Until It's You (17 page)

His eyes went back down to the sheet. "And she knows these were all with Fordelli?"

"That is what she claimed," she said quickly. "I guess she went with a P.I. that wasn't me for reasons of sensitivity."

Landon took a deep breath, then breathed out slowly. He shook his head, his face set in hard lines. "Doesn't work," he said. "I think she's lying."

"Why?"

"This feels out of character." He pressed his mouth into a thin line, still thinking. "Have you done much research into Dunn's political connections?"

"Some. It seems she knows a lot of people. Not surprising for a businessperson like her."

"Maybe you can get a line on the P.I. she was using. Or something on that track. It seems very strange she would have this list and then set you on her partner. If it was sensitive before, it's even more sensitive now."

Kristina nodded. After their earlier intimacy, it felt strange to take orders from him, but doing so was the likeliest way out of this mess that she could see.

"By the way," she said. "Bruman was in Dunn's office when I went in today."

Landon froze, then shook his head. "Not too strange. They always got along well. I think you should stick with the aspects I mentioned before."

"Okay. Do you want me to get to work on that now or can I finish my dinner?"

This time he froze for several seconds, the dark slashes of his brows pointed up.

She laughed self-consciously, her heart fluttering with embarrassment. "That was a joke," she said weakly.

Slowly, his shock melted and his handsome face returned to its more natural state. "I can be like that," he said by way of apology.

"It's fine. We do need to get back to work, though." She gave him a pointed look. "Without any distractions. My brother could wake up any minute."

He raised his hands up in surrender. "I wouldn't think of it."

She spent another hour delving into anything she could connect Dunn to politically. She found some leads—mostly to business groups promoting different industries in the city—but nothing that looked like a red flag. Not surprising. If Dunn
was
up to something, she wouldn't leave it in an obvious way.

After that hour, she decided she was at an impasse, so she used another of the dyes she'd bought at Walgreens to change her hair to chestnut brown. It was awful for the health of her hair, she knew, but too many people had seen her with the gray. The current shade wasn't too much darker than her natural dirty blonde, but it was still enough to be different.

Once she'd washed the dye out, she plopped down on the couch next to Landon and got back to work. Her comm vibrated an alert as she sat down.

Tom had come out of REM.

She shot back up, skipped over Landon's long, outstretched legs and rushed to the bedroom where Tom was just stirring from sleep. He looked dazed, his eyes having a hard time with focus. Landon came behind her and they got him talking pretty quickly. He was okay. His only real problem was he was starving.

Thanks to Landon, they had just the thing. She warmed up his burger and fries in the oven for him so he could have a little something. He ate it up quickly, and after another half hour of idle chit-chat he ended up asleep in the bed again.

Kristina slept on the couch, and Landon—at her request, because of the presence of her brother—slept on the floor. He didn't seem to mind.

***

The next morning, Kristina sat on a Brown Line train headed for her office. The sun was out, visible through the eastern windows as it shone off the windows of passing buildings. Passengers gradually filled the train up as they made it further down the line toward the heart of the city. It was rush hour, so the car crowded until it was standing room only, but it never got quite packed. Still, though, she felt nearly as sick as she had when she had the Agent Smith in her veins.

Or not Agent Smith. The other stuff, whatever it was. Landon and Tom hadn’t given her a name for the corrected substance.

It didn’t matter. None of it mattered. All that mattered now was the fact she couldn’t get the sensation of the sex she’d had with Landon out of her mind. Past her senses, still tingling with the feel of him.

It had started as soon as she'd woken up. That "oh what did I do" panic that she typically associated with drunken mistakes after a night out. This was different-she hadn't been drinking, and Landon was much more handsome than even the best-looking of her mishaps—but there was something else there. Something she couldn't put her finger on, but couldn't shake.

It was strange, too, because she had interacted with him for hours after the sex. That hadn't felt weird. But now, with the afterglow gone, she was freaking out.

So she'd gotten ready quickly—with Landon and Tom both still sleeping—and cleared out. This was a time to talk to Anna.

She sat on the train, in the conflicted bliss of sex that might be regrettable and yet might not be truly regretted, and watched the city roll by as she went downtown. Another part of her mind toyed idly with what she should do next for her investigation.

