only been a week that they’d been in Colorado, and Leo’s boss sounded as impatient as ever. “No, Brackett, her memory is still on the streets of Las Vegas where someone shot it out of her.”
Leo was in the situation room on the secured line. Isaac sat in front of the monitors watching the most boring show on television.
Although Leo didn’t want to invite excitement.
“Thought as much. Am I to assume there’s no trouble?”
“We’re good. And movement on Navi?”
“He left Vegas after the judge sent Mykonos away for forty years to think about all the bad things he’s done.”
“Out in ten for good behavior?” Forty years wasn’t enough.
“Minimum twenty. They’re appealing, of course.”
Still not enough time. Only they couldn’t pin down a manslaughter charge since the man who had killed the women that were with Marie ended up dead in his cell before he could stand trial. Crazy how the little guys never make it out alive, and the big bosses always do.
“We’re interviewing all parties. Looking for who was watching the headlines and would have behaved differently should that bullet have hit you instead of the girl.”
Leo thought about that a lot.
“Someone on the jury?” Leo suggested.
“Or the judge . . . maybe even the lawyers. But they aren’t about to say a damn thing. We’re digging. Looking for patterns.”
“Whoever they were trying to make me an example to didn’t get the message.”
“Unless someone just wanted you out.”
Leo had a hard time seeing that. He wasn’t even a witness in the case. Though he did put a target on himself when he cornered Navi. In which case, Leo had no one to blame but himself. He knew the dirtbags he was dealing with. “Always a chance it was meant as a warning to me.”
“That’s not off the table either. Considering you didn’t take the hit. These guys are professionals. They don’t miss very often.”
“How is Fitz holding up?”
“She asked for a raise . . . says she’s working both of your jobs.”
Leo laughed. The government didn’t give two shits how hard you worked. Raises were mapped out from the day you took the job to the day you retired.
“So, she’s fine.”
Brackett laughed. “Talk to you next week.”
“Sooner if I have anything.”
His boss hung up, and Leo looked at the phone, then Isaac.
“What are the chances that this phone call wasn’t recorded?”
Isaac reached over, pressed a button on his computer.
Leo’s and Brackett’s voices replayed the conversation for several seconds before Isaac shut it off.
“It’s not about trusting you. You wouldn’t be here if Neil had any doubts. It’s about taking his intel and putting it with ours. Adding scenarios, removing others.”
“When is that happening? This scenario speculation you guys do?”
“Once Olivia is sleeping. Plan is to meet down here, video with Neil and the others. Swap stories.”
The hair on Leo’s neck pulled with irritation. “Was it also in the plan to clue me in?”
Isaac stared at the monitors. “Not my call.”
“Yet you just told me about it.”
“Was told to wait for you to ask. You earn your stripes with this group. Nothing’s given for free.”
“Olivia earned her stripes?”
“Oh yeah. In spades.”
CHAPTER TWELVE
Olivia stood in front of the mirror wearing only a bra and panties. How was it possible that a week had passed since she arrived in Colorado and she was no closer to knowing who she was than the day she left the hospital?
She looked at her hair, which rolled midway down her back. Except for the chunk that had been shaved so the doctors could staple the parts together that split open when she’d fallen to the ground. She ran her fingertips along the edges of the scar she couldn’t see. Hair prickled under her touch as it started to grow in. Rolling her head from one side to the other at night had woken her up more than once with the pressure on her sensitive skin.
She moved her fingers to the back of her neck, then around to her right collarbone. She hesitated and then moved back to the center of the bone.
A flash . . .
She’d broken it.
Olivia palpated the bone, could feel a slight bump. She immediately moved her finger to her left side and compared the two.
“No class until the doctor says you’re clear.”
The words were plain as day in her head.
She’d been young, or at least still in school.
But where was she and who was talking?
Olivia placed both hands on the rim of the sink and squeezed her eyes shut. “C’mon, damn it.