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“Awesome.And thank you.I really appreciate you doing this for me.You’re a good friend.”

“I try.How’s the Dart Gun case going?”

She grimaced.“Please don’t give this killer a name.”

“It will remain in between us, but I don’t know, the shorthand is growing on me.”

Faith rolled her eyes.“Well, with any luck, he’s in custody right now.”

“Oh yeah?Already?”

“With any luck.We have a disgruntled former K9 instructor who lost his business after our two witnesses reported him for animal cruelty.He’s stewing in the interrogation room right now.”

“Ooh, yum.I love murderer stew.”

She chuckled.“Try that one on Ellie later.I’m sure she’ll appreciate that more than I did.”

“Yeah, I’m kind of in the hot seat with her.She didn’t like me putting my career at risk sneaking around with this.”

Faith’s smile vanished.“Yeah, I don’t blame her.And you really shouldn’t have.I appreciate it, but—”

“Oh, go to hell.You’d have done the same thing for me.Ellie wants me to quit the FBI and get a job bagging groceries or taking drive-thru orders because it’s safer than what I do now.She understands that I’m not going to do that, and I understand that I can’t make her any happier about the job I have.So we compromise.That’s how marriages work.”

“I see.Thank you so much for the marriage counseling.”

“Have you talked to David recently?”

She rolled her eyes.“Yes, we talk at night before I go to sleep.Would you like to hear all of the spicy details?”

"And get in even more trouble with Ellie?No, thank you.Just making sure you're not forgetting about the poor guy."

She felt a touch of irritation at that.She’d shared some of her fears about her relationship with Michael, and now she was regretting that.“I’m not.We’ve worked through all of the stuff I told you earlier.We’re good now.”

That was a lie, but she didn’t want to have this conversation right now.

“Good.I wasn’t trying to bring up old news.Just making conversation.I miss you.”

She relaxed a little.“I miss you too.It’s a lot harder working cases without you here to question every decision I make.I’m not even being completely sarcastic when I say that.”

“It helps to have a devil’s advocate.I miss having a little firecracker ready to explode any time there’s even a hint of a lead.”

She smiled wryly.“You probably don’t want to call me a firecracker in front of anyone else.”

“Oh, whatever.I’m too old to censor my speech anymore.Everyone else can censor their mind.”

She chuckled.“That’s a difficult thing to do around you.”

“That didn’t come out the way you thought it did, but I can tell you’re a little distracted, so let’s just say I was really embarrassed by your excellent zinger.”

“Thank you.I appreciate that.”

“All right.Take care, Faith.Seriously.And good luck on this case.Once you wrap it up, you’ll be able to make a strong case for coming back to Philadelphia.”

“You think so?You don’t think Gardner will try to pawn me off on another field office?”

“Between you and me, I think Gardner’s days here are numbered.She’s a good agent, but the cracks are showing.I’m pretty sure a lot of the reason she doesn’t like you is because your actions are exposing that.The Boss knew how to manage you to keep you within shouting distance of FBI policy while still allowing you to take your own approach to solving crimes.Gardner doesn’t know how to adjust her style to her agents, and that’s taking a toll.Did you know she’s having us do bullpens?”

“Seriously?Like in cop shows?”