“You would’ve done well at this job,” Annabel said. “And I have no right to ask, but how did you know someone tried getting to you through Hannah?”

She glanced at Emma, and Emma squeezed her fingers again. “Let’s face it, Agent Hicks,” Emma said. “If an adult had talked to our child without my permission, I wouldn’t have needed Cain. I would’ve personally made that person sorry.”

“A child?” Shelby asked as if she had never considered that.

“Lucy Kennison became Hannah’s best friend and spent a lot of time in our home. As of the school break for Mardi Gras, Lucy has been removed from the school, and we’ve never heard from her again.” Emma gave them the information without embellishment.

Shelby wrote that name down. “The problem is that Lucy, along with her parents Drew and Taylor Kennison, doesn’t exist. Not before they enrolled Lucy in school and positioned her to get close to Hannah. Lucy is who told Hannah that if she didn’t do what her parents wanted they couldn’t be friends. Which meant planting a bug only big agencies use.” Cain made a fist and bumped her knee with it. “People don’t have such elaborate backstories or tech without help. Your kind of help, before they go undercover.”

“And you had no idea about any of this?” Emma sounded skeptical.

“Not every agent is perfect, Mrs. Casey, and not every operation is made known to us,” Annabel said. “Sometimes different agents work on operations that overlap, but we don’t communicate about them.”

“But you have that little inkling in your gut that points in one direction, don’t you?”

“I can’t speculate,” Annabel said. “It does seem incredibly coincidental, though. But you have a way of dealing with problems internally, and I can’t take that chance if I’m wrong.”

“I’m not an animal, Annabel, and we’re done here.” She threw two twenties on the table and pulled out Emma’s chair for her. “The smart play here was to ask me who I thought it was. Not what I was going to do about it.”

“I guess it’s too late for that—although if you do have an idea, that would save some time,” Annabel said. “But if there are rogue agents playing outside the rules, again, then I want it stopped, and I want it done without bloodshed. Yours or ours.”

“I’m not unforgiving, extra Special Agent Hicks. Shelby and Joe will tell you that, but today isn’t the day for that.” She buttoned her overcoat and handed Annabel one of her cards. “Let me think about the best way we can do this and stay out of each other’s way. Once we’ve established the ground rules, we might get somewhere.”