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In the end, Con did end up swinging by to pick up Alex. On the phone, he’d been obtuse and when she’d pressed, her partner had been reluctant to say much. But what he did say made her head spin.

Alex was so bewildered by what he’d told her that when she first got into the car, she didn’t notice his appearance.

“Martin’s dead ?”

Eyes locked on the road, Con said, “Apparent overdose. I guess things really went crazy after we split.”

Alex thought about the conversation she’d eavesdropped at the party. Martin, staunchly opposed to paying the extortion money. Ed and the others telling him to just suck it up and pay.

The anger all parties had directed at the CEO for having called in the FBI.

Alex allowed her eyes to drift over to her partner. The first thing she noticed wasn’t his face, but his hands. They were cracked and red, and Con was having difficulty just holding the steering wheel. It made her aching back feel good in comparison.

Then she looked at his face.

“Jesus, what did you get up to last night?”

Dirt streaked Con’s face, his hair had sand in it, but it was the man’s eyes that were the most concerning.

They were so bloodshot that that he could cry tears of blood.

More dirt was caked on his suit jacket and trousers.

“Just doing some gardening.” Con’s voice was dry and hoarse.

“Did you even go home?” His jaw tensed and when he didn’t answer, Alex said, “Con, you sure you’re okay to drive?”

“I’m fine.”

But he wasn’t fine.

Alex spotted a gas station off to the right and instructed him to pull over.

“Can’t. Marcus is pissed. And he doesn’t even know that we were at the party yet.”

“You have to stop. If he sees you like this, he’s just going to send you home.”

Maybe for good.

Con frowned but reluctantly stopped at the gas station. Alex dashed inside and returned moments later with a box of tissues and two bottles of water. She cracked the first bottle and handed it to him. Con drank it hungrily, not even stopping to breathe.

What the hell did you get up to?

Alex spent the next five minutes cleaning her partner up the best she could. The end result wasn’t great, but, after forcing him to remove his suit jacket, she thought his appearance was passable.

Maybe.

“Thanks,” he said.

Less than half an hour later, they pulled up outside of Martin Yeo’s mansion in the rental. There were nearly as many cars there this morning as there had been last night, but these weren’t Bugattis and Ferraris.

These were cop cars.

Alex was prepared to show her badge to gain access to the scene, but it wasn’t necessary. Marcus Allen spotted them immediately and, scowling deeply, he approached them near the base of the concrete stairs.

“You look like shit,” Marcus said, his eyes locked on Con. Then he glanced at Alex and tilted his head.

Implicit in this look was, You’re going to tell me what happened later.

Alex averted her gaze.

Sorry to break it to you, but I can’t tell you what I don’t know.

“Fucking hell,” Marcus muttered under his breath.

Con suddenly reached out and grabbed the man’s arm. Marcus took one look at Con’s cracked and bloody fingernails and aggressively pulled free.

“We were here last night,” Con said.

“Wait—what? What do you mean? You interviewed Martin? Here? At his house?”

Con opened his mouth, but no words came out. Alex could see that Marcus was reaching the end of his patience, so she stepped up.

“No, we attended the party.”

The man was confused.

“You were at the… party?”

She nodded.

“Yes. Someone is extorting— was extorting—Martin.”

“What are you talking about?”

Alex took a deep breath, collecting herself. She might not be as tired as Con but last night had taken a toll on her, too.

“We used aliases, snuck into the party. Nobody knows we were here.”

Marcus was incredulous.

“ Why? ”

“We located the films that were pirated last year. Someone spliced in clips of Adon Guerrero doing coke and spouting transphobia rhetoric. We figured that someone extorted him and so we came to the party to investigate. They all met up—Martin, Edward, Thomas, Adon.” Alex was aware that these names likely meant nothing to Marcus, but she was on a roll. “I heard them talking about how they were all being exploited, about having to pay someone 250k to take down the videos. Martin refused.”

Alex could almost see the gears inside Marcus Allen’s head working.

“Why the fuck didn’t you tell me?” The question was directed at Con.

Once again, Alex came to the rescue.

“We just found out last night. We left the party around midnight; we were planning on updating you this morning.”

Marcus’ upper lip curled.

“We’re going to talk about this. We are going to—”

“Agent Allen?” a man in uniform asked as he descended the steps.

“What?”

“I finally gained access to the security footage inside the home. I think you’re gonna want to see this.”

Marcus spun and Alex followed. It took her five steps before realizing that Con was no longer at her side.

He remained where she’d left him, his eyes locked on his phone.

“I’ll catch up,” Con said.

Alex cringed.

Maybe Marcus was right. Maybe Con was unfit for this job.

But was she? Could she solve this case on her own?

It was starting to look like she had no other choice.

Could Alex Frost, a rookie agent with zero experience, solve her first god damn case on her own?