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He connected all of the dots for her The day Lacie died was the same date Milo flew home from the Do into Parker in a coffee shop Milo, who had never been the kind of guy to settle down, immediately jumped at the chance to do so with Parker, almost to the point of obsession

"I think we need to talk about Lacie again," Garrett said softly

Ever since Parker told him about her death, he had suspicions He knew the CIA could be sketchy at tis off the books, but they would never kill an innocent college student just for being friends with a new recruit Atthe secret of her job Garrett had figured once this et to the bottoirlfriend He never i to do with Milo If Milo was connected in some way to Lacie’s death, it could also be conceivable that he had so involved with the Capuano family At this point Garrett just didn’t knohat to believe anymore He didn’t knoho to trust or who the real enean to mess with his mind

"You always assumed the CIA was responsible for Lacie’s death as a way to keep you in their pocket or show you what they were capable of, right?" Garrett asked

Parker nodded her head, trying to focus on what Garrett was saying to her instead of dwelling on all of the secrets he’d just spilled about Milo’s timeline in her life

"Every once in a while, when I was feeling particularly s or let the fear I had for ment of what happened over the course of the week she was killed But I never had any reason to act on those suspicions or to think what I believed wasn’t true There was never any reason to doubt that the CIA would do whatever it took to get what they wanted I mean, let’s face it, they aren’t exactly known as a touchy-feely, friendly organization," Parker ads up under her in the seat "They dangled my father’s life over my head and basically told et him killed And who knoould have happened to ot swept up into the romance of it all I could save my father’s life and have all n on the dotted line," Parker said softly with a shrug of her shoulders "Anytiot pissed off about what happened to Lacie, all I had to do onder ould have happened to my father, or even myself if I said no to the CIA It was better if I just didn’t think about it at all Pretend like it never happened There’s only so er a person can hold inside before they explode"

Parker didn’t want to think about it, and she certainly didn’t want to go down memory lane and recall every detail of that dark time, but she kneas necessary If it was true, and she really did let her anger blur reality, she would need to aht and belief she ever had about her employer

"I think you know better than anyone that you can’t pretend like it didn’t happen So that I know, deep in ut, the CIA wouldn’t have done And I think some small part of you knows that’s true, has always known that’s true," Garrett told her, reaching across the console to brush Parker’s bangs out of her eyes and cup her cheek while they waited at a red light "But it’s easier to bla you know, than to think there’s some faceless, nameless entity out there that wanted to do you harry at, someone to blame, a reason to work your ass off and o down the path of wondering who or what could be out there, trying to hurt you, it would’ve driven you crazy"

Garrett slid his fingertips softly down the side of her face as the light turned green Parker turned away fro her er

Numb

That had been the only way to describe how Annabelle felt Every ti over the loss of Lacie No one knew her, not really With a campus this size it was impossible to know everyone Just the idea that one of their own had died right there on cah to send people into a tailspin There were brightly colored flyers handed out about grief counseling sessions: Join us! Share your grief with those who understand! The exclamation ood tiils and piles of flowers, pictures and stuffed animals were left outside of Lacie’s door Students who had never spoken to one another before but shared a table in Art History class for three se about all of the irl they never knew

It had been two days since Annabelle had found Lacie lying in a pool of her own blood in the middle of her bed Two days and she had yet to cry Lacie had been her friend, her only friend, and she was incapable ofand say prayers, and Annabelle couldn’t even scrape up one tear for the girl who kicked through her defenses andthe sidewalk in between the Arts and Hu the cracks in the sidewalk and avoiding the stares of people who knew she was the girl that found Lacie, so she didn’t notice the black sedan with tinted s following her at a crawling pace on the street to her left

Her head jerked up at the sound of a car door opening and the voice of Brad Richent who had recruited her She hadn’t spoken to hies on her cell phone every couple of days with a ti, which was the extent of their co beside the open car door, thethe life of her one and only friend made her blood boil

"Get in the car , Miss Parker"

She stood there staring at him with her hands clenched at her sides She didn’t want to make a scene It was early afternoon and hundreds of students were out on ca in her not to screa with the car door open and a casual look on his face like it was just another day

Several ent Rich and people were starting to notice the unmarked car s so dark you couldn’t see inside

"Please, Agent Parker"

The use of her title, even though she hadn’t earned it yet,to tell her she had importance, that she had control over ould happen if she stepped into that car or that she uarantee she would be okay

He was subtly reed to theot inside the car without another glance in his direction Agent Richot in after her, and as soon as he closed the door, the car took off and he closed the divider between the driver and the to face the man next to her

"I just wanted to tell you how sorry I aether to keep the screah to whisper the one question she had

"Why?"