Crimson Lies

Chapter Four

Roseanne

My hair was wet from my rushed five minute shower and my ears burned from cold as I raced through the frosty morning into the building. I had worked at home yesterday. Normal routine for a federal holiday, curled up in front of my fireplace. I took the stairs up to my floor, a bounce in my step that had been missing recently. Not only had I managed to get some decent sleep and run three miles this morning, I was also pretty damn certain there was a vigilante at large, targeting violent criminals. Maybe that was a good thing, but for the most part I believed in the legal system—I had to.

I pushed through the door and saw a group of people hovering outside the boss's office. Wary glances shot to me and then darted quickly away. I frowned. I'd thought they'd be over the whole Post deal by now, although a new version had been rehashed and made the print edition. I rolled my eyes and walked to my desk, dumped my bags, and started to wander to Lucas's desk but he wasn't in yet. He was going to be the case officer in charge of this investigation, and if my theory was correct this could be special.

"Special Agent Park." SSA Danbridge voice cracked like thunder from my doorway. "My office."

I had thought we'd parted on good terms Monday night. What had happened to destroy the truce? I closed the door behind me. "Ma'am?"

"You know how I applied for that position at the BAU in Quantico?"

"You got the job?" I smiled, cartwheels and fireworks going off in my head as my inner voice sang Hallelujah. "Congratulations!"

Danbridge's blue eyes glowed in narrow slits of rage. I shifted back a step.

"No, I didn't get the job." The SSA thrust a piece of paper at me. "You did."

My mouth gaped. "What?" I took the paper and scanned it. She was being transferred to Quantico? I tried to hand the letter back but Danbridge wouldn't take it. "That can't be right. There must be some mistake."

My boss gripped the edge of her desk as if to physically restrain herself. Her voice carried and I could feel her colleagues' interest through the walls like darts in my flesh.

"There's been a mistake all right. There is no way you're the most qualified person who applied. You are nothing but a Harvard dropout—"

"No." I corrected her. "I didn't drop out, ma'am." She hadn't done anything wrong and she could fix this. "I graduated with my law degree before I joined the Bureau."

"Well," Danbridge practically hissed, "we both know it isn't your law degree that got you a position at the BAU."

"There has to be some mistake. I didn't even—"

"There's no mistake! I called them to confirm. You got it. You got the best fucking job in the FBI." Danbridge leaned closer, her jaw muscles working frenetically. "You got it because your mother is a senator on Capitol Hill—"

"My mother has no pull within the Bureau." I gritted my teeth. This had to be a clerical error.

"She shouldn't have that's for damn sure." Danbridge's lips curled, accentuated by blood-red lipstick. "Don't expect your mother to save your ass when you need back-up." Deep creases arrowed at the outer edge of her eyes. Her voice was low and mean. "I have a lot of friends in Quantico."

Was that a threat? I turned on my heel and strode back to my desk. I called Quantico and got nothing but a terse change of orders spiel and a tight-lipped refusal to let me talk to anyone higher up the food chain. The transfer was with immediate effect. I texted Lucas that I needed to talk to him ASAP, but he didn't reply. A sense of failure wrapped around me like a cold, wet, shroud.