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Nico shook his head, then kissed me. “Love you, sis.”
“Love you more, brat.”
Nico walked back to his table.
I’d known Quincy Truman for years, had butted up against him several times when the FBI overstepped and I’d been hired by a defense lawyer to review discovery evidence as well as corroborate witness statements. Twice I’d found witnesses that helped the defense—witnesses that the FBI hadn’t even bothered talking to.
I didn’t like working for defense lawyers—most of the people who hired them deserved to do time. But some people were innocent. Some needed a fighting chance. I really didn’t like when the government went after people who couldn’t afford to fight back. Sometimes, innocent people got railroaded because they had no one to help them navigate the process. A fair playing field was necessary: if the defendant was guilty, throw him in jail. I had no tears for them. If the defendant was innocent, he shouldn’t have to pay tens of thousands of dollars to prove it. And when the feds stacked the deck against someone? I would knock that house of cards to the ground every chance I got.
Nico and Quincy had met through mutual friends and hit it off—Nico didn’t know that Quincy was the asshole fed that I often complained about. Probably because I used the nickname Not-So-Special Agent Dickhead. I’d hoped that once Nico knew about all the times Quincy Truman screwed with me, he’d break it off...but he didn’t. And he made it clear that if I couldn’t say anything nice, zip it.
No way would I lose my brother over anyone, especially his boyfriend.
Five minutes later, Brittney walked in—I’d been ten minutes early; Brittney was fifteen minutes late. She stopped in the middle of the bar, standing out in a bright white sundress with black piping. She smiled, chatted with people, but either didn’t see me or ignored me.
I ordered a second beer and took my drink downstairs to where Brittney’s table was reserved.
It took her ten minutes to make her way down the stairs.
“Whew! I thought I would never make it through the crowd,” she said with a half smile and fake laugh. Everything about this woman was fake. I really, really didn’t like her.
But her retainer check cleared, so that was a plus.
Almost immediately, a cocktail waitress came over and took Brittney’s order. After the woman returned with a mojito, Brittney said, “Can I see the pictures?”
“I told you on the phone that your husband was not in a compromising position.”
“So you didn’t take any pictures? How do I know you’re telling me the truth? Logan could have paid you off.”
That angered me. “You hired me. We have a contract.” I took a folder from my bag and slid it across the small table. “This is my report. Every place your husband went for the last ten days. I have not caught him in a compromising position.”
“But he did meet with another woman today!” Brittney flipped to the last page, read the paragraph under today’s date. “Jennifer White? That’s the woman he’s sleeping with?”
As calm as possible, I said, “They were fully clothed and appeared to be having a business meeting.”
“At the house he lived in before we married. Right.”
“Have you spoken to your husband at all today?”
“Yes. We had a bite to eat at home, then he said he had calls to make and I left him in his home office.”
It was interesting that Logan Monroe hadn’t told his wife he had been rendered unconscious by a yet-unknown substance. But it wasn’t relevant to why Brittney had hired me, so I didn’t put those details into the report.
“Who has a business meeting at an empty house?” Brittney demanded. She read the paragraph again. “They were inside for thirty minutes? Then they left? Together or separate?”
“Separate,” I said truthfully. “When I ID’d the woman, I learned that she had been an intern for Mr. Monroe at one of his companies a few years ago.”
“Why were they meeting?”
“They were looking at content on a laptop that Ms. White brought to the meeting, but I couldn’t see specifically what they were looking at.”
Brittney didn’t say anything for a long minute. She sipped her drink and frowned at the report.
“I want pictures.”
“There are no pictures of your husband in a compromising position with anyone, man or woman.”
“Keep following him.”
