Page 7 of Skin In the Game (The BlackWater)

It had been two weeks. Two weeks since Evans had played the god damn hero and two weeks since all four girls had been rescued.

Sure Maddie was happy they were safe, happy that they were finally home but the fall out had been something she wouldn’t forget in a hurry. Thanks to Evans none of the evidence was admissible. He’d had no cause to break down the door, no cause to have done anything but just sit and watch and now they had a fight on their hands to make a case that was watertight enough to send the perp away for any decent amount of time. And the families that had employed them were more than happy to kick off about it.

At least everyone knew she hadn’t been involved, that she hadn’t authorised it but it didn’t stop her anger. Her rage. Because it was her team, her agent that had fucked up and as far as she was concerned she was responsible for it. Add to that was the fact that half the office were giving her sympathetic looks whenever she caught their eye. Sure it was nice to have their support but damn it, she didn’t need everyone to be acting like she was about to cry. She was tough, she could handle it and when Holden had called her in for a meeting with Curtis she was more than ready to face it.

She’d held her own, she’d gone through everything, answered all their questions and she left feeling at least confident that it was over.

But then Cole Black kept appearing.

Like a bad odour.

Every time she thought it was over, he’d be there, in his smart suits and his smart shoes, and his smart haircut waltzing around and she gritted her teeth, staring at her screen, keeping her head down.

“Cooper.” Holden called out across the office and she looked up from the surveillance footage she’d been staring at for what had felt like hours. He nodded his head to follow and she got up feeling everyone’s eyes on her.

“Yes sir?” She asked as she walked into his office.

“I want you to take on the Anderson Case.” He said half throwing it as her and she frowned as she caught it.

“I thought that was fraud?” She replied.

“It was but it’s got a little complex.” He said.

“How so?” She asked back.

“Read the file Cooper. It’s all there.” He replied not even looking up at her.

“Yes sir.” She said.

“And take McCullough with you.” He added as she started to turn away from him.

“The new guy?” She asked. Why the hell did he want her to take him on? She thought but then she realised; he was punishing her. She gritted her teeth, ignoring the annoyance she felt because it wasn’t like she could do anything about it was it?

“Yeah, he’s gotta start somewhere, might as well start with you.” He said and she nodded before walking out.

She sat at her desk and flicked through the papers in front of her. This was a punishment, she thought, the case, the new guy, all of it. It had to be. No matter how complex the Anderson File was it was still fraud and that meant nothing but following a paper trail. She gritted her teeth.

“McCullough.” She said loudly and the man half jumped as he turned to look at her. “You’re on this case, pull up a chair. I want you to take notes…”

“Yes sir.” He said and then he froze as if he’d realised what he said too late. It felt like half the office snickered and she saw him flush bright red.

“Grab a seat.” She said smiling. She wasn’t a tough Team Lead except when she needed to be and in reality she felt sorry for the guy. He wasn’t really agent material but his uncles, cousins god knows who had pulled strings and now he was here in her team. Half the office had given him a tough time, had sent him off on bullshit joke errands and she felt for the guy. He couldn’t help who his family was and he clearly just wanted to prove himself.

She grabbed a pen and paper from her desk chucking it at him and started pulling apart the file, noting anything that might be relevant.

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