Page 21 of The Devoted Game
He asked the question as if he couldn’t care less, but she didn’t miss the trace of curiosity and maybe the slightest hint of uncertainty in his tone.
“There’s been another email.”
Six
Tutwiler Hotel
The Six Sixteen Restaurant, 8:30 p.m.
“I want to know who he is.” Nadine Goodman watched the seemingly quiet conversation between Special Agent Vivian Grace and the unidentified man dining with her at a table across the dining room. Nadine knew all the agents employed by the Birmingham field office. But this man ... she studied him more closely beyond her companion’s shoulder ... was a wild card.
“He could be from another office,” Thomas Jacobs, one of Nadine’s few confidants, suggested. “Montgomery or Huntsville, perhaps.”
Nadine moved her head side to side. “No. He’s not a fed. He isn’t nearly polished enough.” She sipped her wine and considered the roguishly handsome man. “I suppose it’s possible the Byrnes hired a private investigator or one of those freelance negotiators.”
“Possibly,” Thomas agreed, “but then that theory begs the question, why would he be having a drink with a rookie? Why not with Worth or one of the more seasoned agents?”
“True.” Her friend’s point was definitely a valid one, adding another layer of mystery to the man in question.
Nadine hadn’t dealt directly with Agent Vivian Grace, but from what she had seen, the agent wasn’t exactly the sort to kiss and tell. This cozy dinner seemed quite out of character.
Though Nadine had not been formally introduced to Grace, she, like any other person representing law enforcement in Jefferson County, would know Nadine. Having come directly from the cemetery after covering Alyssa Byrne’s rescue for WKRT, Nadine had improvised a disguise by pulling her trademark long black hair into a clip and wrapping a colorful scarf around her neck to drape over the shoulders of her gold jacket. Being recognized by Agent Grace would not be a pleasant encounter. As an added precaution, Nadine had called for backup from her friend Thomas. He lived in a downtown loft and had managed to arrive before Grace had finished procuring a room for her friend.
Another of Nadine’s contacts, one who worked as a dispatcher for Magic City Cabs, had tipped her off to the pickup on Seventeenth Street. She had gotten all she was going to at the cemetery, so she had followed Grace and the gentleman. Nadine’s lips lifted into a wry smile when she considered that she was definitely using the termgentlemanloosely. He looked more pirate than gentleman.
She definitely needed to know who this man was. While this story was still hot, preferably. She looked directly at her partner in crime. “I need you to find out for me, Thomas.”
Thomas sighed. “Oh dear. I should have seen that one coming.”
Nadine settled her stemmed glass on the table and placed a hand over his. “You know I rarely ask a favor of you like this. But there’s something going on here. I can feel it. This isn’t over ...” She searched for a reasonable explanation of what she sensed, but couldn’t quite pinpoint it. “Yes, the child was rescued—from all reports, unharmed—but there’s more.” She considered the stranger again. “A lot more.”
“What makes you think I have any contacts at the Bureau?” Thomas countered, but his eyes gave him away.
The man might have a penis, but his mind was as feminine and intuitive as Nadine’s. The wheels were already turning inside that pretty blond head.
Before Nadine could pursue the exchange, Grace received a call on her cell, prompting her and her guest to leave, drinks unfinished and food untouched. Nadine considered following them, but she needn’t worry. If anything big was going down, her contact at Birmingham PD would let her know. And she was just about to land a possible contact at the Bureau. Her former contact there had retired to New England a couple of months ago. It was time to cultivate a new one.
“You have that ...” Nadine pursed her lips and tried to recall the name. “That nice-looking gentleman I saw you out with that night.” She didn’t have to mention the name of the club. He knew exactly where he’d been and with whom. “I’m certain you remember, Thomas.”
His lips twitched with the impulse to divulge explicit details. Nadine knew how he loved to go on about his conquests, but he loved the feeling of power ... of making her beg for so much more.
“I can try,” he allowed. “I make no promises, but I will try. He and I ... well, we haven’t run into each other since that night.”
Nadine glanced at the time on her cell phone. She had done the segment at the cemetery live, breaking into the regular broadcasting. As a follow-up, she would do another short segment for the ten o’clock news. For that, she would need to get to the station soon. But she could push it another fifteen minutes or so, long enough to finish her wine and seal this deal with Thomas.
She leaned forward, her more cutthroat instincts pushing good manners aside. “Remind him what the two of you shared and how you would love an encore.” It didn’t take a lot of imagination to guess what had gone down after the intense making out she had interrupted. Thomas had a voracious sexual appetite. Devoured lovers like Godiva chocolates.
A wicked gleam flashed in Thomas’s eyes as he swirled the wine in his glass. “I might be able to sweet-talk a little something out of him.”
Nadine picked up her glass once more. “I know you have your ways. I’ll trust you to make it happen.” She savored the merlot. “This is going to be big, Thomas. I can feel it.”
Seven
1000 Eighteenth Street, 10:20 p.m.
He should have had a double while he had the chance.
Ryan hated to wait. Worth had called and demanded their presence, then kept them waiting in his office for fifteen minutes.