Page 91 of Hacking the Holidays
“That Eleanor’s your partner, and the other half of Good Sam? Yes.” Zara shook her head in amazement. “She completely fooled me. Sweet, motherly Eleanor with her reading glasses and her cookies. That’s why she was making copies of your Santa contact forms.”
“She’s good at what she does.”
“No kidding. I had no sense of her involvement until she walked into my hotel room with a laptop full of evidence and said, ‘I believe you’re trying to help Sam. Let me show you how.’”
“Please tell me Eleanor wasn’t arrested,” I said, holding my breath.
Zara shook her head. “No, but she didn’t want to take a chance, so she crossed over into Canada before someone could stop her. Someone is already filling in for her at the library.”
I was sure Canada was just a pit stop. Eleanor was probably sipping something tropical in Costa Rica by now. She had always talked about retiring there, especially since she owned a beachfront property on the Caribbean side, near Punta Uva.
“She said to tell you the work continues,” Zara added. “And that you’d know what to do.”
Eleanor was one of the kindest and most selfless people I knew. She had exposed herself to save me, and then just disappeared.
“What happened to Beverly?” I asked.
“That’s where it gets wild.” Zara’s expression turned almost gleeful. “Once I had the evidence, I went straight to the U.S. Attorney’s office—bypassed the FBI completely. Showed them the Kaiserhof footage, the financial trail, everything. Beverly was arrested within six hours.”
“And?”
“She cut a deal immediately. Started singing like acanary.” Zara’s smile turned sharp. “She even threw my supervisor, Agent Marcus Thorne, under the bus.”
“Thorne was involved? How?”
“He had been having an affair with Beverly for over a year, and he wanted in on the deal.” Zara’s voice went flat. “Ironic, since she accusedmeof sleeping my way into the FBI. Meanwhile, she’s having an affair with our married boss. Anyway, the whole thing collapsed like dominoes. Beverly flipped on Thorne. Thorne flipped on Whitmore. Whitmore flipped on Badges. Everyone was scrambling to save themselves.” She let out a bitter laugh. “I guess I got the last laugh with Babbs.”
“Wait, who is Babbs?” I asked, completely confused.
“Sorry, I’ve been calling her Beverly this whole time, but that’s her undercover name. Her real name is Barbie Babbs.”
“Unbelievable,” I said, shaking my head.
“I know,” Zara said. “I can’t believe how this went down, plus that my supervising agent was in on it. I had no idea.”
“No, I mean, I can’t believe her real name is Barbie,” I said.
Zara burst out laughing—the kind of laugh that sounded like releasing two days of tension all at once. “That’swhat surprises you most out of all this?” Zara shook her head, still laughing. “Not the conspiracy, not the corruption, not the federal officials going to prison—just that Beverly’s real name is Barbie?”
“I mean …” I gestured helplessly. “What kind of parents name their kid Barbie?”
“Very optimistic ones.” Zara wiped tears from her eyes. “I needed a good laugh. Thank you.”
“Anytime.” I reached over and squeezed her hand. “So, what happens next?”
“Well, Babbs will probably get a reduced sentence if she keeps cooperating, and Thorne is looking at?—”
“No, I mean withus.” I turned to face her. “What happens with us? Do you have to go back to Seattle?”
Zara’s smile faded into something more serious, then she shrugged. “Actually, I’m kind of unemployed at the moment.”
My stomach dropped. “Wait—they fired you? That’s complete?—”
“I quit.” She said it simply, like it was the easiest decision in the world. “I’ve been thinking that maybe it’s time for a change. New town. New career. New start.”
My heart kicked into a faster rhythm. “What kind of new start are you talking about? And what new town? Please tell me it starts withLeavenand ends withWorth.”
She nodded. “It does. I’m done with working in a dark corner of an old building with a fake ficus tree as my companion. I want light. I want you.” Zara bit her lip, then added, “What do you think?”
