Chapter 8

The days following her date with Adam passed in a whirlwind of activity for Jin. It was true that she spent a lot of time on the script prompts for her upcoming episode dealing with the Alana Kim murder. But she didn't just have one investigation going on at a time. And she didn't just feature unsolved cold cases. Instead, she often covered half solved and half unsolved.

The one she was researching today took place in a little town in Texas. They had had a serial killer lurking in their midst and didn't know it because the women's bodies had been left in different counties. It was part of her spotlight on how police worked before the Information Age of computers and how sharing data between different jurisdictions could cause many cases to go unsolved.

As she shut down her computer, she checked her phone. She had sent a few texts to Sam, but oddly, she hadn't responded. It was strange that she didn't get back to Jin by the end of the day. Usually, she texted back within an hour. She frowned. Should she say something to Adam? It seemed like an overboard reaction until she remembered their conversation on the phone yesterday.

"I've been feeling weird lately," Sam said.

"Weird? Like you're coming down with something?"

"No. Like someone's watching me."

The fine hairs on the back of Jin's neck went up.

"You think someone's watching you?"

"Yeah, but…it might be the creep across the street. I told you about him."

Sam had. In fact, she had gone on and on about how she was convinced the guy was a spy. She loved Sam to death, but she could be paranoid. She didn't go all tin foil hat on Jin, but sometimes, she sounded like someone who dealt with conspiracy theories in a government think tank or something.

"Have you caught anything on the cameras?"

Sam was suspicious by nature, so Jin knew she had a lot of cameras around her house.

"No."

"See. You're probably just imagining it."

"Probably." She didn't sound convinced, but she changed the subject to talk about Adam. Jin had let it go.

Jin texted her again, but when she looked, she noticed that Sam had not read any of her texts. It had been over twenty-four hours since she spoke to her friend.

Taking a deep breath, Jin hit Sam's number. Straight to voicemail. Dammit.

Would Adam think she had lost her mind if she asked him for help? Was she getting as paranoid as Sam?

As if conjured up by her thoughts, her phone buzzed with a call from him.

"Hey," she said, trying to sound unencumbered by the insane paranoia now buzzing through her head.

"What's wrong?"

She chuckled. "Just one word and you can tell something is wrong?"

"Yeah. So, tell me."

Her heart turned over. "I don't want you to think I've lost my mind."

"I won't."

"I can't get hold of Sam."

"Your PA?"

"Yes."

"Tell me what happened."

The fact that he was taking it seriously warmed her and scared her simultaneously.

"Sam always gets back with me. If she can't do something right away, she will let me know that she at least got my message. Today, she not only didn't answer but also didn't read the messages I sent her."

"Did you call her?"

"Yes. Went straight to voicemail, which isn't normal for her either. Normally, I might shrug it off, but yesterday, she said she felt like someone was watching her, but that's normal for her. She's a bit paranoid. Also, she said she saw nothing on her cameras."

"Could be nothing. How about you come into the office, and we can get Charity to work on it?"

Her worry ramped up, but there was also relief. Having someone to help her like this was something new for her. Sam helped her, but even though they were friends, Jin also paid her for her help.

"I'll be there in a little bit."

"I'll pick you up."

"There's no need for that. I can drive in."

"I'm in your area."

"You are?"

"Yeah. I had lunch with my mom over at Aiea Bowl." The bowling alley was pretty famous for its oxtail soup. As in, national TV shows featured them.

So, he wasn't that far away. "Okay. I'll be ready in five minutes."

After they hung up, she rushed around, changing her clothes, pulling her hair into a low ponytail, and slathering on some makeup. She didn't wear much but rarely left the house without at least a little sun protection.

The doorbell rang as she turned down the hallway to the front door. Right on time. Which struck her as funny. The last time they dated, there was so much heat and insanity. The heat was still there, but the timing was off last time. Now, though, everything seemed to be lining up.

Jin shook her head at herself. She couldn't think that far ahead, especially with her PA missing. After checking to see if it was Adam, she opened the door.

"Let me get my sandals on. Are you on the bike? I didn't hear it."

"No, sorry." She had always loved going for rides on it when they dated before. "It was storming on the windward side this morning, so I brought my truck."

She nodded and followed him out. "You'll have to bring me back here. It's out of the way."

"Well, about that, Mom was wondering if you would come over for dinner."

She stopped in her tracks, and he turned to face her. "Tonight?"

Did her voice just squeak? When had that started? She seemed to keep doing that around Adam.

"She mentioned it at lunch today."

"That she wanted me to come over tonight?"

"No, just that she would like to meet you."

"And why would she ask that?"

"She asked me what I had been doing, and I told her I was working with you."

Jin's eyes narrowed as panic hit her square in the chest. "She invites other people over you work with?"

"Yes. Everyone on the team has been over to eat dinner with us. I called her after I got off the phone with you, and she said tonight would work."

