Page 32 of Fearless
I do as he asks and take a hop back, expecting the agents to barge in as they had done previously. Much to my surprise, they wait a beat before entering. Simms scans the room before takinga seat. “Is it just the two of you?” he asks.
“For now,” Roger replies. “We were about to order some lunch. Can I get you anything?”
Simms and Monroe both decline. Roger goes into the bedroom to use the phone in there instead of the one on the kitchen counter to place our order. I sit quietly on the sofa with my legs crossed, doing my best to act nonchalantly.
Simms uses the opportunity to probe. “Shining Knight must have some amazing connections to fake a wedding certificate. I have it on good authority that the resort validates the marriage license against the county clerk’s office registry. How did you manage to pull that off?”
“Easy. There’s nothing fake about it. Roger and Iaremarried, not just posing as a couple. If you are insinuating that Shining Knight isn’t above board, you’re wrong. They operate within the confines of the law.”Mostly.They’ve been known to resort to hacking a time or two to get information and generate leads.
Simms throws his hands up in a placating gesture. “I was just impressed, that’s all. The lengths you would go through to find your father are astounding. I don’t suppose he or your mother have reached out to you.”
I cross my arms and shy away from the inquisition. “Why don’t you tell me? I’m sure you have my phone tapped and someone monitoring any email communications.”
“Touché,Agent Finnegan, and so far, we’ve come up empty-handed. But there are other ways to communicate, which is why I had to ask.”
“My father has been the Deputy Director for nearly a decade and holds all of us to the highest standard. Can you sit there andhonestly tell me that you believe my father is capable of such an atrocity?” I ask scathingly.
Simms shrugs, but Agent Monroe doesn’t have any problem voicing his opinion. “Six months ago, CIA Director Borshardt was caught with his hand in the cookie jar, and he was once an avid patriot for this country. Everyone has a price, Agent Finnegan, including your parents. Maybe your mother, agent-turned-asset, was indoctrinated on an assignment and convinced your father to turn traitor. Maybe it’s the other way around, and your father is fed up with the bureaucracy and snapped. Whatever the reason, I don’t care. We will catch your parents and put a stop to their madness.”
“That will be enough conjecture and accusation, Agent Monroe,” Roger says, entering the room. “As it stands, we know very little—certainly not enough to start pointing fingers and throwing out wild theories. Our job is to uncover the truth and…”
“Don’t act as if you haven’t already made up your mind regarding Finnegan’s innocence, Roger. We all know you were his protégé and are practically like a brother to him,” Monroe says with a sneer. “We may not have a ton of evidence, but what we do have all points to Finnegan being a ringleader in a terrorist plot. Will you share what you find with us, even if it leads to Finnegan’s arrest? After all, you’re married to their daughter and are tight with the family.”
Roger glances at me, and I see the resignation in his eyes when he replies to Monroe. “If Robert and Eloise Finnegan are involved in a terrorist plot, I will not stand in your way when an arrest needs to be made. However, I’m not going to stand idlyby and let you smear their good name and assume they are guilty of a crime that has yet to be committed. You are entitled to your opinions, but I kindly ask you to keep them to yourself.”
“And if I don’t,” Monroe asks combatively.
“Then there’s the door,” Roger says calmly. “You need our help far more than we need yours. We’ll get to the bottom of this, with or without FBI support.”
Simms calms his partner down. “We’re all on the same team here.”
I raise a skeptical eyebrow. “Are we? That’s not how it looks from where I’m sitting. What are the two of you doing here anyway? You were here only a few hours ago. What could you have found out that warranted you returning so soon?”
Simms’ face becomes blotchy with red spots, and he opens and closes his fist a few times. “Whitman wants all your video footage from the day you first arrived. It would go a long way to securing our cooperation.”
Roger laughs. “You have it wrong, Agent Simms. We’re cooperating with you, not the other way around. We’ve given Whitman what he needed, and should anything else come to light, we’ll share. But demands willnotbe made of us. Despite what Whitman said, we are licensed investigators with the right to share information with any authority. It doesnothave to be the FBI.”
Simms stands up and brushes off his suit as if being in our presence is a dirty affair. “I’ll pass on the message to Director Whitman. But, Agent Cavenaugh…”
“I’m not an agent anymore, Simms.”
“Mr. Cavenaugh, Harper Finnegan is still an agent in theBureau, and as such,sheis required to share everything with us.” He turns so that he faces me and can stare me down. “Whitman expects everything you have by 4:00 p.m. today.”
I stand up and invade the three-foot comfort bubble most people prefer and poke his chest. “I’m currently on a leave of absence, and what I do in my free time is up to me. But if Whitman wants to play ball, I’m game. He’ll have something on his desk by the allotted time, but it may very well be my resignation!”
Monroe smiles smugly as if I was playing right into their hands. “If that’s what you feel you need to do, then so be it. It will just be one less Finnegan to deal with.”
Roger opens the door and gestures for the two men to leave. “I think it’s best if you both go. We debrief every night, and I’ll text you the time to be here. You run your investigation how you see fit, and we’ll run ours.”
Monroe begins to open his mouth, most likely to say something snide, but Simms puts an arm across Monroe’s chest to stop him. Simms pulls a business card from inside his suit jacket and holds it out for Roger to take. He doesn’t. Instead, he says, “We wouldn’t be very good investigators if we didn’t know how to contact you. We’ll be in touch. Have a good day.”
Just as he’s about to shut the door on Agent Simms and Agent Monroe, a feminine, but raspy, voice can be heard off in the distance.
“Well, if it isn’t Tweedledee and Tweedledumb. Yeah, I put the ‘B’ on the end of ‘dum’ just for you, Monroe!” Jessie shouts.
Monroe doesn’t take the comment in kind. “Stupid is as stupid does! How do you feel about having your facepounded in sand, Andrews?”
This time, both Jessie and Elijah laugh outright. “It’s Kincaid now, and I’ll take you anytime, anywhere, Monroe! You didn’t last ten seconds against me last time, and that’s just because your ego was in the way! Now, I can have you tasting crawfish in under three seconds!”
