“I’ll wait and give you a lift.”
There was that flash of annoyance again. Why did he get the impression that she wanted him gone? That she hated that he’d seen her vulnerable?
“You don’t have to. I have a few chores I want to do on the way in.”
He thought about pushing it but decided he would likely put her back up.
“I’ll tell you what. I’ll leave now as long as you agree to meet me for lunch, so I can see for myself that you’re fine.”
Her eyes narrowed as she chewed on her lower lip. Finally, she gave a curt nod. “One o’clock where you picked me up last night.”
“Okay.”
She got up. He followed her out into the hall and watched as she disappeared into the bathroom, wincing as she slammed the door. The headache was definitely gone.
…
Faith couldn’t believe he had stayed with her all night. She hadn’t put him down as the caring type. Maybe because of all the leather and tattoos. But she could remember him looking after her. He’d been kind.
And he must have been disappointed. He’d taken her home, obviously expecting a torrid sex session and instead, he got to play nurse.
On the train into work, she’d thought about calling him to cancel lunch. But she didn’t have his number, so she would have to call Ryan. Then she’d have to put up with him asking about the blackout and no doubt asking why she wanted Ash’s number. Though if Ash had called him last night, he was probably already aware that his new partner was at his old partner’s house.
And why the hell would he care anyway? There had never been anything like that between her and Ryan, and if he was partnered with Ash, he must think he was okay.
In the end, she hadn’t bothered. If she decided she didn’t want to see him, she’d stay in the office. He was hardly likely to be able to get to her through the four layers of security he’d need to clear to reach her desk.
As she made her way to her desk, she nodded to a few people she recognized. Her workstation was in a large room with four others, the spaces divided into cubicles. Yesterday, only two of them had been occupied. Hers and the one farthest away. She’d winced when he’d looked up and she’d seen the dog collar. This place appeared to be staffed by priests and ex-soldiers. It was going to be so much fun working here.
She’d bought a coffee from the bar next door, which hadn’t gone down too well with security. They’d confiscated it as though it might be poisoned or contain a bomb or a hidden camera. She bought one from the coffee machine that was past all the security. She hoped it was better than the stuff at Scotland Yard. As she put her bag in her drawer, she realized she’d forgotten her gun; she wasn’t used to carrying, and it was still in the kitchen where she’d taken it off last night.
She switched on her monitor. This morning, she planned to go over the files on Rosamund Fairfax. The witch.
Rosamund Fairfax had turned up in London fifteen years previously, but there was no connection between her and CR International until about a month ago. After the murder of Julie Foster and the abduction of Jessica.
Bummer.
Faith had been so sure that must be how she’d known about Jessica’s whereabouts. “Shit.”
“Are you talking to me?” an amused voice said. She glanced up and found the colonel standing behind her. Again.
“No, just the world in general. So any sign of that clearance yet? I could really do with access to that evidence you keep talking about.”
“Not yet. The boss is away on business right now, but we’ll get to it as soon as he’s back. So have you contacted your old partner?”
She was in a bind, because she didn’t want to lie to her new boss, but she didn’t want to involve Ryan any more than she had to.
“No. I’ve tried and it seems he’s avoiding me. I went over there, but he was apparently ‘out.’ I spoke to his new partner, and I think he might be a better way in.”
“You do?”
“Yeah, he asked me out—I’m thinking about it.”
“What was his name?”
“Ashton Delacourt.”
“Move over.”
Faith slid her chair out of the way to give the colonel more room and he typed in the name. “Nothing.”
He pressed something else and finally his thumb to the keypad. No doubt getting access to those “interesting” files. “Still nothing,” he muttered. “We have no file on the man.” He cleared his access and stepped back. “Never mind, I suggest you accept Mr. Delacourt and I’ll get our researchers working on him.”
She felt a pang of guilt as though she was handing Ash over to the bad guys. Which was plain stupid. If he hadn’t done anything wrong, they wouldn’t find anything. If he had, then he deserved whatever he got.