Page 115 of With this Ring

How well he knew her. Or maybe he’d heard the wistful note in her voice. “I know she’s scared, and I wish we had already solved this case.”

“You’re being a little hard on yourself. We’ve only known about Argentum for a few hours.”

Had it only been that long? It seemed like forever.

“God knows how long Felix has been involved.”

That he was right didn’t help. “Maybe I should have moved her this afternoon. As soon as we found out.”

“Would she have gone?”

“Maybe not.” After all, Felix had returned home. And with Sasha’s reassurances that he wasn’t having an affair, Mrs. Santos might have ended her contract with Pathways.

“We can’t make decisions for our clients. The only thing we can do is follow the investigation and make the most logical choices. Until a day or two ago, this seemed to be a straightforward case of spousal infidelity.”

The reminder didn’t help. And she’d be on edge until Mrs. Santos was in Hawkeye’s capable hands.

The drive to Denver seemed to take forever, maybe because this was the second time today that they’d done it, and the clock was inching toward midnight.

Inamorata called back to update the arrangements for the meeting between Hawkeye and Mrs. Santos. “We’ve got it from here.”

“I’ll let my client know,” Sasha replied. “Thank you.”

Gregorio glanced at his GPS. “Arrival at the Santos residence in nineteen minutes.”

Each mile steadied her focus. She knew what she had to do.

“Roger that.”

Inamorata was gone, and Sasha reached out to Brenda one last time. “I’m here for you,” she swore after giving her the final details. “And I need the code to turn off the alarm at your house.”

“Why?” her voice was sharp.

“We want to look through your husband’s office one more time.”

“I don’t know that it will do you any good.” Still, she gave the code, along with one to the keypad on the back door. “The Hawkeye people are calling on the other line.”

“Call me if you need anything, and I’ll keep you up to date.”

Without saying goodbye, she was gone.

Both Sasha and Gregorio fell silent as they neared the Santos’ subdivision. Game face, as she’d called it when she was going through tactical training. Nothing mattered but the mission.

About a quarter of a mile away, Gregorio pulled over. “We’ll go on foot.”

Anyone watching the house would be watching for a vehicle to approach.

“Good thing I got some recent practice at scaling a fence,” she said wryly.

In the ambient light, she saw his answering grin.

She hadn’t been on an actual mission since leaving Hawkeye, and she’d never worked with Gregorio before.

Still, her training had been intense, and she was praying her reactions would be second nature.

Voice clipped, not wasting a breath on an extra syllable, Gregorio informed Inamorata that they were ready to approach the Santos house.

She acknowledged the communication.

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