Her research the previous night on Dunn's political connections hadn't turned up much. Even after a night of thinking on it, she had almost nothing. She'd founded the Chicago Economic Freedom group with the city's biggest plastic surgeon, and that had the most unknowns. Not exactly earth-shattering, but the group's profile was surprisingly low for something supposedly focused on promoting a cause.

She would keep digging, but for now it looked like she'd gotten all the low-hanging fruit.

That left Brantley. If she could confirm at least one meeting with Fordelli, she might have something. That presented two potential ways to follow up: she could either confront Brantley—delicate, given the way she had come into the information in the first place—or she could follow up on Fordelli’s end.

Starting with Fordelli would be safest. For one, she needed to confirm that the appointments Dunn had given her were even genuine. For all she knew, Dunn was trying to set Brantley up. For what, she had no idea, but it couldn’t be ruled out yet. Landon certainly seemed suspicious.

Second, Brantley could be an asshole pretty quickly. And she worked with him. 

She was still pondering when the train came to a stop at Merchandise Mart. Kristina got up from her seat, off the train, and walked through the station. The halls passed by in a blur, feeling less claustrophobic than they had felt in days. Brighter, in fact, like all the paint was fresh. The swirl of aeros passed her by like bits of conversation in a crowded bar.

Soon, she was out of the station and onto the sidewalk. The rest of the journey to the Dunn-Brantley building passed by as if to someone else. Before she knew it, she was at the building’s doors.

It was then, finally, that she snapped back to reality. Was she planning to just march up there, leaving a trail with her ID card and everything else? What had been the point of changing her hair?

No. She needed to call Anna. Of course. Praying she had gotten into the office as early as she normally did, Kristina called Anna's comm.

Anna picked up quickly. “Kris?”

Big, relieved exhale. “I need you to let me up again.”

“Is everything alright?”

“I...no. Yes. I don’t know. Can you let me up?”

“Okay...I’ll be right down.”

Kristina looked around while she waited at the front door. Decided to play on her comm to look busy and attract a little less attention. Not that she expected anyone to pay much attention to her. But maybe.

Her comm buzzed in her hand as she looked down at it idly. A message from Landon popped up.

Everything okay?

She looked up as her cheeks flushed. Landon was worried about her and Anna was approaching from inside. He’d have to wait.

Anna wore a light gray blazer with red silk trim and black slacks. Pretty bold for the office.

She shoved the comm into her pocket just as Anna opened the door. Landon could wait at least a little while. 

“Hi!” she said perkily. “Thanks for waiting. Let me get you signed in.”

She was playing the part, anyway. Kristina was thankful for that, as it gave her time to regroup. She followed her friend as she fussed over getting her through security then into an elevator, which they shared with another couple of lawyers. The ride up was quiet, and Kristina spent it looking at her toes and thinking about Landon’s text.

She was in so far over her head. Why did she do this? Why had she rushed out this morning and made things even more awkward?

Dimly, a part of her mind became aware that they had come to the correct floor. Anna took her by the elbow and guided her out, still acting the part. But a quick side-eyed glance told Kristina all she needed to know. Anna knew something was up, and she was preparing an ambush. Better be ready.

They walked through the bland walls of the office until they came to Anna’s office. Anna opened the door, ushered Kristina in, and closed it. Then she spun around and faced Kristina eye to eye.

“Holy shit,” Anna said, her face tense. “What the hell is going on?”

A burning sensation went down Kristina’s throat and through her chest. “What do you mean?”

“I don’t know, you tell me! You're like, totally dazed. Did something happen to Tom?”

“No. No, everyone is fine now.”

“Now? I'm dying here, Kristina.”

Kristina took a deep breath and decided to cut to the chase. “Okay. Lots of stuff happened, but honestly, the reason I look like this because Landon and I had sex.” She straightened up in her chair. “On the couch in the apartment he has us staying in.”

Anna’s reeled back like Kristina had just slapped her. Her jaw dropped. “Landon Tatum? On the couch?”

“He seduced me.”

Anna laughed, her whole body shaking with a big, dumb smile on her face. It took her a little while to recover. "And you didn’t even make it to the bed?”

