Page 26 of Frankie and the Fed (Untamed Rascals #3)

“I wish I could tonight, but Lily is home, and I promised her a movie night like we used to do.” She looked so genuinely disappointed that it soothed the sting of rejection I shouldn’t have been feeling.

“How about Friday?” That was two days from now. Two days to figure out what the fuck was actually going on. Two days to clear Frankie’s name and end this. I just had to protect her until I was done.

I refused to think about what I had to do if she was guilty.

She wasn’t.

She couldn’t be.

“Friday is great. And then you can hear all about how much I hated the movie. She picked one of those over-hyped dinosaur movies. She has a thing for Jeff what’s-his-name.” She looked physically ill at the prospect.

“Not a fan? Not realistic enough dinosaurs?” I teased.

“That’s not even the problem. I went to grad school with a guy who is trying to make that a reality, and he will not listen to reason.

I’m going to end up on the team having to clean up his mess if he succeeds.

” Her cheeks flushed such a pretty pink, and I wondered if her other cheeks would turn that shade of pink if I spanked them.

God, not the time or place.

“Wait… if he succeeds? So, it’s possible?”

“He thinks it is.” I tried to picture Frankie wrangling live dinosaurs, and a prickle of fear ran down my spine. She would do it, and she would love it, my beautiful little chaos whore. No matter how much she was grumbling about it now.

“Well, let’s hope he never succeeds.” I reached out for her to pull her across the table and kiss her, exactly what I shouldn’t be doing right now. I stopped short and then brushed her hair back from her neck, lingering just a moment against my mark on her, feeling her racing pulse.

“He’s an idiot. Of course he won’t succeed.”She stared at me, her chest rising and falling, and I couldn’t help wishing it was from my touch alone.

“Then what is there to be worried about?” I pulled back, balling my hand into a fist so I didn’t do more.

“Nothing,” she said grumpily. Yeah, she would totally love being a Dino Wrangler.

“You’ll have to tell me all about it on Friday over chicken pot pie.”

“Definitely.” She smiled like she couldn’t wait to see me again and reached out to brush her fingers along my clenched fist.

That light touch sent shivers down my spine and had heat pooling in me.

“There you are,” a harsh voice cut through the little bubble we existed in. “You have another tour starting, and everyone is wondering where you are.” Jane, another tour guide who I’ve noticed staring a little too long at Frankie in the time I’ve been here, marched to our little table.

I plastered on my fake customer service smile and reluctantly pulled my hand back.

“Sorry, lost track of time.” I didn’t take my eyes off Frankie as I stood and caught her eye roll at Jane’s harrumph.

“See you Friday,” Frankie said.

“Can’t wait.” Reluctantly, I followed Jane out of the cafe and into the main entry hall.

“I don’t know why you bother with her. She’s so…” she didn’t finish her sentence but scrunched up her nose like the very thought of Frankie was distasteful.

I wanted to jump to defend Frankie… or throttle Jane and wipe that look off her face.

“She’s nice,” I said instead, surprising myself with my restraint.

“She’s crazy. Always going off on weird tangents and disappearing for days at a time,” she said, shaking her head.

This is good info, Jamie. You should be happy.

I took a deep breath and turned on my investigative brain.

“What kinds of tangents?” I asked when I had control of myself.

“One time she swore she saw aliens. And then there’s how she always works odd hours. Staying late. Getting here early.”

“That doesn’t sound too odd.” I ignored the bits about aliens. I already knew about her hobbies. It was part of why she was flagged as a suspect to begin with. “People work late all the time. ”

“If you insist, but I saw her arguing with Tom the other day about it.”

Which must have led to last night. Nothing I didn’t already know, but something about it settled like a rock in my stomach, refusing to move and making me vaguely nauseous.

Taggart kept redirecting me away from Tom. He said he already cleared him and that our focus needed to be on Frankie.

“Arguing?” I probed, trying not to sound too eager for information. The look she gave me said I wasn’t doing a good enough job.

“I don’t know. I just saw them talking, and then Frankie snapped at him. Whatever he said must have been exactly what she wanted to hear, because she had this smug look on her face when she stormed away. Like I said. Nutso.”

We reached the entry hall, and she left me to greet her tour group. I slid on the mask of a tour guide, pushing down the agent in me.

I was coming to hate this duplicitous part of the job. Maybe Taggart was right, and I didn’t have what it took.

I’d been so excited about this assignment. I’d fought so hard for it, doing things I never thought I would. This was supposed to be my ticket to whatever I wanted in my career.

Yet here I stood, still nowhere close to finishing this. As lost as I had been when I arrived. More so.

Meanwhile, I learned on my last check in that Mark, the bureau fuck up, had a major drug bust literally land in his lap.

He was getting the promotion I’d been working so hard for.

He didn’t even actually do anything except take a lunch break at exactly the right time.

Luck. That was all it was. Something he seemed to have in spades.

Don’t let the pressure get to you, my dad used to say when I would see other volleyball players get scholarships when I knew damn well I was working just as hard as them. It didn’t seem to matter. I wasn’t going to succeed.

I wished he were still here to coach me through this. I’d give anything to hear his voice again, encouraging me, teasing me, just talking to me.

At least the part of the tour where a paleontologist talked about their work was coming up soon, and unless I was mistaken, Frankie should be up in the rotation today.

I stamped down my worries and fears and focused on what was in front of me, hoping that I wouldn’t be pulled in two directions for much longer. I didn’t know how long I could keep this up before it tore me apart.

The words on the computer couldn’t be real. They blurred and moved but always coalesced into the same thing.

New delivery tomorrow. We are moving in on our suspect. Make the arrest if you want to save your job .

This message didn’t come through the usual channels, but it was clear Taggart sent it. A chill went down my spine at the implications.

Frankie. I had to protect her.

I pulled up her picture on the museum’s website. It was a typical bad professional photo, but I didn’t want to risk having pictures of my favorite moments with her.

I stared at it too long, willing all of this to just be done, willing her safety.

I pulled out my phone. I needed to send two messages, and one threatened to destroy me.

J: Meet me at Eclipse

I sent the first one to Taggart. I needed to talk to him in person, figure out why they were moving now.

J: I’m sorry. I have to cancel Friday. I don’t know if I can do this.

My hands shook as I typed the message to Frankie. If this mission was going to be over soon, I had to end it with her, and with what I had to do, I needed to end it with her now.

T: tomorrow. Noon.

I powered off my phone before I could torture myself with the messages from Frankie. She deserved better than a failed agent breaking up with her over text messages before she disappeared from her life forever.

Fuck.

I scrubbed my face. Tomorrow. I would get more information and then finish this fucking job.