Meredith eyed her in the mirrored walls. Looked away.
The silent treatment? What was this?
“Meredith, whatever it is, just say it.”
“You and the PI?” Meredith sounded totally disgusted. “You told me you met him at the conference. You neglected to mention you slept with him.”
Oh, that. “Who told you Matt and I slept together?”
“That doesn’t matter. Youdidn’ttell me.”
Didn’t matter? No one from the office but her and Leo had been at the conference. “So these eyes and ears you have everywhere go by the name of Leo?”
“Leo has nothing to do with this.”
That was a bald-faced lie. “I didn’t tell you that I’d slept with Matt because it has no bearing on anything.”
The elevator compartment vibrated with Meredith’s anger. “His client is the senator! Of course it has bearing!”
“Neither one of us knew about Felicity’s bones until the morning after we slept together.”
“So you’re not continuing to see him?”
That was no one’s business. “My personal life never has and never will affect my career, Mer.” One bald-faced lie deserved another. “I promise you that.”
The long hall to the director’s office was carpeted in Federal Blue commercial carpeting. Just before they hit the end, Meredith directed Taylor into the large, well-appointed conference room next door.
The director wasn’t in attendance, but Meredith’s boss, the assistant director, was.
Marcus Cunningham skipped formalities, his steely gaze dropping to Taylor’s shoes and back up to the TV screen on the far wall. “Agent Sinclair, what have you been doing?”
The question struck her as odd. She wasn’t sure if it was rhetorical, but regardless, she felt the need to answer. “I’ve been waiting for Senator Jarvis to show up for his interview. He was due here fifteen minutes ago and hasn’t arrived yet.”
AD Cunningham pointed at the TV. “Perhaps because he’s in the middle of a press conference.”
Taylor followed his finger, realizing the 52” screen was filled with a picture that made her blood run cold. “What the hell is he doing?” she said, as much to herself as to the other two people in the room.
Cunningham turned his hard eyes on her, his lips a straight, unforgiving line. “Funny, that’s exactly what I was going to ask you.”
His attention went back to the TV where the senator was outside his home entertaining a group of reporters.
Cunningham hit a button on the remote and the mute lifted, Walt’s voice filling the room.
“The Justice Department and FBI are making my life a living hell over this while I’m in the midst of grieving a second time for Felicity. My first wife is dead, and no one will tell me if my child is as well. So while the FBI should be focused on finding Felicity’s killer, and determining what happened to my unborn son, they’re wasting taxpayer money and the nation’s time harassing a respectable, upstanding senator.”
In the background behind Walt, Ann stood in an elegant two-piece suit dabbing tears from her eyes. Her husband pounded a fist into his other hand. “I want this case resolved and I want to know who killed Felicity and what happened to our child, but I will not stand by and let the FBI harass me and my current wife because they are too lazy to go after the real criminal.”
Jarvis continued blustering, but Cunningham muted the TV once more and tossed the remote on the glass table in front of him. He intertwined his fingers and rested them on his stomach as he leaned back in the black leather chair. “Care to explain to me what the hell is going on, Sinclair?”
DNFU.Mitch’s acronym rang in her head.
Meredith crossed her arms, her face mirroring Cunningham’s. “I warned you about this. We need to solve this case and we need to do it ASAP. The thing we do not need to do is piss off the senator.”
Another black eye, that’s what Mer had called it. The first time around, the FBI had taken a beating in the media because of the high-profile case. Jarvis was playing victim to the press for the second time and upping the ante, making the Bureau look bad. Making Taylor, Meredith, and AD Cunningham look like schmucks.
Jarvis was going to be a more formidable opponent than Taylor had given him credit for.
Bring it on. Unbeknown to the good senator, his actions only confirmed Taylor’s gut instinct—the man had somehow, someway been involved in Felicity’s disappearance, and possibly her death.
