"You should believe me, because it's true. Do you remember when I asked you about a woman named Sabrina Lin?"
"Yes. The woman who called the office looking for you and ended up dead in the park. I remember. Why?"
"Well, she apparently did speak to someone in the office, someone who told her that the information she had regarding an old murder at Westbridge University wasn't of interest to the Bureau. You said she refused to talk to anyone but me and hung up. I'm confused as to who she had a conversation with."
"How do you know she talked to anyone else?"
"I have credible information that she did," he said carefully. "Any thoughts?"
She considered his question, not looking particularly concerned. "There were a couple of other agents in the office when I took the call. Bill and James were there. I think Bill asked me who I was talking to, and I said it was a woman wanting to speak to you. I didn't give him her name or number."
"But her number would have been logged into our system," he said.
"Sure, but I don’t know why he would have bothered to look it up. He didn't act that interested, and she didn't say why she wanted to talk to you." Shari paused. "Although Bill was always jealous of you getting the big cases. Maybe he thought this was an opportunity. What's going on?"
"I'm not sure, but something isn't adding up."
"All I know is that she asked for you, and I said you weren't there. She didn't want to speak to anyone else and hung up. Can you tell me more about what's going on? You mentioned a murder at Westbridge?"
"Yeah, it happened about six years ago."
"And that case is connected to the woman who called, the woman in the park."
"It looks that way."
"If I can help, I will. We may not be officially working together anymore, but you always had my back, and I had yours. I would like to hope that hasn't changed, Matt."
"It hasn't."
Relief entered her eyes. "Good. I'm going to miss working with you. I know you were frustrated with the lack of support on our last case. I hope you get more of that with Flynn's group."
"I hope so, too." He paused, giving her a speculative look. "Why are you really here?"
She gave him sly smile. "You know me too well. I'm working on something I can't talk about now that we're no longer partners. I guess neither one of us can be completely open anymore. That will take some getting used to. Before I go, tell me about Haley. Who is she?"
"She's a reporter at theSentinel."
"You're dating a reporter?" she asked with surprise.
"I said we were friends. I didn't say we were dating."
"Maybe that's just as well. It's difficult to believe an FBI agent and a reporter can have a relationship when one will surely want to ask questions the other can't answer."
"Like I said, she's a friend."
"Too bad. It's about time you had a woman in your life." Shari gave him a smile and a playful pat on the shoulder. "I'll see you around."
As Shari moved away, Haley returned with two glasses of sparkling water.
"I didn't know if you wanted something alcoholic, but I thought you might be thirsty," she said.
"This is perfect. Thanks," he said as he took the glass from her hand.
"I also thought you might want a moment alone with your ex-partner. That she might tell you something if I wasn't standing right next to you."
"Unfortunately, she did not. She still claims she told Sabrina I wasn't there and that was the end of the call, but she did mention there were other agents in the room, so I don't know. It doesn't add up, but I've never had a reason to doubt Shari. We worked together for a year."
"Does it seem odd to you that she's here, though?"
