Why was she important? In all the years he’d spent with the Bureau, he’d never had a problem with someone deleting files. No. This was deliberate. It might be a rabbit hole when it came to Evans, but something about it was making his every instinct light up.
Sean walked out, yawning but already dressed for the day. He had his knives rolled up and in his left hand. “Jersey Carl is swimming with the fishes and hopefully catching a nice current toward the North Atlantic. I have to head in early. I’m going to talk to some of the dishwashers and see if I can get anything out of them about the upcoming meet spot. Chazz talks a lot, and he doesn’t understand that most of these guys have picked up some English. He talks in front of them like they’re not there. Call me if you need anything.”
“Like breakfast?” Adam asked.
“Ain’t happening today.” Sean shut the door behind him.
Eve walked out of the back of the condo wearing pajama bottoms and a T-shirt that couldn’t hide the fact that she wasn’t wearing a bra. Her hair was up in a haphazard bun and she had little fuzzy pink flip-flops on her feet. She wore no makeup, and he’d never seen her more beautiful. Even after all the sex from the night before, his cock was at full attention the minute she entered a room. “Where did Sean go?”
“To get some information from his staff. He thinks they might know more than they’re saying. What’s your take on Carmen Garcia?” Alex asked, walking to the coffee maker to get it started.
“I don’t know. There are only so many reasons a girl with her money and ties to the community would go to a free clinic if she wasn’t volunteering. My bet is she didn’t want her people to know she needed the services of an ob-gyn. She was pregnant. Whether she was looking for confirmation of the pregnancy or she was seeking to terminate it, we may never know.”
“But why does it matter? Why delete her file?” He fumbled with the storage case at the bottom of the coffeemaker. It was completely empty. “Damn it, Adam.”
“Sorry. I was up all night. I needed fuel.” Adam was lost in a tangle of wires that ran from various computers.
Eve needed coffee. She was a little touchy until she’d had her morning joe. And now it was Alex’s formal job again to make sure she got it. “I’ll go buy some.”
A soft hand touched his back and then he felt her all along his spine, her face resting against his shoulder blade. “Don’t, babe. There’s a common area downstairs. Kristen showed it to me. There’s one of those single cup coffee makers. I’ll go and make a cup.”
“I can do it.” Taking care of her was his job, and now that she was allowing him to, he intended to take it damn seriously.
She giggled a little. “Alex, you don’t know how to work one. I could be standing up here slowly dying of caffeine deficiency for hours. Besides, I could use the little walk to wake myself up. Someone tired me out last night.”
He turned and had his lips on hers in a heartbeat. He tangled his hands in her hair, unloosing that bun, and gave her a proper good-morning kiss. “I’ll tire you out again tonight, angel.” He let his forehead rest against hers. “One way or another, this is all over in a couple of days.”
If Evans showed, Alex would try to take him down. If he didn’t, he was going to turn everything over to someone else because he didn’t want Eve in danger and Eve wouldn’t leave him, ergo he was off this case and soon.
Maybe it was time to let Ian just assassinate the fucker.
“I know.” She got on her tiptoes. “I’ll be back in a second. Why don’t you make me some toast?”
He could do that. It was about all he could do in the kitchen, but he could use a toaster. “Okay.”
She turned and started out of the condo. He heard the elevator ding as she went down.
He went to the fridge as his mind pondered the possibilities.
There had been an awful lot of chance that went Evans’s way. He’d eluded capture multiple times when Alex should have had the man. Once, twice, he could deal with that, but he’d had prime information on Evans’s movements right after the DC bombing. He’d found his hideout and Evans was gone, a cigarette still smoking in an ashtray as though he’d known exactly when to bail out.
And then there was the escape. He could still remember how he’d felt when Warren had called to tell him that Evans was on the loose.
Chazz had been in that jail. He’d been pulled out of the actual cell when the bedding was brought in, but he’d been housed with Evans for weeks. He very likely knew exactly how Evans had escaped.
He might know if there was a connection between Evans and Carmen Garcia.
He might know if there was a connection between Evans and someone on his old team.
Was he ready to go heavy on Chazz? Right before Evans got here?
Did he have a choice?
“You are deep in thought. Are you trying to cook the eggs with your brain?” Adam asked.
Alex turned to him. “I need you to look into the members of my old team. The ones who are still alive. You’re looking for any connection between Carmen Garcia and anyone in the FBI.”