Kristina shook her head.

“So how was it? He’s not one of those rich weirdos, is he?"

Kristina took a deep breath. “No, it was...I just, you know, it seems so inappropriate to be thinking about sex when I’m sitting here in a disguise in your office because I am too scared to use mine.”

Anna’s face softened. “I'm sorry, I shouldn't be pushing it."

"No!" Kristina cried. "It's not you. I mean I brought it up. Please don't apologize."

"Well do you want to talk about it or not?"

"I...I don't know. I don't, but it's just...I don't know what's happening to my mind."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean my thoughts are
soaked
with him."

"That good, huh? Do you think it's...I don't know, more than a one-time thing?"

A chill went down Kristina's spine. She didn't want to think about that. "I don't know," she said. "It's not like, I mean...we don't exactly run in the same circles."

"So? I mean, he could ask you out."

"He could. I don't know, there's so many other parts of the future that are kind of terrifying above and beyond whether Landon Tatum wants to date me or just hang out and have sex."

"I guess that's true."

"He's not even my type anyway! At first I thought I was just into him because of the stupid pharm I got poisoned with, but now it seems that's not the case and it's like I don't even know who I am anymore."

Anna shrugged. "Maybe you're just a person who finally found someone they really, truly mesh with. Maybe that changes someone a little bit, and maybe that's a good thing. You shouldn't overthink this. Nobody knows exactly who they are all the time."

Kristina's heart did a flip, and she stared back at Anna. "Is this some kind of yoga being-in-touch stuff?"

"It's what I think."

Kristina swallowed hard, her mind fuzzing out. Finally, she blinked and shook her head hard, trying to move on. She needed to check up on Brantley. "Okay. Food for thought. I need to get a move on though. I'll be back in a few."

Anna nodded. "I have a lunch meeting at noon, so make it back before then."

"Will do."

Kristina rose from her seat and walked from Anna’s office into the bland, corporate office halls of Dunn-Brantley. Her mind spun over what Anna had said as she walked. If this was normal, why was she so convinced it was strange? Was she just that stupid when it came to men?

She took a deep breath and tried to forget it. That wasn't important right now. At all. What
was
important was figuring out how she was going to sweet talk Brantley's secretary Stephanie into helping her verify the list of dates she'd gotten from Dunn.

By the time she arrived at Stephanie's desk, she still didn't have an answer. She'd just have to wing it.

“Stephanie?” she said lightly.

Stephanie looked up from her desk. She wore a sleeveless lime green blouse and had her blond hair tied tightly back just as she had the previous day. “Yes. Can I help you?”

“Is Mr. Brantley in?” Kristina asked.

“He’s not. Do you want to leave a message?”

Kristina leaned forward conspiratorially. “No thank you. Actually, I think you might be able to help me.”

Stephanie hesitated. “How is that?” she asked slowly.

"I have some information related to what we'd talked about earlier."

"I don't believe I know what you mean."

"I'm just wondering if you can go back in the logs of Mr. Brantley's schedule and let me know if he has any conflicting appointments for a few dates."

Stephanie stared at Kristina briefly, her eyes narrow and yet without any lines in her face at all. "Is Mr. Brantley under investigation?"

"Not officially, no. I just want to check a few things out."

Stephanie shook her head and touched a spot on the desk, lighting up a circle around the space. A mask came over her features. "I'm sorry, but I really cannot help you. Would you like to leave a message?"

Kristina took a deep breath. So much for that. "Yes. Tell him the investigation into Tatum's whereabouts is going well and I believe I will have a result very soon."

Stephanie looked at her quizzically, but tapped the desk again. "Will that be all?"

"Yes," Kristina said. She'd have to find another way to look at Brantley's schedule. "Thanks, and let me know if you change your mind. I'll be in touch."

With that, she turned and headed back for Anna's office. That had been a bust. At this point, she didn't have a lot of other options. She would have to investigate from Fordelli's side.

She considered that proposition and she walked back to Anna's office. Investigating Fordelli would be very difficult for her, especially without any setup time. If she even had a couple of weeks this would be a no-brainer, but putting together an op to talk to him on short notice would be very risky at best. 

She made it to Anna's door. It was time to escalate things.