She’d never called him back to let him know what had happened. He was probably wondering what on earth that call had been about earlier.
“Sorry,” she said to Chris, then pressed the answer button, retreating into the hall. “Chief.”
“Agent Frost,” Rondelle said. “I gather you were involved in Agent Lavoie’s little fracas earlier. I’ve got a report on my desk saying you haven’t yet given a witness statement.”
“Right,” Laura said. Paperwork? That was why he was calling her so late in the evening? She had often suspected that Rondelle didn’t actually sleep. For the man to be as on-call as he was, he surely had to be a robot disguised as a human. “Can I make a statement in the morning? Tonight was… a lot.”
“I doubt that would be possible,” Rondelle replied. “Since I’m booking you onto a flight in a couple of hours to go to your next case.”
Laura blinked. She looked down at her own hand, still lightly bandaged. She’d burned it while confronting the killer in her last case, fighting for her life so that she wouldn’t become his next victim. She’d been put on a week of leave afterwards—and, yes, that week was up tomorrow, but she hadn’t been expecting to jump right in immediately. She’d thought maybe a week or two of desk duty, paperwork from all the cases she’d fallen behind on, maybe some mandatory counseling if she was unlucky.
Not right on a plane to another case.
“Sir,” she said, trying to think of a way to point all of this out.
“I know you’re only just back off leave, but we need you on this one,” Rondelle said. “Lavoie is still on a leave of absence, as you know, so I can’t put him on it. I’ve sent out half my staff to a terrorism case in Texas, that mass shooter I’m sure you’ve been hearing about while you’ve been on your week of rest. All I have left are rookies—and you.”
“Great,” Laura sighed. “So I’m your last resort.” She ran a hand back over the top of her blonde hair, wishing she hadn’t tied it up in a ponytail so she could pull at the strands. Today was proving to be very stressful, after what had been an incredibly promising start.
“Not exactly,” Rondelle grunted. His voice got even gruffer than usual. “I do value your work, Laura. You’re one of my best, you know that. And this has all the hallmarks of being one of those cases that you excel at.”
Laura considered this. “You mean it looks like a difficult case to solve.”
“Correct,” Rondelle replied, a hint of laughter just hiding behind his voice. “That’s why I need you. Look, you can tell me you’re not ready, and I’ll find someone else—but I would appreciate it if you didn’t. If you can get here now, I’ll brief you on the case. I’m sending you with a partner, just so you don’t complain at me when you get here.”
Laura groaned. “Agent Won again?” she asked, naming the kid she’d ended up stuck with last time. It had been a lot of hard work, but she’d almost gotten him housebroken. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad to work with him again—though she meant that only grudgingly.
“No, he’s still on leave with his injuries, too,” Rondelle replied cheerfully. “I have someone new for you. You’ll like her. See you within the hour, Agent.”
He hung up.
Laura stared at the phone, shaking her head wordlessly. He was putting her with someone new, on a difficult case, on the day she was back from leave—with her hand still bandaged—and right after she’d had to save the life of her ex-partner, who was also still not really talking to her.
This day just couldn’t get any better.
“Do you need to go?” Chris asked. He was hovering in the doorway to the kitchen, looking as though he hadn’t wanted to eavesdrop but had heard every word.
Laura sighed. “Yeah,” she said. She rubbed her eyes. “I’ve got to head out on a new assignment.”
“Now?” Chris stepped closer, taking hold of her hand. He examined the bandage, turning it as if he could see the wound through it. “Surely you need more leave time!”
“There’s no one else,” Laura sighed.
And it was true, in more ways than one. Even if there was another agent available, they wouldn’t be able to do what she could do.
They wouldn’t be able to solve the murders with mystical psychic visions that would lead her right to the killer without needing traditional clues or waiting for the murderer to mess up.
No matter what happened to her, how low she felt like she was sinking, Laura would always carry that burden. There was no one else out there who could do what she did. She’d wasted a lot of time looking for them, and she had to admit it to herself: she was the only one.
If she didn’t step up, more people could die unnecessarily.
“I’ll see you when I get back?” she said, pulling her hand free of Chris’s grip. If she let him hold it any longer, she might end up never leaving. “I don’t know if it will be in time for Saturday.”
“We’ll play it by ear,” Chris said. He smiled, but it was full of concern.
There was no one else.
Laura nodded, took a breath, and turned to leave his house and head for her car.