the Nick checklist? He could compartmentalize. That was a trait she’d used tenfold while undercover. It was one she valued in their line of work but hadn’t often seen.
“I don’t know what we should do, really,” she answered, body already loosening. “What I do know is that confronting Cass could go sideways on us quick.”
Nick agreed. “If she’s mixed up in any way to either Moretti or whoever is pulling the serious strings, then having our personal tech guru know we’re on to her could make us the vulnerable ones.” He shook his head. “Cass is a serious asset to our team. I don’t want to have her against us. At least, not with the notion she has nothing else to lose.” A new thought occurred to the agent. “You don’t think she had a hand in Mei’s death?”
Lara shook her head adamantly. “No, Cass wouldn’t kill someone. She may instigate and help perpetuate mind games, but killing someone in cold blood? I don’t think she’d do that.”
Nick agreed again, though she could have sworn she saw a glimmer of doubt behind his eyes.
“She was stabbed and seemed genuinely scared because of it,” he added. “She might have bitten off more than she could chew. Maybe the puppeteer became the marionette.”
“That’s what I was thinking.” Lara’s phone vibrated in her pocket. It didn’t vibrate again. “Whatever hand she’s had in this case so far doesn’t seem like it’s a means to an end but more of a way to throw us—me, really—off-kilter.”
Nick ran a hand through his hair. A deep exhale in the motion’s wake. “Joining this task force I knew I’d most likely get into some difficult cases, but this one...” He let out a low whistle. “It has more twists and turns than a corn maze.”
Lara paused from opening her new text to look at the man. She raised an eyebrow. “A corn maze?” she asked, before letting out a small laugh.
“Hey, I saw a movie where a cop said that once. I thought I’d give it a spin.”
She smiled and returned to the screen of her phone while Nick expanded on whatever movie had taught him the Southernism. Its origin didn’t intrigue her quite as much as the incoming text.
It was from Lola and set Lara on high alert.
I caught that redheaded chick trying to get into your dad’s house again. I told her you know and will be changing the locks. You should have seen her face. She ran off.
Lara read it again before closing her eyes. Why hadn’t she told Lola to not approach Cass if she saw her again?
“Dammit!”
“What?”
“Cass knows,” she answered, fingers already flying across the phone’s keyboard.
Thanks, Lola. But now you need to disappear for a while. There’s some dangerous things going down and that woman was linked to it. Please lay low for a while and be extra cautious. Call me immediately at the sign of any trouble.
Once the text was sent, Lara relayed the original message back.
“So now Cass knows that I know,” she said.
“That’s not good.”
“No, it’s not,” Lara agreed. She moved off of the counter and began to pace. If she’d only told Lola not to approach Cass sooner...
“She’ll have to make the next move now,” Nick said, voice low, unhappy.
“I know, but what do you think it’ll be? And when?”
Trying to picture what a woman like Cass McDonner could do versus would do was making Lara’s stomach knot. If she did indeed know the entire truth behind the Moretti case, then she could do a lot more damage than even Nick realized. How had everything gotten out of hand so fast?
“We’ve completely lost whatever upper hand we had,” she said. Hearing the words out loud made their situation seem even more shitty. “I definitely feel like this is a corn maze we’ve been dropped into.”
“Now that the surprise offense is out of the question, we’ll need to attack first,” he said after a quick smile. “We need a game plan before she can come up—” Lara’s phone vibrated again, stopping the man mid-sentence. Lara quickly read it, the knots in her stomach only twisting further.
“It’s Cass, isn’t it?” Nick asked.
Lara nodded. “And she’s faster than us.”
Nick came back over, taking the phone from her hand. Over his shoulder she reread the text message. When he was done he looked Lara full in the face.
“No,” he said. “Don’t even think about it.”
“I don’t think we have much of a choice, Nick. You said it yourself, she’s one enemy we don’t want to force into a corner.”
If she was even an enemy at all, Lara reminded herself.
Loss made people do things they normally wouldn’t dream of doing. Cass could be in just as much danger as they were. Jumping to conclusions could do them more harm than good.
“She’s not this stupid though.” Nick motioned to the text on the phone. “She has to know I—we—wouldn’t let this happen.”
Lara shrugged. She wasn’t going to argue because, whether or not Nick already knew it, Lara was going to do it regardless of the danger. She wanted, needed, and would fight for, answers.
And, apparently, Cassandra McDonner had at least a few.
Lara’s eyes roamed back over the text once more. As if reading it three times would give her more clues.
Meet me at South Street Seaport, Pier 17 at 8. Just you.
“It’s a trap.” Nick had his arms crossed over his chest, his face pinched in only a way that deep skepticism could make a face pinch.
They were back in the conference room at the Bureau and not alone. Nick had rallied their team for a debriefing on their current situation. Lara had left out the truths she couldn’t bring herself to tell the team about her past. Victoria, the only one who knew them, took the information in silence. The others hadn’t.
Especially Nick.
“It’s a trap and we all know it,” he reiterated. “You aren’t going alone to meet her.”
“No, I’m not. But I also don’t think Cass expects me to either,” Lara said. “Given what we know about her, there’s no way she hasn’t figured out that I’m bringing company.”
“She’s too smart for that,” Xander piped in. “Too clever.”
“But we still should make it appear you’re alone,” Nick said. “Do you think she’d really talk if we all strolled up to her with smiles on and guns drawn?” Lara shook her head. “If she knows you aren’t going alone, then that makes her more dangerous. She’ll most likely be well armed.”
Xander
