information was denied. As for the woman, his friend did not find a match, however, he thought he remembered the girl, the daughter of an FBI agent he knew, who had been tragically killed in France years ago.
The kettle whistled and Emily turned the burner off and poured the boiling water into a mug, bobbing the tea bag in it. She was disappointed he couldn’t tell her more, but his promise to keep searching encouraged her.
Isabel also said Jethro had asked about seeing the gun again, but she reminded him it was just a hypothetical question Emily had asked. Emily wasn’t ready to show anyone and she was almost sorry she had mentioned it. She was quite sure he didn’t believe the questions were hypothetical.
She ripped open a yellow packet of Splenda and stirred it into her cup, again thinking of the photo that was now missing.
Why didn’t I make another copy? Emily questioned herself as if she could have known she would need it. Why didn’t I email it to Isabel as I’d planned? Then she remembered she had scanned the photo, to email it to Isabel the day they met with Jethro, just in case, but she had gotten distracted and not actually sent it.
She ran to her laptop which lay open on the breakfast bar and she searched through her downloaded files. Yes! There it was, not lost after all. Relieved, she attached it to an email and sent it off to Isabel. Now they’d both have it.
~*~
The alarm clock sounded its rhythmic screech and Emily slapped at the snooze button. Bleary-eyed, she rolled over, hoping for a few more minutes of sleep. Tossing and turning most of the night, she had replayed Lucas’s murder scene in her mind and her conversations with Josh and Sully, along with some eerily-realistic sensual dreams about Colin, who would morph into Evan, and then back to Colin again.
Not bothering to check the time on the clock, the sun streaming in her windows told her it was time to get up. Her cell phone chimed on the night table, alerting her to a new text. She rubbed her eyes, pushed back a few strands of hair, and picked up the phone, trying to focus on the tiny words.
The text was from Colin and read, Sorry I didn’t come back. It was late. Didn’t want to wake you. Bringing breakfast. Be there in 15.
“Shoot!” She flew out of bed and straight into the shower as her nightgown flew over her head and onto the floor.
Dabbing a little mousse into her tousled curls, brushing her teeth and throwing on her favorite jeans and T-shirt, as well as a little lip gloss and mascara, she dashed to the front door just as he rang her bell.
“Whew,” she exhaled before opening the door to him, greeting him with a bright welcoming smile.
“Good morning, beautiful.” Colin stepped inside with a box from her favorite coffee shop, Moxie Java, full of Chai latté for her and black coffee for him, along with fresh slices of lemon poppy seed bread. He swept her up in his free arm and kissed her soundly.
When he let go of her, she was breathless. She grabbed hold of his arm to steady herself. “You sure know how to greet a girl,” she laughed, giving him a playful push for not showing up the night before.
“Let’s have our coffee while it’s hot and you can tell me all about your talk with Isabel last night.”
He followed her into the kitchen and took a seat at the table while she grabbed a couple of small plates. “Sorry I couldn’t come back last night—I know you wanted to talk.” Pulling the bounty out of the box, he waited for her to sit. “I’m all ears.”
She laid the plates on the table and sank down into her chair. “Isabel didn’t have much for me, but little by little, maybe I can piece this thing together.”
“What did she say?”
“She said Jethro told her he’d asked around, emailed the photo to a few of his connections in the FBI and the CIA, hoping someone could identify either of them. He said one of his contacts thought he recognized Evan, thought he had been in the CIA years ago, but that wasn’t his name, which I kind of figured at this point.”
“What was his real name?”
“The man was hesitant to divulge the name, but I guess Jethro convinced him that it would be all right since he was dead,