Silenced Read Free Page B

hand.
    Kerry handed Ivy her backpack and the gun. “I put some clothes and shoes in for you, and your purse.”
    Ivy realized everyone had had time to get dressed but her. “Thank you.” She quickly put on her tennis shoes and a T-shirt over her tank top.
    “Go,” Ivy told them. “Be careful. Trust no one. Keep your phones charged. I’ll call when I figure this out.”
    They left, avoiding streetlights and neighbors who now watched with curiosity and horror as the house on Hawthorne Street burned.
    Ivy glanced over her shoulder as the first fire truck rounded the corner. The red lights swirled and the siren died down as the truck whooshed to a stop.
    Ivy not only had to keep Sara safe and hidden from their father, she had to keep her alive.
    I’ll never let anyone hurt you, Sara. Never again.

 
    CHAPTER THREE
    The trail closest to where the female victim had been found was blocked off with crime scene tape and guarded by DC Metro cops. The FBI rarely attended homicides, but when the victim was the mistress of a sitting congressman whose affair was recently exposed in the press, the FBI took interest.
    Lucy Kincaid had spent the last two months working primarily as an analyst in the FBI office tracking online sex predators, so when her training agent, Noah Armstrong, asked her to join him in the field, she was both excited and nervous.
    “Slater is heading up the squad on this one,” Noah told her as he showed his identification to the cop who blocked the trail. “I’m point.”
    Supervisory Special Agent Matt Slater was Noah’s immediate supervisor and directed the Evidence Response Teams out of the DC Regional Office. He’d made it clear to Lucy from her first day in the office that she wasn’t a field agent yet .
    “Are you sure this is okay with him?” Lucy kept up with Noah’s long strides as they walked up the gently sloping trail through the middle of Rock Creek Park. She’d run in the park many times, though never on this particular trail, which was close to the condos and apartments on Massachusetts. The park could be dangerous, but most runners kept to well-traveled trails, ran in pairs or groups, and didn’t get caught in the park after sunset. There were more patrols now and a steady police presence, but no law enforcement agency could cover all two thousand acres of the park all the time.
    Noah stopped walking, glanced around to make sure no one was within earshot, and kept his voice low. “We’re operating with reduced staff and resources, and everyone is antsy because of the victim’s connection to Congress. Slater told me to bring in an analyst.”
    “You didn’t tell him it was me.” She hated the insecurity of her position. She was in limbo, neither an agent nor a civilian. Three weeks and it would be a moot point, but she didn’t want to do anything that might jeopardize her admission into the FBI Academy.
    “It’s my call, you’re qualified, plus ERT certified.” He started back up the trail. “I’ll handle Slater, but this isn’t going to be a problem.”
    Lucy followed Noah, hoping he was right. She didn’t know why SSA Slater made her nervous.
    Trust your instincts, Luce.
    She heard her boyfriend Sean’s voice in her head, reminding her that her instincts were usually good, at least when it came to murder.
    What that said about her, she wasn’t certain, but she hoped it would help bring justice for Wendy James.
    Three weeks ago, in a big front-page article, Congressman Alan Crowley had been exposed as having an affair with the much younger, beautiful Wendy James, secretary for a powerful DC lobbying firm. In typical politician fashion, Crowley had denied the affair, then claimed it was private, between him and his wife of twenty-eight years, then said he was sorry and asked for forgiveness.
    Some people were calling for Crowley’s head, others complaining what he did was no worse than any other politician, and still others were using the events to highlight that the