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Faith managed to keep her cool until they reached the parking lot. As soon as the door to the field office closed behind them, she whirled on Michael.

“Did you know about this?”

Michael sighed. “You want to talk about this over lunch, or would you rather scream at me in full view of the security cameras Gardner reviews every day?”

Faith took a deep breath. “Okay. Lunch it is.”

Turk’s ears perked up, and in spite of her anger, Faith felt the ghost of a smile come to her lips. “Yes, Turk, Michael is going to buy us lunch.”

Turk wagged his tail happily and nuzzled Michael. “Yes, Turk,” Michael said drily. “I guess I’m going to buy you lunch.”

“It’s the least you can do,” Faith said.

“Hey, you’re the one who went no contact after we found the Boss.”

“I didn’t… Ugh. Lunch, Michael. Not in front of the cameras.”

“Sounds good.”

Michael led them to his car—a much newer and much larger Jeep SUV. As they pulled out into traffic, Faith realized she would have to return to the office to get her car before she left for her friend’s place, a fact she hadn’t considered when Michael asked her to lunch. “What time does Gardner leave?”

Michael chuckled. “She’s an ASAC with three years of experience who just got assigned to the most celebrated field office in the Bureau. She had it hidden while Smythe was there, but she has a cot in her office.”

Faith pressed her lips together. “Lovely. You don’t think she’ll try to give me a pep talk, do you?”

He shook her head. “I think she’ll be very grateful to interact with you as little as possible until they find someone to take her place.”

“So you don’t think she’ll stay?”

“No. She’s at least two years from being considered for SAC, and when she is, they’ll start her at a nice easy office. San Angelo or Lebanon.”

“Lebanon?”

“Missouri.”

“Ah. I have no idea where either of those places are.”

“Exactly. From what I’ve read about Gardner, she’s competent, by the book and doesn’t make waves.”

Faith scoffed. “No wonder Smythe wants her here.”

Michael accelerated onto the freeway. “Yep. This office just experienced the worst loss in its history. Putting someone here who would try to run the office like their own little fiefdom is the opposite of what we need.”

Faith glanced sideways at him. “You like her, don’t you?”

He shrugged. “She’s a band-aid. I don’t feel about her one way or the other.”

She frowned. “Still, I feel like they could have promoted from within. Maybe Desrouleaux or maybe you.”

“They won’t pull Desrouleaux off of the Messenger case. And they want me with you because we’re the winningest team in Bureau history. Besides, neither of us have been ASACs, and I’ve been a supervisory agent in nothing more than name.”

Faith’s frown deepened. “Right. When the Wall needed someone with authority to babysit me.”

“If you’d listen, you wouldn’t need a babysitter.”

Faith took another deep breath. "So, was this your idea?"

"The suspension? No, but I agree with it. And deep down, I think you do too, or you would have fought it a lot harder. Ditto the safe house."

She whirled on him. “I do not agree to being moved a thousand miles away.”

“It was supposed to be two thousand until you appealed to Smythe’s desire to make you not the Bureau’s problem.”

“So that’s what this is? Step one to my dismissal?”

“That depends on you, Faith. Try to step outside of yourself for a second. You just lost a friend and mentor who—let’s be honest—shielded you from a lot of the consequences every agent not named Bold would have suffered had they taken the actions you’ve taken. And before you get pissy with me, I’m just as broken up about the Boss’s death as you are. That’s why I’m not arguing my administrative assignment. I am in no shape to go into the field right now. Neither are you. So let’s both accept that.”

“Yeah, but you’re not being sent away.”

“You know why they’re sending you away.”

“Yeah, but…” she took another deep breath. “Yes. I understand the Bureau’s reasoning, and I understand that in most cases, this would absolutely be the right decision. But this isn’t most cases. You know that this killer will keep escalating until he sees me pay attention to him. How many more people die before the Bureau figures it out? You? David? Ellie?”

“I am very well aware of the risks,” Michael assured her. “And I even agree with you that at some point, we need to change our approach to the Messenger. But in order to do that effectively, you need to be at one hundred percent.”

“I’m never going to be at a hundred percent! That’s what this killer is counting on!”

“And if you make a mistake with him like you made with West, you might end up looking like the Boss.”

An image of the Boss’s body flashed across Faith’s mind. She shivered and looked out the passenger window just in time to see Michael exit the freeway. She recognized the exit. “That donut place?”

“They also sell croissanwiches,” he said. “You want me to buy, we eat where I want to eat.”

“No, that’s fine. I could actually go for a donut right now.”

“Try the maple bacon. I swear it’s to die for.”

She glared at him. “Lovely choice of words.”

