he wanted to protect her, drive around with her, but he knew she’d hate that, too. How to protect the woman he was falling in love with? There was no protection for his heart, which didn’t care about the danger swirling around them.
“That’s great. Thanks for doing that.”
“Just stop by her office to pick it up on your way out to the hives?”
“I will. I’m off to get a quick shower.”
“How about breakfast? I made a big omelet earlier. You could warm it up?”
“Yes, that’s perfect. Thank you.”
His office felt empty when she left. Chase knew she was putting on her best, confident face for him. No one else knew what was going on yet. He wanted to wait to hear what Dan and Agent North had to say before asking his employees to meet at Tracy’s office to discuss the situation.
Cari was still shaken, but there was less darkness in those beautiful eyes of hers this morning. Sleep was magical, dissolving the shock, allowing her to focus on her daily rhythm, which would help her stabilize and focus. Chase knew only too well what shock did; he’d gone through it many times. A part of him grew angry over Bannock. That little twerp needed to be apprehended. Well, he’d find out more this afternoon, and it couldn’t come soon enough.
June 16
Cari sat next to Chase at a long, blond oak table, in the planning room at the sheriff’s office. She saw Dan come in the door, dressed in his usual tan uniform. He nodded to them and kept the door open for the FBI agent. He wasn’t as tall as Dan, but middle-aged, somewhat overweight, and had the beginning of jowls, making him look like a bulldog of sorts. He was dressed in a dark blue business suit that didn’t exactly fit him, and he certainly wasn’t what she thought an FBI agent should look like. What did the agency do? Drag the bottom of the barrel and send this guy? Her heart sank. She glanced over at Chase, and saw his eyes narrow on the agent. Sensing he wasn’t impressed, either, she tried to swallow her disappointment.
The door shut and Dan introduced Agent Henry North to them. They sat down on the opposite side of the table, facing them. Dan reached across and gave each of them a sheaf of papers. Agent North had a tape recorder of sorts and set it between them. Dan had pulled out his notebook along with the copies he’d distributed. North had declined the notes. Cari wondered why. She sensed there was irritation or something between the agent and Dan, but if there was, it wasn’t obvious. Just a feeling or intuition.
“I’m going to lead off,” Dan said, giving a nod to Agent North. “I’ve had a chance to look at what the FBI is providing, and that’s what you’ll see in those handouts I gave you.”
Cari removed the cover. What stared back at her was Dirk. It was his prison picture, and it made her stomach clench in terror just to see his dark, angry-looking eyes. Dan went through his prison record, and it wasn’t anything Cari hadn’t heard before. Agent North, who sat opposite her, seemed bored, looking out the window, where some of the long, black plastic curtains had been pulled aside, so he could see the sky and some green landscape outside.
“Cari? If you have any questions or comments, please speak up,” Dan said. “No one knowns Bannock like you do.”
“So far,” she said, “everything you’ve spoken about, I already know. But I will chime in if I think something is important.”
“Do,” Agent North grumbled. “After all, you are his sister.”
Sitting up, Cari glared at the slovenly, heavy-lidded agent. “I’m afraid you have the wrong facts,” she snapped. “Dirk is my stepbrother. There is no blood shared between us, Agent North.”
Giving a one-shouldered shrug, North said nothing and looked down at his papers in front of him.
Her heart was pounding in her chest, her adrenaline up once again. She expected an FBI agent to be sharp, crisp, well dressed, handle him- or herself professionally and be fully informed. Anger surged through her. And then a helpless feeling followed because she realized for whatever reason, Agent North was nothing like how the FBI was treated in TV series. He was practically the opposite! And along with that depressing realization was that North didn’t really seem to care why he was here, and he certainly didn’t seem at all worried