“No. That’s not it. You don’t just stop by my apartment late at night in the middle of the week to question me about my dinner companion.”
Jim said, “The coroner said it’s inconclusive as to whether our shooter killed himself or was murdered. The angle is self-inflicting, but there’s no gunshot residue on his hands. When I showed you his picture, you hesitated. Do you know who he is?”
She wanted to tell him the truth. Jim needed the truth. So she gave him a half-truth because she had to tell him something. “I thought I might have ... you know, where you think you know someone but can’t put your finger on it. I never arrested him, I never spoke to him, but I think I’ve seen him. I can’t tell you where or when, but it was when I was a cop. I’ve been trying to figure it out, but keep drawing a blank. Maybe he just looks like someone I’ve seen.”
She assessed Jim. She hoped he believed her. If the FBI gave her the okay, she’d tell Jim that she’d seen him with her former partner, but until then, she had to play the game.
“If you remember, you’ll call me, right?”
“Of course.”
Jim hesitated, and Alex wondered why the hell he’d come here in the first place. Just to question her about her dinner with Travis Hart? As she thought about it, she realized that made no sense. It’s not like Jim had been trying to win her back for the past year. Sure, he’d been jealous when they’d been living together, but it wasn’t like he’d been stalker boy after they broke up. He visited her once in the hospital after she’d been shot, but she hadn’t seen him in months before yesterday.
Jim said, “I’ll see you around.” And he left.
That was weird. Very weird.
Her phone rang almost as soon as Jim walked out. Matt Elliott. She’d said all she wanted to, and she was going to find out a bit more about this Sharon before she decided what to do about the information, if anything. She hit decline, and took a deep breath. Of course she had to talk to him about it, figure out what was going on. If she wanted a relationship. If she believed that Travis Hart was truly guilty. Because more and more it was looking as if Matt did have a vendetta against Travis Hart for no tangible reason.
She called Dean Hooper. Though she hadn’t always been happy working undercover for the Feds, Hooper had always been straight with her. If anyone was unbiased in this situation, it was him.
“Hooper,” he answered the phone on the second ring.
“This is Alexandra Morgan. I’m sorry for calling so late.”
“No apologies necessary. Is something wrong?”
“No, but I have some information. I had dinner with Hart tonight—he offered me a job as his head of security. Wants me to work for him, do his advance work, act as his bodyguard in public.”
“That’s fabulous. But—would you be comfortable going that deep undercover? It won’t be easy.”
“I don’t expect easy. He wants an answer by five tomorrow.”
“Would you be willing?”
“Yes—but I need to know exactly what you have on Hart and why you believe he’s criminally involved with Sergei Rykov.”
“We should talk about this in person, Alex.”
“I agree.”
“Is something wrong?”
“I don’t know. Hart had some unflattering things to say about Matt Elliott.”
“How did Matt’s name come up?”
“We were talking about past careers, about his case files that he’s going through to look for a possible suspect. Detective Jefferson is fairly certain that it’s someone from Hart’s past that wants to kill him, a criminal or victim who blames him for whatever. And Jefferson has good instincts, it’s the first thing I’d look at if I were investigating. Hart talked about his campaign against Matt for D.A., and then about their history when they both were new prosecutors.”
“And that disturbed you? Do you think he knows about your relationship with Matt?”
Was it that obvious? “No, but it seems to me that this investigation into Travis Hart is solely at the behest of Matt Elliott, and that they may have more personal issues than professional ones.”
“Explain.”
“Hart claims that he and Matt were involved in a love triangle of sorts with their law clerk, that the girl picked Hart over Matt and Matt turned vindictive.”
“And you believe him.”