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“Oh Thanks for going to all the trouble, Mary Catherine,” Mike said “This looks great I appreciate it”

“No trouble at all,” Mary Catherine said quietly as she turned her back on hi back door

CHAPTER 10

EMILY AND I BROUGHT the coffee and the scones into the dining room

I stole a sidelong look at Parker as she reached into her bag She was as attractive as I re smart and quite pretty, even north of thirty-five, there was this delightful, hard-to-describe, brave, and bright-eyed girlish quality to her that ht when she entered a room

Actually, she was ht caught the copper in her hair Had she lost weight? No, I realized She had actually put on a little Wow It really suited her I realized now that she had been too thin orked together, sort of bony She was curvier now, more voluptuous

She was also more chic than I recalled Her looser, fuller hair was salon cut, her creaht a little when I got a whiff of her perfuhtful indeed

“This has to be about Perrine,” I said quickly as she straightened up and placed a laptop on the table “Souess He killed so?”

She shook her head

“No, Mike I

t’s al on a sli crushed The ether to capture Perrine is in shambles after all these Mob hly trained professional ical precision We have no forensics and absolutely no leads That’s why the assistant director himself sent me out here to talk to you My mission is to, quote, ‘pick your brain’ ”

“PickHow long have you been on the task force?”

“Oh, about two days There I was, happily reading in my Behavioral Science cubicle at Quantico Then soether on some other cases, and now here I am”

I stared at her

“The FBI director told you to talk to me?”