Meanwhile, she was nearing the end of the oath
I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. So help me God.
Crivaro seemed to be seething now.
What the hells this? he said, pointing to the blank yellow paper.
Riley tried to tell him, but no words came out.
Rileys eyes snapped open when she heard an unfamiliar buzzing sound.
She was lying in bed next to Ryan.
It was a dream, she realized.
But the dream definitely meant something. In fact, it meant everything. Shed taken an oath, and she couldnt take it back. Which meant she couldnt resign from the program. It wasnt a legal problem. It was personal. It was a matter of principle.
But what if I get kicked out?
What do I do then?
Meanwhile, she wonderedwhat was that buzzing sound that kept repeating over and over again?
Still half-asleep, Ryan groaned and muttered
Answer your damn phone, Riley.
Then Riley remembered the cell phone shed been given yesterday at the FBI building. She fumbled around on the side table until she found it, then scrambled out of bed and carried it out of the room and shut the door behind her.
It took her a moment to figure out which button to push to take the call. When she finally succeeded, she heard a familiar voice.
Sweeney? Did I wake you?
It was Agent Crivaro, sounding none too friendly.
No, of course not, Riley said.
Liar. Its five oclock in the morning.
Riley sighed deeply. She realized she felt sick to her stomach.
Crivaro said, How long will it take you to get awake and dressed?
Riley thought for a moment, then said, Um, fifteen minutes, I guess.
Ill be there in ten. Meet me outside your building.
Crivaro ended the call without another word.
What does he want? Riley wondered.
Is he coming here to personally fire me?
Suddenly she felt a rising wave of nausea. She knew it was morning sicknessthe worst shed experienced so far during her pregnancy.
She let out a groan and thought
Just what I need right now.
Then she rushed to the bathroom.
CHAPTER SIX
When Jake Crivaro pulled up to the apartment building, Riley Sweeney was already waiting outside. Jake noticed that she looked more than a little pale as she got into the car.
Not feeling well? he asked.
Im fine, Riley said.
She doesnt look fine, Jake thought. She doesnt sound fine, either.
Jake wondered if maybe shed partied too hard last night. These young interns did that sometimes. Or maybe shed just had too much to drink right at home. Shed certainly seemed discouraged when hed dropped her off yesterdayand small wonder, after the chewing out hed given her. Maybe shed tried to drown her sorrows.
Jake hoped his protégé wasnt too hung over to function.
As he pulled away from the building, Riley asked
Where are we going?
Jake hesitated for a moment.
Then he said, Look, were going to start from scratch today.
Riley looked at him with a vaguely surprised expression.
He continued, The truth is, what you did yesterdaywell, it wasnt entirely a screw-up. You found the Madison brothers drug money. And that burner phone turned out to be plenty useful. It had some important phone numbers in it, which made it possible for the cops to round up a few gang membersincluding Malik Madison, the brother who was still at large. It was stupid of them to buy a prepaid phone and not dump it after using it. But I guess they just didnt think anybody was going to find it.
He glanced her way and added, They were wrong.
Riley just kept staring back at him, as if she was having trouble understanding what he was saying.
Jake resisted the impulse to say
Im really sorry I gave you such a hard time.
Instead he said, But youve got to follow instructions. And youve got to respect procedure.
I understand, Riley said tiredly. Thanks for giving me another chance.
Jake growled under his breath. He reminded himself that he didnt want to give the kid too much encouragement.
But he did feel bad about how hed treated her yesterday.
Im overreacting to things, he thought.
Hed pissed off some colleagues at Quantico by pushing for Riley to get into the program. One agent in particular, Toby Wolsky, had wanted his nephew Jordan to be an intern this summer, but Jake had gotten Riley in instead of him. Hed thrown his considerable credentials into that effort and called in a couple of favors owed him.
Jake didnt think much of Wolsky as an agent, and he had no reason to think his nephew had any potential to speak of. But Wolsky had friends in Quantico who were now unhappy with Jake.
In a way, Jake could understand why.
For all they knew, Riley was just some ordinary college psych graduate whod never even thought about getting into law enforcement.
And the truth was, Jake didnt know much more about her eitherexcept that hed seen her instincts at work, up close and personal. He remembered vividly how readily shed understood the killers thoughts back in Lanton, with just a little coaching from him. Aside from himself, Jake had seldom met anyone with those kinds of instinctsgut-level insights that very few other agents could even understand.
Of course, he couldnt discount the possibility that what shed done in Lanton had been little more than a fluke.
Maybe today hed get a better idea of what she could do.
Riley asked again
Where are we going?
To a murder scene, Jake said.
He didnt want to tell her anything more until they got there.
He wanted to observe how she reacted to a really bizarre situation.
And from what hed heard, this murder scene was about as bizarre as a murder scene could get. Hed gotten called about it just a little while ago himself, and he was still having trouble believing what hed been told.
Well see what we see, I guess.
*Riley thought maybe she was feeling a bit better as she rode along with Agent Crivaro.
Still, she wished hed tell her what this was all about.
A murder scene, he said.
That was more than shed bargained for in the summer programlet alone on her second day. Yesterday had been unexpected enough.
She wasnt sure how she felt about it.
But she was pretty sure that Ryan wouldnt like the idea at all.
She realized she hadnt yet told Ryan that she was shadowing Jake Crivaro. Ryan wouldnt approve of that either. Ryan had mistrusted Crivaro from the start, especially for the way he had helped Riley get a glimpse into a killers mind.
She remembered what Ryan had said about one of those episodes
Are you telling me that FBI guyCrivaroplayed mind games with you? Why? Just for fun?
Of course Riley knew that Crivaro hadnt put her through all that just for fun.
Hed been dead serious about it. Those experiences had been absolutely necessary.
They had helped make it possible to eventually catch the killer.