Page 33 of The Wrong Side of the Law

Chapter Ten

Emily

The best part of having six different bosses is that so long as I look busy, each one of them will usually assume I’m working on something for one of the others. The second-best part is that, with so many plates all spinning at the same time, I can stick my nose into almost anything without raising any red flags or being questioned about what I’m doing.

ASA Cooper told me to stay away from my brother’s case when I talked to him this morning, and I will. I’m not going to go anywhere near it. I’ll behave. I’ll be good, and I won’t do anything that might cause trouble for Francis Junior.

But Gabriel Cooper left me a loophole: he didn’t tell me not to stick my nose into Robert Ferry’s business.C’mon, did hereallythink I was going to sit on my hands and turn off my brain?

The day absolutely flew by. Almost ten hours of research and phone calls, and it doesn’t feel like even lunchtime yet, even though it’s already past time to go home.

I yank the thumb drive out of my workstation once the last of the information is saved on it, then scribble a name and phone number on a sticky note. Time to go see the boss again, if he’s still here.

Who’m I kidding, though: if there’s one person in this building that is guaranteed to still be at work, it’s Cooper.

His receptionist is gone, though. Can’t say I blame a girl for sticking to her schedule, but I’m also not disappointed to see her out of the office.

The door to the inner office is ajar, but I knock anyway.

“C’mon in.”

ASA Cooper is facing his computer as I slip in through the door.

“I’ve got something for you,” I say, holding out the USB stick. “I think you might find it interesting.”

He glances over at me for the briefest moment, then his eyes drift back to his monitor.

“Okay, thanks. Go ahead and drop it on the desk,” he says, pointing at a miraculously bare spot. “I’ll take a look at it before I leave tonight.”

I don’t want him to look at it later. I want him to look at itnow. Of course, I can’t just be that blunt about it.

“I think this could be important, sir.” I take a step closer, still holding out the drive with the sticky note on it.

“Uh-huh.”

“It’s about the person we talked about this morning, sir.”

Cooper spins around in his chair, eyes flashing and angry.

“Itoldyou to stay away from your brother’s case,” he snaps. “Are youtryingto get pulled up on an obstruction charge?”

“Sir, if you’ll-” I begin, but I don’t get to finish my thought.

“Well?” Cooper interrupts. “Are you? Because that’s where you’re headed.”

“Let me finish, dammit!” I know it’s a mistake before the words are even out of my mouth, but I can’t stop myself from meeting his anger with my own. I didn’t learn anything from last week.

Cooper freezes, his eyes gone wide with surprise, his mouth still open. Surprise gives way to anger, but before he lets it out I see his hands relax, and the set line of his jaw softens. He slowly leans back in his chair.

“You’re right,” he says. “That was rude. I’m sorry.”

What the hell? I don’t know what happened to him just now, but I’m not going to complain about it.

“What I was going to say, sir, is that I haven’t gone anywhere near my brother’s files or records. You can check the server access logs. You can ask the file clerks in the vault. I haven’t done anything that could get either one of us in trouble, sir.”

He steeples his fingers, cocking his head to the side. His eyes are heavy on me, an almost palpable weight.

“This,” I say, still holding the USB drive out to him, “is information about an entirelydifferentcase. From an entirelydifferentjurisdiction.Sir.”

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