The Fall of East: Book 3 in the Hear No Evil Trilogy, Malone, Nana [inspiring books for teens txt] 📗

Amelia shook her head. "I did look into it, but I can't figure it out. I don’t have access to those files at all, not even with my clearance.”

I shrugged. “Being MI5, I could have gotten clearance, but not without raising a million flags. The best I can guess, is that it's an Elite thing. Lord Jameson has been marked as a very important person. Maybe he pulled a few Elite strings."

Then Amelia frowned and turned to me. "Actually, come to think of it, that photo I looked into for you, that witness, the C.I. She's got the same protections on her name. I tried to see if I could pull info on her, but I can't access it."

I frowned. "You don't have clearance?"

She shook her head. "No. No clearance at all where her name is concerned."

"Jesus, who is she?"

Telly frowned. "Uh-uh, you guys don't get to have secrets. Girl time equals share time."

I quickly brought Livy, Bryna, and Telly up to speed on the file that Theroux wanted me to investigate.

Livy leaned forward. "Oh, you're getting my research nose all twitchy."

I laughed. "There hasn’t been much time to look further into it. Luckily, Theroux hasn't been too much of a nuisance. There's a lot going on. I might have to ask Dad about it after all."

"Does your mother have a sister?" Telly asked.

"I honestly don't know. She died when I was little. No one ever came to see us or called. I just assumed she didn't have family. My father rarely talks about her. He just said she didn't have any family that she was close to."

She made that look that people always gave me. Not pity exactly, but as if they wished they could do something about it. Wished they could do something to fix me, make something better. But they never could.

"Anyway, there was a confidential informant. She was linked to Theroux. And obviously, now that we know that Walter Jameson is actually Henry Warlow, I guess she was linked to him too."

Amelia nodded. "Yeah, these two things are related now. Which makes this whole thing wild." Her gaze flickered to the back of the restaurant. “We have incoming.”

Hazel came back from the loo with a suspicious, narrowed gaze. "Why do you look like you're talking about work? I was promised no work talk."

We all gave her fake smiles.

"Come on, this is girls' night. I'm so glad you guys invited me."

That was the thing. I hadn't invited her. And I was sort of irritated with whoever had. But if I hadn't invited her, then how would she know?"

Oh God, unless Amelia and I had been talking about it at the office. But why would she invite herself?

"So, Hazel, you and Denning set a date yet?" Amelia asked, and I could see her doing her level best to cause trouble.

Hazel waved a hand. "Oh no, we're in no rush. It's fine. And honestly, he's been so busy with work. We just intend to wait, I guess."

Livy raised her brow. "You intend to wait, or you’ve been told to wait?"

She laughed nervously. "Well yeah. Denning just said that now is not the right time."

I winced at the familiarity of those words. I'd been there before. But I had to remind myself that her relationship with Denning was pretty different than my relationship with him. After all, Denning had screwed me over to get a job. So, there was that.

"I mean, I want to be with him, but there are things that I want to do too, so I'm in no rush. I think it's cool that we get to just be for a moment, you know?"

I nodded. "Yeah, just be, I guess. You're still young, and there's no point in being rushed."

She nodded. "Well yeah, that, but also, I feel like there's always this pressure to be happy, or to get the happily ever after. Like there’s a timetable you have to follow to have the man, be married, have a baby. Why can't you just be and be happy? I've always wondered that."

I frowned. She had a good point. There was always some next step. "That's very wise from one so young."

She beamed at me. "Thanks. I mean, I'm super curious about your relationships though. In particular yours, Emma, because that very scrumptious man I saw you arguing with the other day was intriguing."

Emma frowned. "You saw me arguing with someone? I don't argue with people in public."

Hazel laughed. "Tall, dark hair. I feel like I have seen him before in like a magazine or something. You were at Regent's Park."

Emma flushed, the pink showing up on her dark brown skin. "You saw us at Regent's Park?"

Hazel nodded. "Yeah, I was driving to an appointment. I looked around and thought you looked familiar. And you and that bloke were having an argument."

I frowned and glanced at Emma. "That sounds like Bridge."

She shifted on her seat then mumbled, "It was Bridge."

Amelia, Telly, Livy, and I stared at her as Bryna probed gently, "Bridge, you say? Our Bridge?"

"Oh, cut it out, you daft cows. I'm not one for girl talk."

Livy laughed. "Oh, you're here. And we just got the juicy tidbit that you and Bridge had been meeting without us? None of us particularly like Mina. And she's never made an effort to get to know any of us. So if you and Bridge are a thing, I am all for it."

Telly raised her glass. "Hear, hear! Again, it’s been a long time since I've considered a man, but ooph, Bridge… Hell, any of the London Lords. I'm not picky. If anyone wants to share, I'd be willing to try that out. Carmen would understand."

I just laughed. "Wait, even East?'

Telly frowned. "Ugh, I mean, he's pretty. But God, he's such a pain in the ass. All right, fine. Maybe I won’t take East, but the others for sure.”

I shook my head and lifted my glass toward her. "You two act like you don't like