Page 17 of Forged in Flames (Made of Steel 2)

"I've told you everything. I think we need to go back to how Mr. Crawford might be involved in this. He seemed like such a nice guy. I thought he cared."

She gave me a sympathetic smile.

Seeing someone smile at me like that made my skin crawl too. It reminded me of the months following my parents' deaths. Everyone had walked on eggshells around me. And I hated it. Stop looking at me like I'm damaged.

"You know I can't do anything without a picture of him. I can't do facial recognition to figure out his real identity if I don't have an image of his face. Are you sure he said he was with the foster care system?"

"I'm positive."

"Well, just because he lied doesn't mean he's necessarily aligned with Don. There could be other reasons."

I stared down into my coffee cup that was still full. I didn't like coffee. It reminded me of being back at the coffee shop with Mr. Crawford. I tried to think of anything that would give me a clue about who he really was. "You know, every time I talked to him, he always said he hoped it would be the last. It was kind of...rude almost."

"Hm." Liza took a sip from her cup. "Maybe he just didn't like you."

"That's not really helpful."

She shrugged. "I doubt you're everyone's cup of tea."

Tea. Now that was something I actually liked. But I didn't say a word. I just kept staring into the coffee cup.

"I think you should talk to that friend of yours and see if you can get him to divulge any information."

I looked back up at Liza. "Who?"

"The one with all the tech."

"Eli? He's bad news. I'm pretty sure he's working for Don too."

"Or maybe he's working with Mr. Crawford," she said.

"We don't know if there's a difference."

"But what if there is?"

"I can't get any information from him. We're...fighting." I almost said we broke up, but we had never technically dated.

"So make up."

"He's not going to tell me anything."

"Then persuade him."

"How?"

She shrugged. "You can start by seducing him."

"I'm not doing that." Just thinking about the way his touch set my skin ablaze made me start to panic.

"Well, figure something out. I did a background check on him and it turned up zilch. No one is that perfect. Whoever created that facade was in a hurry. He'll crack, trust me."

"You act like you've done this before."

"Of course I've never done anything like this! I'm not a crime fighter. And you're the one that's insisting on pretending everything is normal." She pushed her glasses up her nose. "If you're not going to follow any of my advice at least you can go out and get us a new lead. So go be normal and sleep with your boyfriend. I don't have time to babysit you all day. The suns out. You're safe. Go figure something out that I don't already know. And next time our vigilante friend wants to send you here, tell him to ask me in person."

Her chair squeaked on the wood floor as she stormed off.

What the hell was her problem?

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