1st Case - James Patterson Page 0,52

in Eve’s book. It was, quite literally, an affront to the way she made her living, much less her safety and her way of life.

“Make yourself useful,” Eve told the cop, handing off the stroller before she headed up the stairs. “That goes in the back closet.”

“Ma’am, are you all right?” the other cop asked as she reached us.

“No, I’m not,” she said, glaring at Billy. “I took my daughter for an early-morning walk and this is what I come home to?”

“We got a call that there might be trouble,” the officer told her, but Eve was clearly in no mood for listening.

“Will somebody show these gentlemen some ID and get them out of my house?” she said.

It was like the air had rushed out of me all at once. Thank God she was okay. Despite the false alarm, this was a good reminder to save the worrying for when there was actually something to worry about. The rest was just paranoia, and that’s not a good color on me.

It didn’t take long for Keats to thank the police and send them on their way. A second later, we were alone in her living room, where Billy and Eve threw eye darts at each other.

“What the hell, Eve?” Keats asked. “Why didn’t you return my call?”

“What the hell, yourself?” she answered, bouncing Marlena on her shoulder. “There’s nothing you need me for. I gave Angela everything I had, and she can source it back as well as I can.”

“Don’t condescend to her,” Keats said. “This isn’t the way to get Angela broken in, and you know it.”

I had the sudden impression that it wasn’t the first time they’d discussed me. And now here I was, literally in the middle of it. I appreciated Eve looking out for me the way she did, but the same could be said for Keats. I didn’t want any unfair advantages here.

“And just so we’re clear,” Keats kept going, “how do we know all this communication with Angela isn’t being tracked?”

“Because I’m good at what I do, Billy,” Eve snapped back.

It was getting more uncomfortable by the second, but then Obaje jumped in and cut through it for us.

“Did I lose track of something?” he asked. “I thought we were here to discuss the case, not fight over Angela.”

My face flushed, but he was right, and we all knew it. After that, we sat down at the dining room table for a quick, tense briefing.

It turned out Eve was entirely correct. She had nothing substantive to add that I hadn’t already covered, and she’d sent everything there was to send. But at the same time, I totally understood where Billy was coming from. Just because Eve wanted to position me as the go-to person on this new development, that didn’t mean she needed to ignore his urgent calls.

In any case, Obaje’s point was the most important one. Our focus here needed to be on the case, not each other, and within half an hour, we were getting ready to head back out again, leaving for the office this time.

“You don’t happen to have a burner I could use, do you?” I asked Eve. They’d sequestered all my devices, and I felt naked without at least a phone.

Eve gave me a Silly question look. Then she disappeared into her stash and came back with a new unit, still in the blister pack.

“It’s not exactly state-of-the-art, but at least you’ll be reachable,” she said. “Pull the SIM card and incinerate it when you’re done.”

“Thanks for everything—” I started to say, but Keats was already bellowing from the car.

“Hoot! Let’s go! This isn’t summer camp!”

“Good luck,” Eve said with an eye roll in his direction. A second later, I was running to catch up. It was only 7:00 a.m., but I felt like I’d already put in a full day.

“I don’t suppose we can swing by Starbucks?” I asked as I fell into the backseat behind Keats and Obaje.

“Very funny,” Keats muttered.

I wasn’t joking. But I didn’t ask again.

CHAPTER 56

IT WAS NO picnic, taking that polygraph back at the office. I understood the need for it, but spending forty-five minutes answering the same question eighteen different ways—no, I was not, had never been, and had no plans to be connected to the Free Net Collective or any other known terrorist organization—wasn’t how I wanted to use my time that morning. There was a boatload of work to be done. Now more than ever.

Finally, just as the polygrapher clicked