His smile faded. “Yeah. I’ve never been one for thinking before I speak.”

Faith shook her head. “I just hate that he’s winning. We’re not giving him what he wants, but he can keep hurting us until we give him what he wants. We’re running out of time to lure him out. Pretty soon we’ll just be appeasing him.”

“I know.”

“Then why? Why send me away? Am I worth that much?”

“Yes.”

“Bullshit.”

“Go to Hell,” Michael countered with a lot more force than Faith expected. “People care about you, Faith. I care about you. I don’t want you to die. If I thought you were in a place to fight this guy, I’d hide you in my basement and have Ellie dye your hair black so you can go fight him. But you aren’t. You’ll make mistakes, and the Messenger will capitalize on them. And then you’ll end up dead, and that’s not something I will allow. Be mad at me if you want, but I’m not going to let you die.”

Faith looked at Michael’s eyes as he pulled the SUV into the parking lot of Night Owl Donuts. There was real fear in them, and real affection. The affection reminded her of the way he used to look at her when they were dating.

It had been years since their relationship ended, but there were times when Faith felt a glimmer of the feelings she once had. This was one of those times.

She had learned the hard way that there was no going back. Michael was happily married, and even if Faith wasn’t looking to marry David, she still loved being his girlfriend. She and Michael were best friends, and that was all they could ever be.

But every once in a while, those feelings came back, and she allowed herself to wonder.

“It was your idea,” she said softly. No anger, no accusation, just fact.

He sighed deeply and nodded. “Yes. I brought up the threat the Messenger poses to you and suggested that for the time being, you be sent somewhere out of his reach. Not for the duration of the case, but I can talk them out of that once the fallout from the Boss’s murder fades away.”

Faith nodded. “Okay.”

He raised an eyebrow. “Okay?”

“Okay. If you think this is the right decision for me, then I trust you. I’ll go away for a while and wait until I’m ready to come back.”

He stared at her incredulously. “I don’t know who the hell you are, but you better find the real Faith Bold ASAP or we’re gonna have a problem.”

She rolled her eyes and shoved him playfully. “Come on. Get out of the car. I’m hungry.”

Turk barked support for her admonition, and the three of them made their way inside the donut shop. Michael ordered a biscuit sandwich and his ungodly combination of maple, bacon, and donut, and Faith ordered a croissanwich, a coffee, and a normal chocolate ring donut with no meat or salt to ruin a perfectly good sweet treat.

Turk got a plain ring donut and a ham and cheese sandwich. He wolfed both of them down eagerly, then whined plaintively for more.

“No,” Faith said. “The last time I gave you food like this, you stunk the whole apartment up.”

Michael grinned. “Just keep the windows down while you drive. I assume you’re not leaving your car here.”

“You assume right. The drive will be my catharsis.”

“Not your friend?”

“No, that will be reminiscing about the good old days.”

“Ah, so a Marine buddy.”

She nodded. “First Sergeant Delroy.”

“Ooh, a sexy older Marine buddy.”

“Should I tell David you said that?” Faith said drily. “Besides, you don’t know that it’s a he.”

“It’s a he.”

“How do you know?”

“You get along better with guys than girls.”

She chuckled. “How enlightened of you.”

“I’m a detective, not a social worker. You like guys because most guys are intimidated by your stern, take-no-prisoners attitude, so they leave you alone.”

“Before you make a horribly broad generalization about most girls, I should point out that Delroy isn’t intimidated by anything.”

He grinned. “I’ll bet he isn’t.”

She rolled her eyes. “I’m not sure what dirty joke you were trying to make, but I’m visiting First Sergeant because I haven’t seen him in a while, he’s retired now, and if anyone comes trying to kill me in his presence, he’ll rip them into strips.”

“Wow. Well, if you catch him dismembering any unfortunate murderers, take video and send it to me.”

“Will do.”

Her smile faded slightly. Michael reached across the table and squeezed her hand. “Hey. It’s gonna be okay. We’ve dealt with worse.”

She sighed. “I’m getting sick of telling myself that.”

He looked over her shoulder at the fading dusk. “Yeah. Me too.”

They finished their meals, then Michael dropped her off at the station. She picked up her car and texted David goodbye. She had a go bag in the car with changes of clothing, toiletries, and cash, so she didn’t need to stop by her apartment. She felt a little guilty about leaving without seeing David in person, but if she stopped, she’d spend the night, and if she did that, she might wake up in the morning determined not to leave at all.

So, she pulled onto the freeway and headed east, away from her home, away from her friends, and hopefully away from the grasp of a crazed killer who sent messages to her using the blood of his victims.