Deadly Little Secrets Page 0,115

and cool, the bed turned down and the blinds drawn. A knock on the door woke her, and she called out, “Hang on, be right there.”

Alexia was there, with a clipped set of papers and a tray of coffee. “Mr. G said to bring this in. I’m sorry to disturb you, but he didn’t think you wanted to sleep for very long.”

“What time is it?”

“It’s around four. You’ve slept for about two hours or so,” Alexia chirped. “Would you like me to open the blinds? It’s still pretty rainy and gray, but the sun’s been out a little bit.”

Two hours? It felt like only five minutes had passed. “Sure, go ahead.” She regretted the invitation to draw the blinds when a shaft of sunlight burst through the window. She felt like a vampire.

“Wow, that’s bright. So, what are the papers?” She pointed to the stack that Alexia had set on the bed to open the drapes.

“Fax that came in for you,” Alexia said. “It’s from your San Francisco office, I think. We have a fax here in the suite, so it’s been kept confidential.”

“That’s good. I’ll be out in a few minutes.”

“Take your time. Mr. B isn’t awake yet. Mr. G’s waiting another half an hour before he wakes him up.” The young woman bounced out of the suite, and Ana decided she’d have to kill her if she worked with her too much. Perky just pissed her off.

It made her wonder how she and Jen had become best friends. Jen was terminally perky. “Probably a good thing we don’t live together or anything,” she muttered, as she pulled fresh clothes out of the suitcase. She took them to the bathroom, along with her makeup kit, to freshen up.

A quick wash and change gave her time to think things through, and thinking of Jen reminded her that she needed to check her e-mail.

“Fax first, e-mail second, new round of data crunching last,” she said as she picked up the neatly printed sheets from the fax. The fax was from Pretzky.

“Couldn’t get your cell. Senior Special Agent Hines, McGuire’s former partner, is in the wind, his house and all financial accounts cleared,” she read. “Like we didn’t expect that,” Ana said sarcastically. She continued to read the niggling little details of the search and was about to move on when the last note popped out at her: Second attempt on McGuire.

“Shit, shit, shit,” she cursed, hurrying back to the conference room, to pull up the e-mails on her computer. She’d lay money that one of the e-mails was from the retired agent.

The first one was from Jen, hoping she’d passed the review. The second was from the retired agent.

Tried your number. Second attempt down here. Locals are beginning to think I got a curse laid on me. My neighbor offered me a live chicken, if you know what I mean. It is New Orleans. Got two more cold, but I’m getting tired of cleaning up. What’s going on?

Ana went immediately to her purse and retrieved her phone. “Damn, the battery’s totally dead.” She untangled the charger cords, and plugged it in.

She quickly used her laptop to answer Jen and McGuire and decided she’d better give McGuire a call as well.

She left the conference room to find Alexia or Dav and get access to a phone. The first person she found was Alexia.

“Oh, yes, there’s actually one in the conference room,” Alexia said, directing her back the way she’d come. “Dav’s on a call right now and asked not to be disturbed. Here—” The young woman opened a panel in the wall, took out a business desk phone, and set it on the table. When she finished, the phone was plugged in and ready to use. “Dav’s on line one so use line three, please.”

There was no answer at McGuire’s, so she left a message.

“Back to the drawing board,” Ana muttered and settled in with the e-mail. She waded through the rest of the spam and offers for health products in her e-mail in-box to open another e-mail from Jen. D’Onofrio had broken it off with Jen. By text message.

“Slime,” Ana muttered, slamming her fist on the table. “Men are slime.” Her hands were poised over the keyboard to respond when Gates came in.

“Slime, are we?” Gates said from the doorway. With careful steps, he made his way to the same chair he’d used earlier. So close, with just three chairs between them, and yet, like before, it seemed they were miles