The Murder That Never Was (Forensic Instincts 5)

“You do realize that the second Shannon lays eyes on me she’s going to know I’m not Julie.”

“Of course I know. But given the circumstances, that’s inevitable. Like I said, we can control her reactions once she’s with us.” Milo leaned forward, squeezed his friend’s hand. “Remember where we’re headed now. We’re meeting with Forensic Instincts. This is yet another thing to talk over with them. It’s going to be okay.”

Julie knew what Milo was doing. Trying to calm her down. And, as always, it worked.

She drew in a sharp breath. “I’ll message Shannon back right now. After that, you’d better brief me on Ryan McKay and his whole team. I want to be in the driver’s seat, right along with you.”

Milo grinned. “That’s my girl.”

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Claire was in her yoga room on the third floor of Forensic Instincts.

Sitting in lotus position, she breathed deeply, holding Marc’s report on Suspect Number One in the Worster case, along with the fountain pen that Marc had stealthily managed to swipe from the scumbag’s office. She finished glancing through the report, then curved her fingers around the fountain pen, focusing on the feelings it evoked.

They were ugly. Dark. Rife with anger and hatred toward Mr. Worster. He was capable not only of sending those emails but of acting on them. Marc needed to know.

Claire was just rising to her feet when the door blew open, and Emma burst in.

She blinked in the dimly lit room, glanced at the pen and file folder Claire had gathered up, and then realized what she’d interrupted.

“Oh, Claire, I’m so sorry,” she said. “I thought you were doing your yoga. I had no idea you were working on the Worster case.”

Claire waved away Emma’s apology. “No problem. All done here. I’ve just got to find Marc.”

“He’s in the conference room, talking on the phone with Hutch and making arrangements to sublet his apartment to him.”

“Thanks.” Claire shook her head in amazement. Emma was an emotional, reactive carbon copy of their calm and factual Yoda. The two of them always knew exactly what was going on at FI. The extent of their awareness was somewhat unnerving—especially when it came to her sex life.

“I have a huge favor to ask,” Emma broke in to Claire’s thoughts to ask.

Cautiously, Claire said, “Go ahead.”

“Miles Parker called Ryan. He and Lisa Barnes are on their way over to meet with him, and then probably the whole team. Ryan’s alerting Casey now.”

“That’s good.” Claire said it with the knowledge that it was so. “Now we can help them.”

Emma chewed on her lip. “The thing is, this feels like my case. You know all the reasons why.”

“Yes, I do, and it’s completely understandable,” Claire replied gently. “You know Casey will make you a part of it.”

“I know. But first impressions matter. A lot.”

Claire’s lips twitched. “Yes, I do know. I remember Alice in Wonderland walking into our office six months ago to apply for a job.”

A grin. “Yeah, I pulled that one off well. I was like a bouncy little cheerleader, gushing on and on about all of you.”

“Right. And then picking all our pockets without us feeling a thing.”

“That part’s irrelevant—at least to what I’m saying.” Emma shook her head in frustration. “I’m just talking about your reaction to me when I first walked in. You know what I mean.”

“You mean that you want our potentially new clients to respect you.”

“Exactly. And they won’t do that if I’m sitting at the front desk like…”

“Like an assistant and a receptionist?” Claire supplied. Tucking a strand of blonde hair behind her ear, she started to laugh. “You want me to switch places with you and greet our guests?”

Emma grimaced. “It wouldn’t exactly be switching places with me. You don’t have to say you’re the team’s assistant. You could go ahead and tell them who you are, and say you’re looking for something at the desk. I just need you to man the position so I don’t look so…so…low level.”