Page 128 of With this Ring

In frustration, she squeezed her eyes shut. “I need my cell phone.”

“You got it.”

After grabbing the device, he brought it to her.

“Thank you.”

“You might need this.” He pulled out her gun from his waistband.

“How…?” She blinked.

“Figured you wouldn’t want any questions from the hospital staff.”

And she definitely didn’t want it to be confiscated. “I owe you one.”

“Way more than that.” He flashed her the smile that had ensnared at least a dozen women in the few years that she’d known him.

He tucked it into her plastic bag of belongings and closed the closet door.

A few moments later, Inamorata was back, along with two men in suits.

FBI, according to their credentials.

Since she was no longer employed by Hawkeye, Inamorata owed her nothing. But the woman stayed, regardless, off to the side, her presence reassuring.

“Just a few questions, ma’am, if you don’t mind.”

Did it matter if she wasn’t up to it?

Sasha answered dozens of questions, most of them repeats, phrased in slightly different ways.

She had very little information about the case, just information she’d found in the ledger and the burner phone. “And I understand the phone has been turned over to you?”

“Affirmative,” the older man replied.

Then they asked about Ashley, and she repeated exactly what she’d told Stryker and added, “I have no idea if she’s involved, or why she would be.”

“Anything else you can think of?”

She rubbed the bridge of her nose, as if that could force back the never-ending pounding in her head. “You may want to talk to Brenda Santos when you can. She can get you a description of the man who threatened her. I believe he was at the house on at least two occasions.”

“We have agents en route.”

“Do you have Felix in custody?”

“Afraid I can’t say one way or the other.”

“So it’s a one-way street. You get information, but you don’t give any?”

“Thanks for your time, ma’am. If you think of anything else…” He pulled out a business card from inside his suitcoat and offered it to her.

When she didn’t accept, he dropped it on the table next to her bed.

The two men left, and once the door was closed behind them, Inamorata said, “They picked him up less than ten minutes ago.”

Sasha nodded in appreciation.

How Inamorata knew stuff, she had no idea.

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