Chapter Seventeen
“I can’t believe you made me come all the way out here.”
Zoey resisted the urge to roll her eyes at Donny Bloomfield’s sulking disposition. He’d started grousing that morning when she’d called him to say they were doing follow-up interviews and his presence was ordered at the Pentagon this afternoon. She was actually surprised he hadn’t ratted her out to his daddy, but at this point she cared more about answers than diplomacy, which was why she’d demanded the meeting on her time and her turf.
Funny how she already considered the Pentagon her turf. It wasn’t really. She’d been here only a few days and didn’t at all know her way around, but she had an office here and, in addition to the helpful Lieutenant Louden, she now had a friend in Major Jack Riley. She thought back to her first day when she’d tried to fake knowing her way around to keep from looking foolish in front of Rook.
Where was Rook now? Was she working her own angles on this case? Zoey could hardly blame Rook if she was working without her since she’d ignored Rook’s texts and calls since she’d stormed out last night. Kicking herself for cutting Rook out, she itched to call her now, to see if they could connect, but she’d have to wait. Donny Bloomfield was in the hot seat, and Jack was waiting for her to take the lead.
After looking through all the files earlier, Jack had excused himself from her office and cleared his schedule. She didn’t know what he was working on, but she did know that he had autonomy because he’d told her that much. He’d escorted Lieutenant Bloomfield to the conference room, and she could tell that Donny was a little intimidated by the buff and handsome major who didn’t look like he took shit from anyone. All it took was one fierce glare from Jack and Donny quit his whining.
“Tell me everything you know about your professor, Colonel Mitchell,” Zoey commanded.
“You’re barking up the wrong tree there. I don’t know anything about him.”
Zoey held his gaze long enough for him to start squirming in his seat before she pressed on. “That’s funny. We have information that he was a customer of the Darcy Agency. With that in common, you would think you might have some other details about his personal life.”
Donny shrugged. “News to me. I may not like him, but I’m not going to lie to get him in trouble.”
“Why don’t you like him?” Jack asked, his tone deceptively light and friendly.
An oh-shit expression crossed Donny’s face as he realized he’d revealed too much. “He’s a hard-ass. Treats us like plebes instead of officers. The guy never lets up.”
Zoey reflected about Donny’s continued use of the present tense to refer to Mitchell. She supposed it was possible Donny didn’t know about Mitchell’s death, but she’d be surprised if word hadn’t made it around among his students. She decided to wait on revealing the truth to see how this interaction played out. “He says you don’t take this program seriously. That you and your friends think your time at McNair is a pass to party and he’s only pushing you to be better.”
“That’s bullshit.”
“I agree.” She let the statement settle for a moment and then pressed on. “I mean the guy is married and he’s paying prostitutes for sex? Who’s he to lecture you?”
Donny’s eyes gleamed. “Exactly. Especially since he’s the one who hooked us up in the first place.”
Now it was Zoey’s turn to be surprised. She glanced at Jack, but his face was stone. Not sure what else to do, she played along. “We thought that might be the case. What do you think was up with that?”
“I have no idea. Like I said, I don’t know jack about the guy. Maybe he was getting a kickback or a little something something on the side.” He punctuated his remark with a lewd gesture. “All I know is he slipped us the number for the hookers with our last exam. At the time I thought he was cool, but then when we got busted at that hotel, he went bat-shit crazy. I guess he figured he was going to get in trouble for hooking us up in the first place.”
Zoey stared at him, focused on keeping her expression neutral which was pretty damn hard considering the bombshell he’d just dropped. Mitchell, who’d stormed into her office, pissed off that he’d been swept up into this investigation, had turned his students on to prostitutes? But why?
“Is he?”
“What?” Zoey asked, confused by the question.
“Is Mitchell going to get in trouble?” Donny asked, his tone sounding sincere for the first time. “Are we? My dad’s already pissed off enough. I don’t need a disciplinary action in my jacket to fuel his fire.”
Angry that all he cared about was his record, Zoey growled, “I don’t know what’s going to happen to you, but Colonel Mitchell ate his gun last night, so you don’t need to worry about him anymore.”
* * *
“I don’t understand why you can’t represent me,” Newman said for the tenth time.
Rook groaned inwardly. She’d been in Ohio for three hours and she couldn’t wait to leave. Since the senator’s driver had picked her up from the airport, she’d been answering the same questions about his future with a lot of “I don’t knows” and “it depends.” After their car slowly nudged through the crowd of reporters blocking his street and delivered them safely to the house, Newman switched to asking her to represent him before the grand jury, and she was growing weary of repeating the same answer, over and over.
