Page 6 of Girl, Undone
Luca shrugged in defeat, then slid off to the back of the line with a smirk that, if in more private quarters, she would have pinched his leg hair for.Ella shook her head and hope he caught the genuine disappointment there.She’d gotten on well with Director Vernon so far, but she knew from experience that it only took one sarcastic comment for a whole relationship to slip, and the last person you wanted to upset in this game was the man at the top.
Although in a way, she quite liked that Luca was the same person with the FBI boss as he was with the everyday person on the street.
As she turned for the stairs, the conversation replayed in her head, but this time she heard the notes under the music.Vernon’s little jab about Ripley ignoring his emails.The way he’d sized Luca up.Was he trying to drive a wedge between her and Ripley?Maybe swap out the veteran he couldn’t control for the rookie she shared a bed with?
No chance of that, really.More dangerous people had already played that game, and they'd all lost.It would take more than a new director with a Florida tan to come between her and her partner.
She headed to the top floor to see what Vernon had in store for her, and if she was lucky, Ripley might just be waiting for her.
CHAPTER THREE
Sure enough, and much to Ella’s relief, Mia Ripley was loitering on the top floor, although she was keeping a notable distance from Vernon’s door.When Edis was here, she used to enter without knocking.
‘Mia, please say you’re waiting for me and not just that you didn’t want to talk to Vernon on your own.I’ve never seen you loiter up here, ever.’
‘What?I wanted to hang around Millionaire’s Row.Is that alright with you?’
‘You’re richer than half the people up here.’
‘Not true.Being rich isn’t about money.’
Ella sighed.People were being weird today.Maybe the winter blues had rewired everyone.‘Well I wouldn’t know because I’m not one of you.Vernon wants to see us, so are you coming?’
‘Sure, why not.’
‘Mia, he’s fine.If he wanted to fire you, he would have.Not everyone is trying to kill you.’
‘So naïve, Dark.Go on then.Lead the way.’
Ella went up to Vernon's door, knocked, and waited.The invitation came a second later.Ella whispered to her partner, 'See?Easy as that.'
Ripley pushed past her and went inside.Ella and Ripley had both been on mandatory recovery for a week, and Vernon had clearly been busy in that time.The office was now very much made in his image, and all references to the old director had perished.There were even new seats, and Ella liked it, because the pretense was finally over.Reporting to Vernon while Edis’s stuff remained sort of felt like wearing a dead man’s coat while it was still warm.The man himself was in position behind his desk.
‘I see you’ve made yourself at home,’ Ripley said.
‘Yes I have.Speaking of making yourself at home, please take a seat.’
‘I’d rather stand.’
Vernon threw his pen down.‘Ripley, if you don’t like it here, you’re free to leave, again.We’ll survive without you, but we’d rather survive with you.What do you say?’
Ella risked a glance at her partner, who was oddly stoic in the face of Vernon’s rebuke.If there was an Olympic sport for pissing people off in record time, Ripley would take the gold every time.
‘Very well,’ Ripley said.She sat down.‘You’re the boss.’
‘Thank you.And listen, you two closed the new UVCU’s first case, so the momentum is flowing.Twenty new cases have come in since its birth, and we’re one down already.It’s going well, and it’s mostly thanks to my star team.’
Ripley said, ‘Great, so rather than a one-hundred percent close rate for the BAU, we’ve got a five-point-five percent close rate for this new division of yours.’
Ella tried not to laugh, because Ripley barely bothered with maths at the best of times, but when it came to proving a point she suddenly became Rain Man.She thought it best to get off this track before tempers flared.‘Sir, what did you need to talk to us about?’
‘I need to talk to you about a dead woman up in Wisconsin.’
‘Oh?What are the details?’
‘Well, this is strange, but I don’t have much to give you.The mayor of Cedarburg contacted us an hour ago, because local police were called to a site that very much fit the ultra-violent sphere.What do you say?’
What to say when someone made such a vague request, Ella thought.It made her think of the question;Can I ask you a question?It was a futile gesture.‘Um, I mean, sure, but we don’t have anything to work with?Nothing we can start building a profile with?’