Some of her terror receded. "Okay. So, she invited me over because we work together."

They started walking to the truck again. Once he helped her in, he went around to the driver's side and climbed in. That she could handle. She had never been into meeting families of her lovers—not that there had been a ton of those. Meeting Adam's family of women was important. She wanted time to prepare, so it would be easier if they thought she was a work friend.

* * *

Adam felt bad for lying. It was true that he had had everyone over for dinner at his house more than once. Autumn said she wanted to move in, but she ate like a hobbit. The woman had at least nine meals a day.

He had told his mother that he was working with Jin, but his mother was no fool. She'd picked up on his feelings and insisted on meeting Jin. He knew that part of the panic Jin showed was because of families. She didn't have much of one and never really met her lovers' families. Or that's what she had told him when they were dating before.

He held the door open for her and found most team members gathered around the big screen. "What's going on?"

Elle turned to him with a frown. "We have another strange connection to the cult."

"We do?" Jin asked.

"Yeah, just came up. Remember earlier this week, I had a DOA probable drug overdose? We didn't have a name."

"You do now?" Adam asked.

"Yes. Meet Raymond Reynolds," she said, waving toward the screen.

The pic was of the man's driver's license. He looked like he was in his fifties or sixties, but his skin sagged, and he had the look of a drug addict.

"I remember him," Autumn said. "He was a creep."

"Creep?" Seth Harrington said as his gaze landed on Autumn.

"Yeah. He got caught doing up-skirt kind of videos more than once. Also, he hogged the few sweets we would get."

And for Autumn, hogging food was a federal crime.

"Anything else?"

"Yeah, he was the photographer. He always had a camera, and I bet he's the one who took some of the photos we found. They looked official. Joseph would take pictures of people like Dylan to use to recruit other people. If you're a normal person and got the chance to brush elbows with the rich and famous?" She shrugged. "More than a few cults use that as a recruitment tool."

He nodded, working through all these connections. He might be out of line with his thinking, but Adam was starting to think something happened with that week Dylan was at the compound.

"Autumn, do you mind taking Jin down to see Charity. She needs help finding someone, and I thought having her in the office would be faster."

Also, safer. Joseph Watters might be gone, but there were still believers around. And some of them had done things to gain attention.

"I can see myself down there. I don't want to bother anyone."

"It isn't a bother. The food machines are down there," Autumn said.

"Also, it's protocol. I can't let you wander around the building."

Her eyes dimmed, but she nodded.

He resisted the urge to kiss her forehead and apologize. It was the truth. It still didn't make him feel any better. He watched them go.

"Don't worry. She won't hold that against you."

He glanced at Elle. "Still, it isn't fun being the taskmaster."

Understanding lit her eyes, and she nodded.

"Let's go to my office so you can sit down while you review things in the report."

"I can stand," she said, irritation filling her voice.

"I know you can, but I also know that if you get a body, you will need to stand on your feet for a long time. This way, you won't use up all your energy. Besides, my mother wouldn't be happy if she heard I had you standing around."

He knew he hit the right chord when her gaze softened. "Okay."

With a sigh, he tossed one more glance at Jin, who waved at him. Hopefully, she didn't take it as a slight and would still want to go to dinner tonight.

* * *

"Don't look like that," Autumn said as they stepped on the lift.

"What?"

"He trusts you. There has been a real crackdown on things throughout the state agencies."

"Yeah?"

She nodded. "There was some jerk who was getting in and somehow stealing social security info on all the state employees, so the Governor came up with this plan. Not bad, but Adam trusts you."

"He's taking me to his mother's house for dinner."

"Well, that's his house."

Yes. She knew he had moved back in to help a few years ago.

"You're lucky. I would eat there every day if I could. It's great to see normal people interact, and of course, the food."

She cocked her head and studied the woman. They were about the same age. She was taller than Jin, with wavy auburn hair and sea-green eyes. Jin knew Autumn had been undercover for a while, and she could understand how she had been good at it. She had that girl next door look about her. From what Elle said, she could kick ass in hand-to-hand fighting. Deceptive.

"You don't see yourself as normal?"

She snorted. "My insane mother married a cult leader, and I spent years undercover with the DEA. I left normal the moment I took my first breath."

"Your mother got you out of there."

"Yeah. But she let a bunch of other little girls be married off."

Jin glanced at her, surprised at the bitterness that laced Autumn's words.

"What? How would you feel if your mother didn't give a shit about any young girl—some as young as twelve—being married off until it was her daughter. It doesn't really make me feel all warm and fuzzy that mother was a sociopath."

"You think your mother was one?"

She nodded. "I know she was a cult member and definitely brainwashed, and that is a form of abuse, especially in the bounds of marriage. But it doesn't make it any easier knowing that my mother was like that."

Jin understood to a point. It was hard to understand your parents being like that. Hers were narcissistic jerks, but she was pretty sure they wouldn't join a cult and let young girls become child brides. At least, she hoped not.