She injected her voice with all the patience she could muster. “You need a lawyer that specializes in this kind of case. That’s not me, but I’ll help you find someone. Whoever it is needs to be local, not some big DC firm. This case involves someone who died here in Columbus, so the outcome will be more about relationships with local officials than about how much they bill per hour. In fact, the bigger the show you put on, the more likely walls will start closing in around you. Having me here is pushing it. The Franklin County prosecuting attorney isn’t going to be impressed when a bunch of lawyers show up in suits that cost more than he makes in several months.”
“If you say so.”
“You have to trust me on this,” Rook said. “Have you talked to Jeanine?”
“I would if you hadn’t sent her to New York.”
She ignored the edge in his voice, thankful he was following her instructions by not talking about the case on the phone to anyone but her. “Lacy has already booked her flight back. She’ll board a plane right after her speech at the conference and she’ll be here later tonight.”
This was the perfect time to bring up her planned departure. Harry was up to speed on everything he needed to know to shepherd Newman through the next couple of days. She’d already come up with a list of local attorneys and scheduled meetings for the next day. She only had to convince Newman he would be in capable hands with her gone.
Her phone buzzed with a text and she took it as a perfect opportunity to slip out of the room and let Harry take point. “I’ll be right back,” she said, not waiting for a reply before walking out of the senator’s study.
The text was from Zoey and it was short and simple. Sorry about last night. Developments here. Signal sucks in the building—Call me on the landline and I’ll fill you in. A few seconds passed and another text came in. Miss you too. She glanced back at the study door, but decided to wait to call Zoey until she was on her way to the airport where she’d have some privacy. She started to tuck her phone back in her pocket, but it rang. A quick look at the screen showed only the words unknown caller.
“Where are you?” Julia barked.
“Don’t you people watch the news? On West Wing, there’s like a million television sets crowded into your offices and everyone’s always staring at them.”
“In case you haven’t noticed, this is not a TV show, it’s a real White House and I need a real update. I heard you’re in Ohio, but I find it hard to believe you would traipse across the country while you have an active case pending here. Any updates for me?”
Rook resisted pointing out that Ohio was hardly across the country. No need to make Julia madder than she already was. Instead she settled on a half-truth. “There’s been a development, but we should talk in person.” She looked at her watch. Even if she left now and met with Zoey as soon as she landed, it would still be late. “I’m flying back tonight. Let’s meet in the morning. Okay?”
“Seven thirty a.m. Just you—I want to get a full update without anyone from the Pentagon looking over our shoulders trying to distract us.”
Rook clicked off the line and stared at the phone, rereading the text from Zoey, trying hard not to be distracted and failing miserably. A second later, her phone rang again, but this time it was Eric. “Grand Central Station,” she answered.
“Rook?”
She laughed. “Sorry, it’s me. It’s been a little crazy here.”
“Got it. When are you coming back?”
“Tonight. I’m meeting Major Granger—apparently there have been some developments. You have news for me?”
“Yes. I was able to crack the code. Our guy was heavily involved with the agency, but he was reporting to someone else. I’m convinced there was more to the agency’s business enterprise than providing entertainment.”
Rook appreciated Eric’s attempt to be vague because they were talking on an unsecured line, but what she really wanted were straight answers, and she needed to get out of Ohio and back to DC if she was going to get any.“Have Blake drop the laptop off at my place and I’ll review the files.”
Twenty minutes later, she was in the car on the way to the airport for her private flight back to DC. She risked a quick call to Zoey on the ride.
“Granger.”
“You sound tired,” Rook said. “Have they got you working around the clock?”
“Pretty much. I’m glad you called.”
“Me too.” Rook settled into the familiar rhythm of their conversation. “I’m sorry about last night too. I’m used to handling things my way without much input from anyone else.”
“I’ll take fifty percent of the blame. I know you were just doing your job, which is important, even if you are a civilian.”
Rook heard the smile behind Zoey’s pseudo-jab and laughed. “Duly noted. So are we okay?”
“Yes. Now, are you going to come back and work with me? I had to drag in other resources to help in your absence.”
Rook’s senses went on alert. “Other resources?”
“Jack Riley. He helped me re-interview Donny Bloomfield. Good thing too since Bloomfield dropped a couple of bombshells and no one would believe me if Jack hadn’t heard it too.”
Suddenly conscious they shouldn’t be having this conversation on a cell phone, Rook stopped her. “Hey, I want to hear all about it, but I’m about to get on the plane. I’ll call you when I land and we can meet. Okay?”
“Sounds perfect.”
Minutes later, the car pulled up to the private hangars at the John Glenn Airport, and Rook thanked the universe for charter planes and the ability to afford them. She’d land in DC, meet Zoey, learn about the new developments, review the files Eric had sent, and prepare for her meeting with Julia. With any luck, she’d get the work part done in time for a do-over of last night’s dinner with Zoey.