like shit. Are you okay? Why didn’t you call me last night?”
“I’m fine.” Taylor sipped the tea and made a face. “What the hell is this?”
“Wildcrafted hercampuri. Detoxes your liver and balances your cholesterol. Which you’re going to need after you see who’s in your office.”
Oh, jeez. She handed back the tea and slowed her pace. “Meredith? She’s up early. But no surprise, since I didn’t take her calls after the attack last night.”
He held the door for her and they started down the long corridor, one of the other agents giving Taylor the evil side-eye glance.
Damn. She thought she’d covered her black eye and bruise pretty well. Maybe not.
Beck waited for the agent to pass, then caught Taylor’s elbow. “AD Cunningham is in there too.”
Cunningham in her office. That had never happened before. “Is he slumming these days?” she joked.
“Taylor, this looks serious. Are they removing you from the case?”
Probably. Taylor handed him her briefcase. “All my notes and the leads on the Jarvis case I was going to assign to you and the team today are inside.”
Beck frowned as he accepted it.
“It’ll be okay,” Taylor said, but her happy mood was dwindling fast. “Even if they do remove me, you guys can take over.”
God, they better not remove me.
Stopping in front of the glass wall of her office, her eyes landed on the one person that made what was left of her good mood evaporate. “Or not.”
“I can’t work with him,” Beck said.
Meredith must have felt their stares. She turned, saw Taylor, and for a brief moment, her face showed sadness. Whatever was about to happen, Meredith felt regret about it.
Makes two of us.
“Leo is the best profiler around,” Taylor reassured Beck.Besides Grey anyway. “You’ll be fine working with him.”
Plastering on a fake smile, Taylor opened the door and entered her office.
And met the solid wall of Meredith Sardana, Marcus Cunningham, and Leo Wellington head on.
