1st Case - James Patterson Page 0,20

the wide-open space of Boston Harbor. If I can’t get out on my bike, just being near the water is the next best thing for me.

On my way, I grabbed a veggie burger from Kinsale’s and then called A.A. while I wolfed it down on the go.

“Owl!” she answered.

“Hey, Pooh,” I said. “Tell me a joke or something. I need it.”

“I can hear it in your voice,” she said. “Take a breath and unclench, will you? Tell me what happened.”

“I wish I could,” I said.

“Have people died?” she asked.

“Yeah.”

“Does it have anything to do with that family who was killed in Lincoln?”

“I can’t say.”

It was driving me crazy, keeping all this from her. A.A. was the one person I knew outside of the Bureau who could appreciate the scope of this sick puzzle. And it wasn’t like I thought she’d spill any details if I told her. It was more about sticking to the code of ethics I’d signed up for the minute I took the Bureau internship—much less gotten involved in a case like this one. Just like you never know which details will become relevant, you also never know which casual slip of the lip could be fatal to an investigation. For the time, anyway, I was going to walk a razor-straight line through the Bureau’s confidentiality policy.

I think A.A. knew it, too, just from the way she shifted the subject.

“What about Agent Blue Eyes?” A.A. asked. “How’s he treating you?”

“Like an employee,” I said. “Nothing’s going to happen there. My little crush is too much of a cliché to be taken seriously.”

“Why do I think that means exactly the opposite?” she said.

It was a fair question. But the truth was, I had no idea if my feelings for Billy were real or just another part of playing the game. Like maybe winning over Agent Keats was more about winning than it was about Agent Keats, for me.

None of which seemed worth untangling right now. I felt beyond useless out there on the street while everything that really mattered was happening back at the office. What I needed was to get back to work.

“I guess I just wanted to say hi,” I said. Already, I’d done a U-turn and started walking fast, back through Quincy Market. “But I’ve got to go.”

“Don’t you even want to ask about Darren?” A.A. said then.

That got my attention. I hated even hearing his name, almost as much as I hated what this probably meant.

“Please don’t tell me you slept with him,” I said as I waited for a crosswalk sign to change.

“Oh, God, no,” she said.

“Good.”

“I told him he had to prove himself capable of adult behavior first, and I meant it,” she said. “If I’m satisfied by Friday, we’ll get a beer. That’s how I left it with him.”

A.A.’s no pushover. If she said she meant it, then she did. She’d probably give that jerk a little hell in the meantime, I thought, and maybe even enjoy doing it.

But still, why was she bothering? Darren Wendt was the definition of a futile pursuit. Thinking he was going to change was like waiting for a pig to clean up its own pen. And it wasn’t like she’d ever raved about the sex, either. Honestly, I had no idea what kept that doofus on A.A.’s radar.

“Don’t be mad,” she said.

“I’m not,” I told her, going for something like sincerity. “This is the new me. The one who doesn’t take things so personally anymore.”

“When did you ever take this personally?”

“Apparently, I take everything personally,” I said.

“Oh, please,” A.A. said. “Did you get that from Eve?”

“I love that you know that,” I said. “But listen, I really do have to go.” The light had changed now, and the closer I got to the office, the less I could think about anything else. It was time to get back to work. Past time.

“Text me later,” she said. “I don’t think I can take the new you all at once. I’m going to need you to yell at me at least a little bit about Darren.”

“That I can do,” I said.

“And Angela?” she said. “Be careful, okay? Don’t do anything stupid I wouldn’t do.”

“No promises,” I said just before I hung up and headed back into the belly of the beast.

CHAPTER 21

WHEN I GOT to my desk again, Zack Ciomek asked me to compile a full report of everything I’d done with the app so far. Record keeping is important, and it all funnels into the intelligence