Page 34 of Just Now

When Cami looked at her phone, she felt a jolt of surprise.

Somewhere in the past few minutes, she’d had an incoming call. With her phone on silent, she hadn’t heard it, and it had been one she hadn’t expected at all.

Her mother?

She hadn’t spoken to her mother for months. Ever since Jenna’s disappearance, the conflicted relationship she’d had with her parents had worsened. Her mother had always been the quiet one, worn down and silenced by her father’s bullying control. She’d never stood up for Cami the way Cami wished she would.

Jenna had done that, but Jenna was gone.

Cami had left home when she was seventeen, and she’d made her own way. She’d applied for and gotten a scholarship to MIT on her own. She’d taken some odd jobs to pay for what she needed. She hadn’t wanted to rely on her parents for a single thing.

And yet now, looking down at this missed call, she felt a rush of emotion.

Should she call her mother back? What could she even say? She couldn’t bring herself to talk about Jenna, or to tell her mother about the potential danger she was in now. She didn’t want to put that worry on her mother’s shoulders. Most probably, her mother wouldn’t want to hear she was helping the FBI—even if under enforced terms. Her mother thought police work was dangerous. She’d said so quietly when Cami’s dad hadn’t been home.

But then again, she might be calling because there had been a problem or an issue at home, because she was ill, or something had happened.

Had she left a message? Cami was pretty sure that if there was a crisis, her mother would have left a message.

But there was no message, neither text nor voice.

Maybe she’d just been holding out an olive branch?

Cami hesitated for a moment, wondering if she should just ignore the call.

Another part of her was afraid of what her mother might say, afraid of the pain and guilt that would come flooding back if they talked about Jenna.

But something within her made her decide to call her mother back. After all, she couldn’t keep running away from her past forever. She needed to confront her demons, one way or another. She didn’t know what to say to her mother, but at the same time, she couldn’t just ignore the call.

Taking a deep breath, she pressed the call button and held the phone to her ear.

But it just rang. It rang through to voicemail. Her mother didn’t pick up.

She hadn’t left a message for Cami, so Cami didn’t leave one for her either. And now, before she could call Kieran, she heard footsteps approach. Agonizing over her mother had meant she’d lost that chance, and in any case, Connor’s briefing had gone much quicker than she’d expected.

Taking a deep breath, nerves churning inside her, Cami faced the door.

Connor strode in, pushing it open and then turning to close it behind him. The office where they were now, where she was perched on a chair on the opposite side of the empty desk, felt like a trap.

“So,” Connor said. “Cami, I need to know. Tell me. Everything.”

She swallowed. She didn’t have much to bargain with, but what she had, she was going to try to use. She had to.

“Connor, if I do, I need you to promise me something,” she said, her voice thin and wavering, but at least she got the words out; she’d found that courage.

His brows rose. He hadn’t expected negotiation and was surprised by it.

“What is this?” he said incredulously. “What do you want me to promise? And why?”

“I want you to promise that you won’t tell anyone else.”

He was silent for a few moments. “And why should I do that?” he asked, in exactly the same tone he’d used earlier with the barman.

“Because I think there’s something going on within the FBI. I think that Ethan uncovered something and was trying to find out more. I think I’ve maybe stumbled across part of it. Maybe the same thing, maybe not. I don’t know. But I’m assuming it is, because it’s linked to—to someone who left the FBI a while ago. And also to someone close to me.” That was as much as she dared to say.

Connor leaned back in his chair and folded his arms. “That’s a serious accusation, Cami. It’s an extremely serious topic. Corruption, or criminal activity, in the Boston FBI branch? That’s what you’re saying. Are you sure about this?”

Cami nodded resolutely. “I’m sure.”

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