Return of the Dixie Deb Read Free Page B

anticipate. She propped her head on her arm.
    “We’ve got a map here of some locations you can investigate. We’d like the two of you to scout them out tomorrow.” Whittaker gave a nod in her direction. “Give us your feedback and we’ll get the local bank people on board.” He pulled a map out of his folder and spread it on the desk. “You can see we’re including northern Alabama along with Georgia. I’ve circled some possibilities for you.”
    Derossiers came over to kneel beside her chair as Mac took the map.
    “How you doing?” His gray-brown eyes were concerned.
    “I wish this were over.”
    “Yeah, I hear you. Hopefully, it won’t be too long. I’m going to be shadowing you two as your local contact. Assistant Director Whittaker will be going back to the Atlanta office.”
    She nodded glumly. She’d go back to Atlanta too if she had a chance to get away from a hundred degree heat, humidity, and bank customers armed with pepper spray.
    At the desk, Mac was folding Whittaker’s map.
    “Ready to go, Special Agent Derossiers?” his supervisor asked.
    “I’m going to hang out here for a while and go over some things with Agent McKenzie. He can give me a lift back to where we’re staying, sir.”
    Whittaker gave a curt nod as he gathered up his things.
    “I can imagine how nerve-racking all this must be.” Derossiers touched her arm. “But Mac and I started out together at Quantico. I feel like I’ve always known him. You couldn’t have a better man at your side.”
    He rose easily as Mac got the door for their boss.
    She closed her eyes as Mac and his friend picked up the pizza boxes and pop cans.
    “I’m getting rid of the trash, Jan,” Mac said.
    She nodded, trying to relax as the door clicked behind them. The air conditioning unit was making sounds of protest. Jan held a hand in front of the vents. The output seemed half-hearted at best.
    Great . After spending most of the day in a non-air-conditioned car, were they going to be facing a similar night? Despite the heavy-handed way the government had pushed participation in this investigation, they didn’t seem to mind cutting corners. She didn’t think Whittaker and Derossiers would be spending the night in economy accommodations. Or stuck in the same room.
    Her pop was lukewarm. She looked around. There was a foam ice bucket on the shelf below the television. Picking it up, she grabbed a room key and let the door click behind her.
    The outside temperature didn’t seem any worse than inside the room. She drew a breath and wrinkled her nose. Somewhere close by was a vehicle with a serious oil leak.
    “…thought you had given those up, man.” She could hear Derossiers’ voice from the parking lot.
    Mac and his friend were standing with their backs to her beside the car. From the scent of cigarette smoke, she could guess what Derossiers was talking about. She made a face. Turning the corner into an alcove, she found an ice machine humming as if it were about to conk out and shoved her bucket into the opening.
    “…again when I was in Italy and things went sour.” Mac’s voice drifted in.
    “Yeah, it had to be a hard time for the two of you.”
    She pushed the button. There was the rumble of ice, but the cascade of falling cubes sent her bucket rolling on the concrete floor.
    She muttered something and bent to retrieve her bucket.
    “I’ll give them up again, once I get through this crap. What’s Whittaker calling it? Operation Double D? Sounds like we’re after a bunch of lap dancers.”
    “I know it’s a lousy break. Another one. I feel sorry for the girl. She seems like a nice gal, way out of her element.”
    “Yeah, we both got caught up in Whittaker’s obsession about closing his one cold case.”
    She put the bucket back under the slot and steadied it with her hand. She paused, her hand on the button. Okay, she was eavesdropping, but what the heck? Add it to her other crimes and misdemeanors.
    “It’s the last