calm her body down. And if she didn't do that, she would never sleep tonight. And, though she could go hours without sleep, knowing she was giving the briefing tomorrow, knowing she would stand in front of a room full of alpha males and feed them half-truths, a little rest couldn't hurt.
Grabbing her key and her purse, she took one last glance at the room. The envelope lay on her bed. Since, out of context, there was nothing incriminating in the photos, she left it there. Everything else looked nice and normal, just like it should. Sliding her key into her clutch, Dani turned and headed into the night.
Chapter 2
NOT A FLICKER OF RECOGNITION.
Ty Fuller was impressed. Annoyed, but impressed. But, being honest with himself, he wasn't sure what irritated him more: the fact that, as good as he was at hiding his reactions, Agent Dani Williamson—or, “Ella,” as she had introduced herself last night—was better, or the fact that she was hiding hers at all.
“Nice to meet you Detective Fuller.” She shook his hand, as professional and as cool as the briefing room where they all sat, tucked away like errant children, on the fourth floor of the police headquarters.
“And you, Agent Williamson,” he responded, pleased that only a miniscule amount of sarcasm laced his voice. He wasn't being fair, and it wasn't as though he expected her to admit they'd already met, or that, not more than three hours ago they'd been ‘meeting’ each other in every conceivable way. But it didn't sit well on his wide shoulders that she'd no more than glanced at him when they were introduced. That she'd just given him the same perfunctory handshake she'd given all the other detectives in the room. Not even a smile.
“And this is Detective Warren, Fuller's partner.” Captain Jefferies continued the introductions by indicating the man standing to Ty's left.
“Detective.” She turned to the left and shook Warren's hand.
Ty pushed aside his personal bias, and let's face it, ego, and focused objectively on the person in front of him—not the woman he'd met last night and taken home, but the agent working the room. Her tone didn't change from one officer to the next, she was seasoned and sure. Both her words and the way she said them were matter-of-fact and neither condescending nor nervous. Her demeanor was confident—free of any apprehension she might feel as a DEA agent stepping into local territory. She knew her job well.
As she moved about the room meeting the other detectives, he noted that her language, both verbal and body, was subtly different than other federal agents who had visited the department in his six-year tenure. Ty frowned. She was here to give the obligatory, one-big-happy-family-that-is-law-enforcement talk like most feds. Or in other words, she and her team intended to play nice only as long as everyone played their game by their rules.
And there was nothing unusual about the approach. What was different was that she didn't seem to care much one way or the other as she made her way around the room. The feds were usually either very clear about wanting vice out or very clear about what they needed from the locals. In the former instance, they didn't bother meeting the team. In the latter, they tended to go overboard.
Dani wasn't doing either. She was making the rounds and taking the time to meet and greet everyone. Her sincerity each time she smiled at someone was the easy kind—the kind a person uses when making promises they know they'll never have to deliver on. And if Ty had to guess, since collaboration of any sort didn't seem to be on her mind, he'd bet she was going to share some information, make them feel like they were part of the investigation, then walk away as soon as she had reason to.
Watching her shake hands with yet another detective, it occurred to him that she probably even hoped they wouldn't play along. If they didn't, it would be easier to sever the tie between the two agencies. And she could place any claims of lack of cooperation squarely on their shoulders. It made Ty wonder what would happen if they cooperated, if no one ever gave her a reason to sever the tie.
He watched her move down the line, toward the last of the detectives from his department. Whatever the DEA was up to, they'd been up to it long enough to believe they had all the information they