The Girl Next Door (Shadow Agents #6)(32)
Author: Cynthia Eden

That file was labeled Striker.

She expected to find more notes within that file. Instead, she found data on—Cooper.

Military records. She had no idea how Hugh had gotten access to these files. Lane had tried and come up empty-handed.

Should have known Hugh would be more resourceful. Somehow, he’d managed to get access to sealed records. Hugh had contacts in all the right—and wrong—places.

She leaned forward as she read the service details. Cooper had joined the Air Force the day after he graduated from Yale. She scanned through the file, noting the commendations, the awards.

There’d been so much training for him. The notations were seemingly endless. Combat Dive School. Army Airborne certification. Military Free Fall Parachutist. He’d been on a special tactics team, and even gone in for Advanced Skills Training.

Her fingers trembled as she clicked the mouse. No wonder the guy could move so soundlessly. He was some kind of super soldier.

Then she saw that Cooper’s service ended five years ago. Ended…with an annotation that said Cooper Marshall had been killed in the line of duty.

Her breath choked out.

Killed?

Of course, he hadn’t been killed. He was alive and well, and right down the hall in the conference room.

But Hugh had scanned a death certificate. It was right there for her to see, plain as day.

According to those files—files that clearly had a “Confidential” stamp on top of each page, Cooper Marshall was a dead man. There was even a picture of him included. A younger version of Cooper, but definitely him.

She pulled the cursor down and reached the last page of the file.

Hugh had written a note to her.

According to my source, Cooper Marshall is a ghost. Watch your back with him. This story—these murders are all about the EOD.

You’re the reporter covering the kills, and all of a sudden, Marshall is shadowing you. He lives in your building, he has access to you…

I think your “guard” knows a whole lot more than we do. Be careful with him.

He was connecting dots that she should have connected herself.

But she’d been blind.

Sometimes, you couldn’t see the enemy that was right in front of your face.

Or in your bed.

She scrolled back up and read the details of his “death” one more time. Cooper Marshall had been attempting to rescue a downed pilot behind enemy lines in Afghanistan. He’d gotten that pilot to safety, but Cooper had sustained extensive injuries. He’d died before making it back to base.

Gabrielle’s fingers rubbed together as she remembered the scars that marked Cooper’s stomach and chest. He had been injured, grievously. But he hadn’t died.

“Look, I get that you’re into her,” Penelope’s sharp voice called out, “but give the woman a minute of privacy. I told you already that Gabrielle is going to join us—”

She shut the file and jerked out that flash drive. Her heart raced in her chest as Gabrielle shot up from the chair.

And came face-to-face with a dead man.

Chapter Nine

To be dead, he looked incredibly good. Damn him.

But she had to look shaken because Cooper frowned at her. His hand came up and skimmed her cheek. “What’s wrong?”

Have you been lying to me?

She should have put the puzzle pieces together sooner. Gabrielle felt like a fool as she stared up at the man she’d made love with just hours before.

“Gabrielle?”

She slid around him.

Penelope was staring at her with wide eyes, and just behind the entertainment reporter, another woman was also watching her. This woman had dark red hair and a sharp gaze.

Gabrielle’s stare swept over the redhead. With that suit, yes, she would’ve instantly pegged the lady as FBI.

“I have some questions for you,” the redhead said.

“What a coincidence,” Gabrielle muttered right back. “I’ve got my share of those, too.”

She didn’t glance at Cooper as she headed for the conference room. There were too many eyes and ears on them at that moment. It would be far better to have this conversation in private.

Penelope tried to follow them back into the conference room, but the FBI agent firmly shut the door—well, pretty much in the other woman’s face.

Gabrielle’s eyes narrowed. “I didn’t catch your name,” she said to the lady.

“Noelle Evers.” Noelle offered her a brief smile as she marched toward the conference table. Some folders and a notepad were already spread out there. “And I’m here to learn more about your recent phone call with—”

“The D.C. Striker?” Gabrielle finished for her.

“If that’s what you want to call him,” Noelle agreed, but she didn’t sound impressed with the name.

“She’s a profiler,” Cooper said as he took the seat near Noelle. “She’s here to help the cops catch this guy.”

Gabrielle still stood. Her knees had locked on her, so she wasn’t even sure that she could sit. “Have the two of you met before?” Suspicion made her ask that question.

And then it happened. Cooper immediately said, “No,” but the agent’s eyelids jerked, just a little bit. Noelle glanced quickly at Cooper, then away.

Gabrielle’s back teeth clenched. A profiler should learn to be better at hiding her emotions.

But that little tell had convinced Gabrielle that she had to press a bit more. “It’s all about the EOD.”

No emotion crossed Cooper’s face. Oh, so that’s when he does that. The emotion vanished each time he kept a secret from her.

“I don’t think I understand,” Noelle began carefully. She motioned to the nearby chair. “Why don’t you sit down? Then we can really talk.”

Gabrielle felt like they were talking just fine. It wasn’t like sitting improved a conversation. “Why isn’t Detective Carmichael with you? If you’re here investigating the killer, shouldn’t the local cops be helping you?” But Lane hadn’t even given her a heads-up about the profiler.

The whole scene felt wrong. Gabrielle wasn’t going to ignore her instincts any longer.

Noelle glanced over at Cooper once more. What is she doing? It almost looked as if the profiler were waiting to follow Cooper’s lead.

Cooper was staring straight back at Gabrielle. A faint furrow dipped between his brows.

“Right now,” Noelle finally said, “the FBI is assisting the local authorities. It may become necessary for us to take over the investigation, but at this point, I’m just attempting to gather more data about our suspect.”