“With extra marshmallows?”
“Always.”
I end the call and look back over the field. That wasn’t the advice I was expecting to get from Gram today. But I absolutely should have expected exactly that.
I nod. Almost like an acceptance of her advice. I’m all in when it comes to Charlie. I’m going to pursue her with my heart, my courage, and, of course, freshly brushed teeth.
CHAPTER 15
BELIEVE BUT VERIFY
CHARLIE
I’m in a conference room at the back of the CSA bullpen, just finishing up a meeting with Emerson, Kella, and Miles. Kella is going to start running some missions with Miles after two years of being a tech op, like me. Even though I never want to be a field operative, I think Kella will be great at it.
Since Jace is getting married in two days and isn’t even coming in tomorrow, I won’t be running any more missions with him until after he gets back from his honeymoon in two weeks. Until then, I’m helping out with other field operatives. Hopefully, my next two weeks will be less stressful than the last two weeks have been.
As Miles stands, he says, “If all else fails, I’ll just charm the regional security attaché.”
Kella starts gathering up her things. “When areyou going to stop being a player and settle down with someone?”
“When the regional security attaché falls hopelessly in love with me and we bond over secure comms and trust issues.”
“Ha ha,” Kella says.
“Charlie, want to stay after?” Emerson asks. “I’ve got some information for you.”
As soon as Kella and Miles leave, I ask, “About Giovanni Vitale?”
“Yes. It seems that he does, in fact, have a wife.” He taps some things on his tablet and then holds it out to me. “Is this her?”
I look closely at the image. “The picture he showed was on his phone, and since it showed her whole body, I didn’t get a close look at her face, but I think so. She looks different now. She’s got longer hair. And it’s lighter.”
“Well,” Emerson says, “I found her Instagram profile. She does a lot of gushing posts about going to the theater. I looked into her—she was born in New York and moved to a few different homes there in her childhood. She spent four years in Washington, D.C.”
I nod. “That’s where he said she grew up.”
“I guess if it was an important four years of her childhood, you could say that was true. She met Vitale while studying abroad in Florence for her Master’s program. They got married a little overtwo years later. I checked—the FBI doesn’t have anything on her. The closest thing was her grandfather for some smuggling nearly fifty years ago.”
“Huh,” I say, leaning back in my chair.
“I can’t answer anything as to why Vitale didn’t have security or an assistant with him. I did find that The Shadowridge isn’t his first time investing in a restoration project in another country. He has also funded the restoration of a historical market hall in Morocco and an opera house in Romania.
“As far as him mentioning he had business in the area—that one is thin. He does have a luxury import/export business in Alexandria, Virginia, that he could’ve been checking in on. Or he could’ve been looking into new business opportunities, or even just meeting with business associates who were also in the area. All we know was that he was in the States for a total of three days before he flew back to Italy. We don’t have anything more on him, and I checked—the CIA doesn’t, either.”
“So, he’s clean?” My voice is full of hope. Yes, that would mean I was wrong, which might mean that I can’t trust my gut as much as I thought I could, but I really want to be wrong.
“Hard to say.”
It feels right. Of course, it’s hard to tell if it feels right because I want it to feel right or because it’s actually right. I pause, try to clear my mind, and listen tomy gut. Not what Iwantmy gut to tell me, but what it’s legitimately telling me.
And I realize that it’s telling me that I was right the first time. Giovanni can’t be trusted.
“If I come across anything more, I’ll let you know.”
“Thank you.” As Emerson is gathering up his things, I say, “I asked Owen to be my plus-one at the wedding.”
Emerson gives me a high-five. “Good job. I’m proud of you, sis. I can’t wait to officially meet him.”
