Lauren’s drunken smile quickly vanished. It was as if she could will the alcohol out of her system and seamlessly reenter boss mode.

“You know, Dana, I never thought I would have another deputy after Ella. I figured that she’d stay with me until I passed the mantle of leadership to her. And I liked the idea, to tell you the truth. But the dynamic between us was a mother-daughter-type thing. I brought her in when she was very junior, and there was so much she had to learn. Not just about the Bureau either, but about navigating her way around . . . life, really. I talked to her about her boyfriends, her relationship with her father, and how she felt about losing her mother so young, which gave her responsibility for her younger sister. And . . . well, you know how that story ended, with the tragedy concerning her sister’s murder. Don’t get me wrong, I liked being a role model for her. I see now that, with you, exactly what you told me you wanted when you interviewed is what I’ve been missing too—being part of a true team. Not a chief and deputy, but equals running this group. And I swear to you, Dana, the bad guys better watch out, because we’re going to be unstoppable.”

She made quick eye contact with me, but when I smiled back at her, she turned away, clicking her pen and looking down at the paper in front of her. “But now we have to put it down on paper.”

She began to read from the form. “Rate subject one to ten on the following . . . first . . . intelligence.” She looked up at me. “That’s a ten.”

“You’re not really going to do this in front of me, are you?”

Lauren smiled and then looked back down at the evaluation form. “Number two . . . dedication to her job. Gotta go again with . . . ten.”

“Are you sure you want to do this?” I said although I knew I wasn’t going to stop her.

“Number three. Relationships with coworkers.”

Lauren looked at me as if she wanted me to grade myself.

“Well, considering I’m drunk with my boss filling out my evaluation . . .”

“Right . . . maybe I need to give you an eight there.”

“Hey!” I shouted.

“Just kidding. I already put down ten. Okay, last one. Overall, how do you rate this person?”

I waited, feeling my heart race even though I wasn’t the least bit nervous about her evaluation. She teased me by withholding her rating for a minute. Then, when her mock deliberations had gone on so long that I was about to beg her to tell me, she said, “I’m going to keep that to myself for a little while longer, I think. Can’t give everything away on the first date, right?”