Suzie’s House 90: To Reconsider

Christina noticed the way Miranda took the seat on the couch next to Vin, removing the remote control from his hand so they could clasp one another. Suzie sat stiffly on the other side, leaving Christina to sit in a hard backed chair facing the three in their living room as if it were she to be questioned, rather than the other way around.

She sat on the edge of the chair; her hands clasped before her, leaned forward, and hoped they would help her out.

“Did you learn anything new?” Miranda asked eagerly.

Christina hesitated. She had indeed learned something, but she didn’t want to say anything for fear they would jump on what they must consider a golden opportunity, and in the process destroy her case.

“We learned something, didn’t we Suzie.” Miranda leaned around Vin to look at Suzie. Suzie glanced at her in narrow-eyed irritation. “We found out the Smash Master is back to his old tricks.”

“The Smash Master?”

“Sean, I think. Or maybe Joseph. He has a web site where he talks people into getting into car wrecks on purpose.” Miranda looked happy as a puppy with a stick in its mouth.

Sean? Christina’s heart contracted painfully. It sounded like the sort of thing he would do. The sort of thing likely to get him arrested. She told herself she was being silly, hoping to pin everything on Sean’s brother instead.

“Nothing like this has come up in my investigations,” Christina said.

“It’s part of the FBI case that started everything,” Miranda tossed back just as quickly.

FBI? Drew. With a rush of the cold shivers Christina turned toward Suzie. So far as Christina was concerned, Suzie was the weak link. She didn’t like Christina, but she’d agreed to help. Why? For information, of course, but also to get even with Drew over his lack of cooperation. What if she and Drew were getting along now? What if they were in cahoots.

Then what she had to say would be disastrous.

She had to know. “Suzie, what is Drew to you?”

“Drew and I…” Suzie trailed off, her voice and expression both pained.

“Are doing the nasty. We know,” Vin said.

“You and the FBI agent are intimate?” Christina pulled back, thinking furiously.

Either this was a horrible development guaranteed to ruin her case or a wonderful opportunity, depending on who this woman trusted more. How likely was she to trust the FBI agent? Christina supposed she should do something, say something, that would make Suzie not trust Drew, but she wasn’t sure she had it in her.

She leaned back as far as the chair would allow and frowned. Now she couldn’t trust this woman with anything important because she would pass it on the Drew. This is what she got for trying to act all tough like Todd. She simply wasn’t enough of a jerk for this kind of work.

When she went into the CIA she’d imagined herself like a female James Bond. She was risking her life for the good guys. She was keeping secrets and playing tricks for freedom and justice. Only there was precious little that was free about it, and she was having a hard time seeing how ruining Suzie’s life would lead to justice.

So what this was really about was protection. She was here to protect the world from people like Sean and Joseph O’Connor. Maybe she wouldn’t succeed in her assignment. So what? Maybe her assignment wasn’t all it was cracked up to be anyway. If that meant SHE wasn’t all she wanted to be, well then she’d just have to cry in her pillow on her own, wouldn’t she.

Her lower lip threatened to turn traitor on her, but he held her own as she said, “You can tell Drew I know where they are. At least, I think I know where they were.”

“You mean that girl’s apartment?”

Christina shook her head. “No. I mean the farmhouse just outside of town on Highway 12 between here and Alpine Valley. They are crashing with someone I know.”

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