The doors opened, and she stepped out, her nerves popping. The fact that Sam was missing was more than a little worrisome. Charity was waiting for her just inside her lab.

"Need anything from the machines?" Autumn asked.

Both she and Charity said no, so Autumn made her way down the hall.

"Come on in. I've been working on finding your Sam since Adam texted me. I found a few things."

She followed the woman through her lab. It was filled with equipment, some of which Jin knew about, and other stuff she had no idea about.

"So, I was looking into Sam and discovered that apart from working for you and her rental in San Antonio, there is no Sam Charles. Well, not a real one. She's a ghost."

"What?"

"Sam Charles is an alias and a good one. I mean, there are layers to her, but the only real things she has in her past are you and that house."

"That's…disturbing."

Her mind flipped back through the last few months. They seemed to have clicked from the moment they first talked to each other. She had been friends with Sam or thought she was. What the hell was happening?

Charity tapped on a few more keys, looking over things. "Oh, shit."

"What?" Worried, Jin moved closer to look at her screen.

"I need the boss down here.."

She typed a text to Adam.

Jin saw 911.

"Emergency?"

"Yeah, this…I need him down here."

The worry in Charity's voice sent ice cascading down Jin's spine. She had always thought that Charity was unflappable. Jin apparently was wrong. The nerves she saw in the other woman's eyes sent shards of ice spiraling through her blood.

It didn't take long before Adam strode off the lift with Graeme following him. Autumn finally rejoined them, munching on a chocolate bar of some sort.

"What's up?" she asked.

"We might have a really big problem. This alias?—"

"What alias?" Adam asked.

"Sam. She's not a real person, or that isn't her real name. It is a well-crafted legend."

"No way," Autumn said, stepping closer. "Let me see."

Jin stepped aside, confused. "Legend?" She had heard the term used before in her research. It was a backstory for spies, a constructed life that only existed on paper. "Like…she works for the CIA."

"SHHH! Do not say those letters around here," Autumn said.

Jin glanced at Adam, who rolled his eyes. "She doesn't like what she calls the Alphabet People."

"Alphabet People?"

Adam grinned. "She calls all the FEDs by that name."

Jin turned to Autumn. "Didn't you work for one of those groups?"

"Yeah. Why do you think I don't like them? This is definitely a ding-dong legend. Which means if we don't work carefully, we'll have the worst of the Alphabet People down here sticking their noses into our business."

She pulled out her phone.

"Who are you texting?" Adam asked.

"Ian. He's our best bet to finding out just what the hell Sam was up to."

Adam looked at Jin. She was sure she looked shell-shocked.

"You okay?"

"I'm not sure, to tell you the truth. This woman is my friend. Or I thought she was."

"You had no idea?"

She shook her head once again. Maybe if she kept shaking it, she would wake up from a bizarre dream.

"Okay, Ian can come over. He'll be here in twenty."

"That fast?"

Autumn nodded. "He was in the office today doing reports. Dillon Security is only about five minutes from here."

Her eyebrows went up. This Ian must have connections. Dillon Security was considered one of the best firms on Oahu, if not the whole Pacific Rim.

Everyone started shuffling out, but Adam stopped Jin in the hallway. "We'll be up in a minute, guys."

Once the elevator doors closed, she waited for the recriminations.

"How are you?"

She blinked. "What?"

"How are you doing with this information?"

She drew in a massive breath, then released it. "I-I'm not sure. I just…How could I have been so stupid?"

She started pacing. Embarrassment and…hurt. She was hurt that she thought this woman was her friend and she had used her.

"Come here."

She stopped pacing and looked at Adam. "What?"

He reached out and pulled her into his arms. "You weren't stupid. She was using a CIA-level legend. Those things are hard to detect."

"Charity found it in less than an hour."

"Charity is not a real human. She's like a witch. She also has some good connections and access to things you can't get into."

She chuckled, some of her worry slipping away. "Does she know you think she's a witch?"

"No. So don't tell her, or she might put a hex on me."

She pulled back just far enough to look up at him. He was such a good man. She didn't know how she got this lucky. "Thank you."

"Anytime. And I don't think that she was pretending to be your friend."

"Why do you say that?"

"Just a hunch. You're good at pulling people into your orbit."

"Not in the last few years."

"Wrong. TFH considers you o'hana. There is no escaping us now." He kissed her forehead. "Ready?"

Another deep breath in, she nodded. "Yeah."

He stepped back but kept hold of her hand. Jin punched the button for the elevator.

"You know that no matter what, I'm always here for you."

Tears burned the backs of her eyes. Never in all her life had there been one constant. Shipped back and forth between her parents, losing most of her friends after her abduction, but Adam was right. He had been the one constant in her life, the one person she could count on.

She blinked away the tears and squeezed his hand. "Same."