Spector glanced down. “Britt Spector.”
“Okay, Britt, thank you for saving all of our butts.”
Spector said nervously, “Now you can easily find out my history at the FBI. It’s not exactly . . . ideal.”
“Sure I could, but I won’t bother.”
“Why?”
“Because I met you in person, under the craziest circumstances ever. So I know all I need to know about you. I don’t need to read a bunch of files.”
Spector looked concerned. “There’ll be questions. The forensics—”
“The crime scene is a mess. I know that, you know that. There’s nobody left to prosecute. They’ll only be going through the motions. End of story. The locals and the Bureau have no incentive to push it.”
“But you’re an agent. You’re taking a risk. I don’t want to leave you hanging out there.”
“I think it’s a risk worth taking. And I’m really good at landing on my feet when it comes to the Bureau.”
The two women stared at each other for a significant moment.
Spector slowly put out her hand, which Pine shook.
“I’m not sure I deserve this, but thank you.”
“The only thing I would say is you need to use better judgment in picking the people you work for. You’re way too skilled to help the bad guys anymore. We need you a lot more than they do.”
Spector slumped back and smiled weakly at the ceiling. “I’ve already taken that into account. And you’re right.”
“But really, why?”
Spector looked at her. “Why what?”
“It wasn’t just Carol’s little speech to you. I spoke to her about that. She’s good, but maybe not that good. So, really, why did you help us?”
Spector rubbed at her eyes, eliminating a sudden stray tear or two. “I didn’t have the greatest . . . childhood. And I never had a sister growing up.” She looked at Pine, her eyes glistening. In a cracking voice she added, “But I really could have used one. It . . . it would have made things a little more . . . bearable.”
“I can definitely understand that. I feel the exact same way.”
“I know what happened to you and your sister. In the end, I . . . I just thought you two deserved a lot more time together than Peter Buckley was willing to give you.”
Pine rose and put the crutches under her arms. “Well, Britt, I think I just found myself an honorary sister.”
Spector held her gaze. “Maybe I did too, Atlee.”
CHAPTER
78
JUST LIKE SPECTOR, PINE HADN’T WAITED around for the FBI to show up in the little town in Idaho. She didn’t want to deal with McAllister face-to-face right now. She wanted some distance. So, before McAllister and his team were wheels down, she had caught a flight back to the East Coast with her sister and Blum. She had emailed McAllister to let him know of her plans. When he had emailed back to tell her to stay right where she was, she had conveniently already boarded the plane and turned her phone off.
Now, more than two thousand miles away and four days removed from the deadly encounter, Pine had called Drew McAllister to find out what had happened with his investigation in Idaho.
Their phone conversation had been a delicate dance for Pine.
“I told you I wanted to talk to you when we got here. Why the hell did you fly out? And I’ve been calling you the last four days.”
“My assistant, Carol, needed some special medical attention,” said Pine. “And I needed to get back to the East Coast for personal reasons. And I haven’t been checking my phone. It’s a new one because mine got lost in the shuffle. And I’m having a hard time getting it to work right.”