Page 30 of Dichotomy

Her eyes widened briefly as I pressed my key into her palm. The old office building we were in didn’t have electronic locks, just regular keys. We had definitely rushed in getting it set up, which only added more suspicion to the case’s circumstances.

“You’re very welcome, Dominic,” she said, sliding her hand to her side and palming the key in a move so smooth that I would have never seen it if I hadn’t been the one to give it to her. I knew I was taking a risk, but my gut told me she could be trusted.

“Mr. Cross.” I nodded at Adrian, who nodded stiffly back at me.

“Evelyn.” I nodded at her and then left them in the lobby.

With one part of my plan in motion, it was now time to see if I could figure out why the director was here.

I walked back down the hallway, headed for the interrogation room. Almost unconsciously, I slowed and softened my steps as I approached the cracked door.

“It’s not enough. We need more.” The director’s voice was low and urgent.

“I know, sir. I’m trying. They have to know we’re on to them, though.” Mike’s nasally whine was distinctive.

“I don’t care how you prove it’s her, just do it.”

“Hey, Agent Hayes. How are you?” An officer greeted me as he walked past.

I grimaced but quickly pasted on a smile.

“I’m good, Officer Jeffries. How’s your day going?”

“Pretty steady. You have a good one now. See you tonight.” The sports bar we were going to was a favorite hangout for cops.

With my cover blown, I pushed open the door.

“Ah, Agent Hayes, we were just talking about the case.” Director Keller looked up from his phone. “You all are doing good work.”

“Thank you, sir, just trying to get to the truth,” I said simply, folding my arms over my chest.

Director Keller smiled, but his eyes remained cold. “It looks like you’ve already discovered the truth. Now you just need the evidence to make it stick.”

My brow furrowed, but I kept my thoughts to myself. That was not how cases worked. Or not how they were supposed to work. My father had always cautioned me to not get locked onto a single person too quickly.“That’s how innocent people go to jail,”he used to say.“Work the case, not the suspect.”

“Well, I have to get back to DC,” the director announced. “I want daily updates, though.”

Daily updates? Standard protocol was weekly updates, especially when a case was this early. The more I paid attention, the more things weren’t adding up. I just hoped that Evelyn could put the pieces together better than I could.

CHAPTER 15

EVELYN

The key weighed heavily against my palm, and my focus narrowed to the small object as I smoothly slid it into my pocket.

“Mr. Cross.” Dominic nodded at Adrian, who nodded back at him. I wasn’t sure if Adrian saw the handoff, but I didn’t call attention to it just yet. We had to get out of the station first.

“Evelyn.” Dominic nodded at me, his deep brown eyes searching mine.

Why had he given me the key? The key to their offices, I was assuming, from his subtle messaging earlier. What did he want us to find? Or was it a trap? He seemed as shocked as I was to see the director of the FIA, Thomas Keller, there earlier. And his admission that he didn’t know what the evidence was was also telling. Was the FIA under someone else’s thumb? I wasn’t naïve to think the FIA wasn’t without corruption, but for it to go all the way up to the director level… Well, that was a whole new level of complicated.

“What did he hand you?” Adrian murmured as he placed a hand on my lower back and guided me out of the station and down the steps. So he had seen the handoff.

“Not here,” I murmured. I groaned when I saw who was leaning against the SUV idling on the curb. “Really?”

Alexander, Marcus, and Sebastian straightened as I approached, and I smiled tightly at them. “Mr. Stones, what are you doing here?”

Showing up here was a terrible idea. It was already suspicious enough that SDS’s head of security escorted me to the police station, but for the three owners to show up? We had too many eyes on us for all three of them to be waiting on me.