Sapphire

Chapter 32

Shay Warner, daughter of Louis and Deborah Warner. They were 26 when they adopted her, and lawyers at a firm called Theodore and Warner. After ten years of working there, the business went bankrupt following a lawsuit costing them millions. That's when the drugs started, when Shay was 10 and Louis was found with a small bag of cocaine. Not enough to get him in big trouble, but enough to put a stain on his previously clean record.

As Alec read through her file again, he looked for details he may have missed the first time around. He did find out that her biological parents were dead, or at least Maria Williams was. She was seventeen when she gave birth to Shay and a father wasn't listed, causing Alec to assume that he wasn't in the picture for long.

The thing he really wanted to look into though was the nature of her adopted parents' death. Shay said they were murdered, that someone in the house even confessed to it, but it wasn't something that any authority had mentioned in their reports. It was an open and close case when they found the two parents on the floor with vomit coming out of their mouths, drugs scattered around the trailer while fourteen year-old Shay was curled up in a corner.

Unfortunately for him, no autopsy had been ordered and they'd been cremated years ago. If there was any evidence of poison, there was no way he could find it now. Val would know to cover her tracks, so all he was looking at was a dead end.

Still, it was good to know.

"Have you heard from her?" Cristina Ramirez, the 29 year-old agent that had taken Kowalski's place was standing over him as he poured through the files at the desk in the living room. She had a cup of coffee in her hand, her long black curls pushed out of her face with a bobby pin off to the side.

"She updated me a couple of days ago. Said they put her on a mission." Alec reported.

"That's it? Nothing else?"

"She also agreed to meet with me today." Alec offered, spinning around to face her from his chair. "So you'll finally get to meet her." Cristina had made one thing clear since joining Alec, and that was that she wanted to do this mission on her terms. She had no trust in him and constantly pushed to meet Shay claiming that as a female, she could establish a better relationship with her than he ever could. Especially since he had slept with her, a detail Cristina never failed to emphasize.

"That's excellent. When?" Cristina inquired.

"In an hour I think."

Alec continued researching until he heard her faint knock on their door almost exactly an hour later. Cristina was the one who answered it, having spent her time pacing around the apartment, waiting just for this moment.

"Hi." Shay said when she saw the stranger in front of her. Dressed in running apparel, Shay glanced over at Alec in question before looking back at the dark-haired woman. "You must be the new partner."

Cristina nodded. "You must be the infamous Shay Warner."

"Yep."

Alec stood and walked over to them as they shook hands. Then Cristina smiled again, though it didn't even come close to reaching her eyes.

"What happened to Kowalski?" Shay inquired.

"He left us." Alec replied.

"You must not have a lot of time so we should probably just get right to it. Anything new to report?" Cristina said, getting straight to the point.

"I've just been laying low the past couple of days trying to get my bearings."

"No missions yet?" Cristina probed.

"A minor one."

"One involving domestic violence at Greg McAuley's house, I assume?" Alec clarified, having taken note of her movements. When he looked into the details of what happened at that house, he was surprised that Val went for something so low-profile when most of her other cases had involved high-value targets. Then again, this was only Shay's first.

"Yeah. I'll probably get something more intense after this." Shay replied.

"They're not gonna have you kill him?"

"Just surveillance."

"Tell us about that room Val showed you." Cristina interjected.

Shay hesitated, which both agents took note of. "The case she showed me had to do with a guy that worked for Marconi. I think his last name was Guerra or something, and they stopped him."

"Stopped him? What do you mean?" Cristina asked.

Again, Shay hesitated. She got this way every time Alec asked her for details about Val. Her loyalties seemed to still be placed elsewhere, though he wasn't sure where. Not entirely with Ms. Briggs but not completely against her either. "She didn't clarify."

Alec glanced at Cristina and saw her brown eyes were narrowed as she spoke with an accusing tone. "You're holding back, aren't you?"

"No, I just don't have all of the answers." Shay's tone was defensive.

"Or maybe you don't want to get them in trouble." Cristina accused. "Which is strange, considering they killed your parents and about fifty other innocent people."

Shay narrowed her eyes. "Most of them aren't innocent."

"You sure about that?"

"No."

Cristina took a step closer to Shay and glared down at her. "Valerie Briggs is a criminal. By lying to us, you are aiding and abetting. Don't keep adding to the list of things that'll get you in trouble." 

"I'm doing what I can, ok?" Shay persisted.

"Do better."

Since both of them looked about ready to fight each other, Alec took it upon himself to step between them in an effort to diffuse the situation. "Shay, thank you for the intel. Keep me updated and we'll meet again in a few days, ok?"

Shay's eyes were still narrowed at Cristina but she eventually nodded and turned back to him. "Fine." Then she looked at the new agent again and curtseyed, a mocking gesture that was coupled with heavy sarcasm. "Nice to meet you, Ramirez."

Then she went to the door and stepped outside, leaving the two agents alone in their shared apartment. Alec let a moment of silence pass before he faced her, still confused and annoyed with how that meeting went.

"What was that all about?" Alec demanded.

Cristina crossed her arms. "She was pissing me off."

"What happened to you having a better relationship since you're a girl? You barely even tried."

"I got caught up in the moment. She's obviously not on our side. Surely you can see that."

"Yeah I can, but we have no choice but to continue. At the very least, we can track her. Maybe she'll lead us to some evidence accidentally." 

Cristina nodded. "Hope so." 

Next chapter we've got a bit of flirting followed by some action. What kind of action, you ask? Well, I guess you'll have to see :p