But his decision to sleep on the couch had affected her more than she realized. It had hurt in about ten different ways, none of which she could clearly focus on as she left the house. She was also concerned that in his anger and frustration with her, he may tell Paige about her diagnosis. Yes, it seemed like a monstrous thing to do, but he’d done so with Grandma Tate’s diagnosis. Rachel figured she’d just have to assume that beyond his anger, he was the good and honest man she’d fallen in love with and married. There was no sense in worrying about it now.
She made the twenty-minute drive to work in silence—no radio, no audiobooks or podcasts. It just seemed fitting for everything that she was going through. Her mind was a myriad of thoughts and scenarios with no real direction. When she parked in the back of the building (a perk to being there so early), her mind was somehow on the image of Paige and Grandma Tate picking flowers out in the back yard, little bugs flying here and there around them while Paige sank her hands deep into the dirt.
She made her way to Anderson’s reserved conference room, not at all surprised to find that Jack was already there, sipping on a coffee. She knew he was something of a night owl, but a human being able to operate at such a high level at six in the morning seemed unreal to her. As for Anderson, already at the head of the table with an opened folder in front of him, that was easier to believe. For a while now, Rachel had been convinced the man simply never slept.
For the most part, though, Anderson was an easy man to work for. Rachel knew she sometimes made risky decisions and caused him undue stress, but he’d never come down hard on her. He could come off as rude sometimes, and this morning seemed to be one of those times. As soon as she came into the room, he slid the folder to her. She saw that Jack already had one. As she picked it up, Jack gave her a playful look that seemed to say Ooh, you’re in trouble!
“Before you look in that folder,” Anderson said, “I need to know if you’re capable of handling it, Gift. I know you have a ton going on at home right now, but I assure you, we have you covered. There are cops parked in front of your house twenty-four-seven for the next two days. And, as I told you on the phone, we have a team of men looking into Lynch and how he got someone into your house. I will update you as soon as I can on that. But if your mind is going to be back here, at home, tell me now.”
“I’m fine, sir, though it would have been good to hear that part yesterday when you implied that I didn’t have a choice.”
Anderson looked over to Jack, giving him a quick frown. “Agent Rivers and I discussed your situation this morning before you came in. We may not agree totally on things, but he did point out the weight of your situation—your daughter, your husband.”
“You will keep men around my home while I’m gone?”
“Yes.”
She nodded and opened the folder. “Then I’m fine.”
“Good,” he said, and then carried on with business as usual. “We’ve got a situation developing out in Roanoke. Two bodies in the past five days, both killed in the proximity of medical centers. Evidence points to a potential serial based solely on how the victims were killed. Local PD have zero leads and, as is the case here at the bureau, are slightly understaffed; Gift, as you know, the bureau is experiencing this same staffing shortage and it’s the primary reason I wanted you on this. Not only that, but this case seems to align with cases involving medical centers and the two of you working together have some experience there.
“Sad to say, that’s all I have. Local police requested help yesterday and they obviously didn’t get it from us, so get there are soon as you can.”
“That’s it?” Rachel asked.
“That’s it. Please keep me updated on your progress.”
Rachel and Jack nodded to one another and started for the door. On the way out, Anderson spoke up, almost hesitantly, as if he wasn’t sure if he wanted to say anything at all. “Agent Gift, can I speak to you for a moment?”
“Yes, sir.”
Jack made his way out, case folder in hand, closing the door behind him. When he was gone, Anderson got to his feet and studied Rachel in a way she’d often seen Jack resort to.
“Agent Rivers has your back,” Anderson said. “If you ever have any doubt of that, shut it down right away. He spoke to me in a way a field agent should not speak to a Deputy Director when I suggested you had no real excuse to not take the case. As you may know, I have no children so I can’t imagine what it was like for you to find that grisly surprise from someone linked to Lynch. If I seemed nonchalant about it, I apologize.”
“Thank you, sir. But it’s okay. Really.”
“Another thing, though…Agent Rivers says that he fears there may be something else going on. He says you seemed distracted last time you worked together. He hinted that there might be an illness in your family but, respecting your privacy, told me none of it. If you’re in need of a therapist, the bureau works with many different—”
“No, sir,” she said. “I’m good. If anything, working this case will allow me to get away from some of the personal matters that…”
She stopped here, realizing that he and Jack didn’t even know about her diagnosis. She also wasn’t quite sure how to feel about the fact that he’d revealed the illness in the family to Anderson. She wasn’t mad, just unsettled. It was a strange feeling.
Anderson nodded when she did not finish her sentence. “Understood. And I meant what I said: I’m making sure your family is being watched and kept safe.”
“Thank you.”
She turned and left before the conversation could get any odder. She found Jack sitting out in the small waiting area outside of Anderson’s office. It was still so early that the receptionist hadn’t arrived yet. But through the blinds, early morning sunlight peered through.
“Everything good?” Jack asked.
“Yeah. I was just being reminded of how great my partner is.”
“Ah,” he said, looking away in slight embarrassment. “Well, I could have told you that. We didn’t need Anderson to relay it.”
“I imagine there would be more truth coming from him.”
“Ouch. I keep forgetting how crabby you can be in the morning.”
“And we still have a two-and-a-half-hour drive ahead of us. Lucky you.”
They headed down to fill out paperwork to take out a bureau car. Between then and actually getting behind the wheel, she found herself constantly thinking back to Paige—Paige asleep, Paige sticking her tongue out in concertation as she lined up a shot for croquet in Grandma Tate’s back yard, Paige knowing nothing of her diagnosis.
You have to tell her, she told herself. You have to tell her as soon you can. You should have already told her but, well, here we are…
Yes, here we are. And right now, there was a case to solve. She’d interrupted her trip to see Grandma Tate for this, so she was going to set her mind on the case before cluttering it up with the mess she had left back at home.
“How’s your grandmother?” Jack asked. “That’s where you were when Anderson called yesterday, right?”
“She’s fine. I took Paige down to see her. It went pretty well…until Anderson called, of course.”