“From time to time,” he replied.
“Let me give you my number,” Karen said. “Lunch, on me, next time you drop by.”
“That’s probably not gonna happen,” Rebel pushed back. “I’m on a tight schedule. Good meetin’ you.” He took a few steps and Slash fell in line beside him.
“Byeeeeeee,” Karen called out.
As they continued on, Brit exited an office, heading in the opposite direction. A surge of adrenaline powered through him while heat blanketed his chest.
Whoa, hello.
“That’s Britain,” Slash said. “She just started. Kinda a bum deal she got Karen as her mentor. She’s totally cool.”
As Brit disappeared around the corner, he fought the urge to go after her, see how she was doing. Instead, he walked outside, slid on his shades.
He wanted to ask Slash about her, but he didn’t do that either. Slash knew him well. If he started asking about Brit, she’d drag his sorry ass inside and introduce him.
After Slash showed him her new bike, she pulled on her helmet. “I’m gonna grab some lunch. You want me to bring you back something?”
“I’m leaving. I’ll text you about training.”
She gave him a thumbs up, started her bike, and roared off.
A mix of relief and excitement pounded through him as he jumped in his SUV. Not only was Brit back, she was working for ALPHA.
His day couldn’t have gotten any better.
Britain
Brit wasn’t goingto complain, but after three days of being “mentored” by Karen, she was ready to explode. Karen didn’t know the first thing about mentoring. She treated Brit like a low-level employee who didn’t have a five-year career in law enforcement. Karen was keeping the Alphabet Killer case so close to her vest, Brit wondered if she was doing anything at all.
Karen gave Brit a number of tasks to complete, like following up with crime scene techs or asking their in-house lab techs how things were going. Karen had her bothering the hell out of thatteam, so much so that Brit had to push back and tell her that the lab techs had banned her from the lab.
While that wasn’t true, it got Karen to back the hell off.
Brit’s desk phone rang. “Jules Marshall.”
“I’m calling from Fairfax County PD, crime tech department. Are you working the Alphabet Killer case?”
Though Karen had lectured her about keeping that case for herself, she’d accidentally told Brit to follow-up with them.
“What can I help you with?” Brit asked.
“This is in reference to the first L”, said the lab tech. “Hair was found at the scene, and it’s not the vic’s.”
Brit wanted to ask, “How many Ls are there,” but she didn’t want to appear like an idiot. Had she been working the case, she’d know.
Instead, she asked, “Did you find a match?”
“We’re running it through the databases, and we’ll let you know if we do.”
“Can you add my email address?” Brit asked. “There’s more than one person working this case.”
“No problem.”
After giving him her Jules Marshall FBI email address, she ended the call.
Karen swung back into their shared office, slumped into her chair. “Ugh, I just met the dreamiest guy, but he rejected me.”