Federal Affair

Chapter 10

I stared, wide-eyed, at the heavy material in my hands. FBI? Why did Nick have a federal agent's jacket? My curiosity ran wild provoking me to feel inside the pockets. There was nothing in the two front pockets but inside the jacket I found another pocket with something hard in it. I pulled the object out, realizing it was a black leather wallet. The same wallet Nick had flashed Kelly at the hotel. I had to know what had made her eyes widen like that.

I opened the wallet. Inside was the culprit: a shiny gold badge and an ID with big blue block letters that said F.B.I. It had a picture of Nick and below it was his name, Nicholas Granger.

I nearly dropped the wallet out of shock. What the hell had I just discovered? Nick was an FBI agent?

I quickly placed it back inside the jacket pocket and folded the jacket back over the arm of the couch just like it had been when I found it. I suddenly wasn't hungry anymore.

Shock hummed through my veins. I thought I'd had enough on my mind, worrying about things with Derek. I thought cheating was my biggest problem. Now I didn't know what to think. If Nick was an FBI agent, why the hell was he working as an attorney for Hampton, Burns and Hampton? Was he undercover?

I wondered if the feds had an ongoing investigation that one of the firm's cases pertained to. I wondered if Nick had been assigned to investigate an attorney or client. I wondered if it had anything to do with Derek's firm at all. What if Nick was investigating the firm I worked for? Maybe that's why he picked me out of the crowd when he could've had any other woman at that party - especially single women. But if that was the case, if Nick was investigating me or someone I worked with, it didn't make sense to me why he would be working at Hampton, Burns and Hampton. Why not go undercover at my firm?

My head was spinning with questions but I didn't dare let Nick know I knew, for fear he'd blow up at me for sticking my nose where it damn sure didn't belong.

But what if all this - the sex, dinner, everything - was all an act to help him further his work? What if I was being played like a fiddle? What if Nick actually didn't care about me at all?

I decided to do a little investigating of my own. I remembered the texts I'd read on Nick's phone the morning before where he'd been talking to a detective. I itched to get my hands on his phone again but I knew it was too risky to try sneaking it away from him when he could wake up any minute and catch me snooping. Instead, I opted for the next best thing.

I tiptoed down the hall to what appeared to be his at-home office and quietly turned the knob, trying to avoid making noise as I sneaked inside room.

There were two filing cabinets, a desk, a bookcase, and a nightstand being used as a printer table. My eyes zeroed in on Nick's computer lying on the desk and I walked over to it, taking a seat and opening the computer.

Of course, his laptop was password protected. What did I expect? I knew it would be a miracle if I cracked the code, but I tried and tried until the system locked me out for too many unsuccessful attempts.

Thinking I might find something in one of the filing cabinets, I went to the first one, a tall oak unit with four drawers. Each one was labeled with letters in alphabetical order. I opened the first drawer, trying to be as quiet as possible. Inside were tons of manila folders. I tried to determine which drawer or file might have something to do with me. I picked up the first folder, flipping through the papers. It contained information on a homicide from three years ago. I put the file back in its place, feeling my stomach churn from seeing the gruesome photos. It seemed like Nick had everything ordered by the last name of whomever the file was on. I decided to look at the drawer with the letter D for my last name, Donovan.