Page 22 of Stalk

“But I completed the assignment?—”

She holds up a hand and I snap my mouth closed. “Did he leave, or did he help you with the assignment? Or, did he stay and watch?”

I gulp and pray she doesn’t notice. “He—helped,” I say. It’s not a total lie, but it’s definitely a far cry from the truth.

“Jesus fuckingChrist,Ren!” she yells, slamming a clenched fist on her desk.

My body curls in on itself, my back bending and shoulders drooping forward like a young child being berated. “I know! Iknow. I didn’t know what to do?—”

“You didn’t knowwhat to do?” Catherine asks mockingly. “You always,alwaystake out a third party. I don’t care if they’re in the same line of work or not! Have you learned nothing from me?”

My body shakes and my fingertips go numb. I want out.I need to get out of here.

“I’m sorry, Catherine,” I whisper.

Her nostrils flare. I bite down harshly on my tongue until I can taste copper and pray my silence will make matters better and not worse this time.

“What happened after?”

“After?”

She rolls her eyes at me. “After you carried out the assignment.”

“Oh. Uh. We cleaned up and left. That’s it.”

Catherine glares at me, like she’s trying to break me. Actually, I know for a fact that’s exactly her intention. “You didn’t talk afterward? You didn’t meet up anywhere or make plans to do so?”

Images of Mattia sipping his margarita flash across my memory. I shake my head and will the picture of him in my head to fall back. “No. We agreed not to talk and to go our separate ways and alert our bosses. So that’s what I did.”

Catherine checks her watch. “Seems like there’s some time unaccounted for, then. Especially if you arrived at the target’s apartment around seven or so?”

I nod. “I did. We left around eight, but I… ”Shit!What should I say? I obviously can’t tell her about the restaurant, because I just lied about it, and I’m certainly not about to tell her about my anxiety attack and the puke that came from it directly after I left. “Honestly, I was in shock. I won’t lie to you. So, I walked around the city for a while to clear my head before I came here.”

The look on her face tells me she doesn’t really buy my story. I praise the powers that be when she decides not to comment and continues on with our conversation. “Tell me about him. What did he look like? Did you manage to get his name or any other details at all?”

“I didn’t g-get his name, but he had a thick accent. Italian, I think.” I stumble over my words like I’m drunk. I wish I didn’t say he was Italian. I shouldn’t have let her know about the accent, but at this point my words are racing ahead of my thoughts. “He was tall. A little taller than me. Dark wavy hair and brown eyes. He looked like he was in his late twenties.”

She nods as she listens, then begins typing at her computer. Probably looking him up or maybe just taking notes. It’s hard to know for sure. Eventually, she stops typing and leans back a little in her chair. Her hand comes up to pinch the bridge of her nose as she closes her eyes and sighs.

“There are only a small handful of agencies in our line of work in Italy. I suppose I will look into it more tomorrow and try to figure out how the hell this happened. Never in all my years of running this place have Ieverheard of something like this.”

I shouldn’t feel bad for Catherine of all people, but I guess showing compassion is in my genetic makeup. I can’t help it. “Is there anything I can do to help?”

Catherine shakes her head vehemently. “No. You’ve done enough damage in not offing the guy. Now I need to figure it out and clean up the mess.Youneed to stay out of this.”

And just like that, my compassion fades away. “Okay.”

“He didn’t give you a way to contact him?”

I shake my head.

“Good. The only thing you can do is comedirectlyto me if you happen to run into this man again, or if he finds a way to contact you. Got it?”

“Yes, Catherine.”

“Good. Now, leave. Type up your report as normal, but leave out all details of the Italian. Submit it to me in the morning in place of our usual meeting. I’ll be in touch.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

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