Page 4 of Run for Her Life
Before Lisa could reply, Toby rolled his eyes. “Tell him to stay put and let us do our jobs. Jesus Christ.”
Lisa pursed her lips in disapproval, but she didn’t chide him. She felt it too—the mundaneness of this colorless brick building blunting her thoughts and curiosity. Sometimes she wondered if she was living the same day over and over again. It was locking up one sallow-skinned, scab-covered man with greasy, patchy hair and arms covered in clusters of dark dots after another. She knew them by name, knew more about them than their pillaged brains did.
But this deputy was young and hungry. He was yet to learn that life only got worse as time went by.
“She’s an adult and there is no evidence of foul play. We will wait out the standard twenty-four-hour period since her last sighting,” she explained gently. “Just tell him that.”
The deputy looked disappointed as he left the office.
“Ah, young blood,” Toby said. “The only form of entertainment around here.”
Lisa swallowed her pills. “We should bring back hazing. Just to kill some time.” She flipped open the dispatcher’s report on the call.
The woman’s name popped out—Annabelle Stevens. Lisa liked the name and added it to her list. When her phone buzzed with a notification, she saw it was an email from the clinic.
Dear Mrs. Gray,
We hope this email finds you well. Your recent fertility test results from Horizon Fertility Clinic are now available. At this time, we would like to discuss your results with you. Please use the link below to schedule an appointment…
Her vision blurred as she was unable to read the following words. They wanted her to call, which probably meant that the results were bad. A prickle formed in her heart.
How was she going to break the news to her husband?
Zoe opened a box of donuts lathered in chocolate sauce and icing and brandished it under Simon’s nose, which was buried in a file.
He took a deep whiff and looked up. His eyes gleamed with a lazy debauchery. “What do you want?”
She knew Simon’s biggest weakness, as it was hers too. Sugar. It was the reason the two had bonded at Quantico when she was training and he was a guest lecturer.
“A favor.”
“I figured.” He reached for the box, but she whipped it away and planted herself on the chair across from him. “You’re never just nice to me for no reason.”
She flashed him an exaggerated smile. “I am, but a bribe goes a long way. Surely, you’ve learned that as the special agent in charge here.”
He chuckled. “Okay, give it to me.”
“Viktor Axenov. Do you know the name?” She kept her expression passive. Simon didn’t know what had transpired a month ago at Harborwood and she had no intention of telling him. He liked her—a little too much—something that turned her stomach since he was married.
He thought about it. “No. Should I?”
“Can you look into him?” She had tracked down his name from a bus ticket in Harborwood but there was no record of him in the FBI database. “I need anything on him. And I know you have access to a lot more resources than I do.”
“Okay…” Simon’s eyes narrowed as he twisted on his chair. “This is the part where you tell me why.”
“This is the part where I tell you it’s personal.”
“Come on, Z.”
Warmth trickled down her spine when he called her by her nickname, like he did when they were together many years ago. “Please. It’s for Gina. My sister. Something’s going on. Nothing super serious. But I can’t find anything on him. Anything would do. Other than his name, of course.”
He blinked and shifted in his seat. “All right. I’ll do it.” He scribbled the name on a notepad. “Sounds like the name of a Russian mobster. Is Gina’s bakery a front for the KGB?”
“The KGB dissolved in 1991.”
“Or did it?” His eyes widened.
She snickered. Simon appeared more relaxed to her. She tried not to think too much about why he was in a good moodeven though his wife, Nancy, had asked to spend some time apart. Deep down she knew the answer. She knew why Nancy had left. She knew how Simon looked at Zoe and it left her brimming with both shame and pity.
