Southern Comfort - Fern Michaels [16]
Special Agent Kate Rush no longer inhabited this small space. Special Agent Kate Rush was now plain old Kate Rush.
Back in the kitchen, Kate looked around for her mug but couldn’t see it. She opened one of the cabinets and reached for one of the complimentary cups the agency handed out from time to time. She rinsed it out, dried it with a paper towel, then poured herself a cup of coffee. Carrying her coffee, she walked back down the hall to Jellard’s office. The door was still closed, the blinds drawn. She sat down on one of the two chairs next to the door and waited, but not before giving a loud, sharp knock to the door.
Kate told herself she would wait until she finished her coffee. If the door was still closed, she would slide the manila envelope under the door and leave. She was only there out of courtesy to Jellard.
“Screw it,” Kate muttered to herself as she was about to take her cup back to the kitchen and leave. She was standing, her back to the door, when it opened. She whirled around. Arnold Jellard, a tall, barrel-chested man who looked like he could take on a grizzly bear and live to talk about it, stood in the doorway. Standing next to him was Lawrence Tyler.
Well, this isn’t exactly what I expected.
Tyler offered up one of his truly evil smiles as he swept past her. Jellard’s voice was as big and deep-timbered as he was. “You waiting for a bus, Rush?”
“No, sir,” Kate said as she stepped past him. She looked at the two chairs facing the desk. Which one had Tyler been sitting in? She opted for the one on the right. She immediately started to rummage in her bag for her credentials, her gun, and the envelope with her resignation. She slid them all across the desk and stood up. “I guess that’s it,” she said.
Jellard stroked his snow white well-trimmed beard. His blue eyes, the color of washed-out denim, sparked angrily behind his wire-rim glasses. His words cut her to the quick when he said, “I never thought you were a quitter, Rush.”
Kate stood up, walked around to the back of the desk, and leaned over to kiss Jellard on the cheek. “I’m going to pretend I didn’t hear that. See ya. Tell Josh and Roy I said good-bye.”
The big man lumbered to his feet when he saw that his words had no effect on his former agent. “Where are you going? What are you going to do?”
Kate smiled. “I’m going back to Miami. Something about going home makes me feel good. I’ll work on my thesis, and I’ve been tinkering with the idea of writing a cookbook. My grandmother’s recipes. I’ve been wanting to do it for a long time. Now seems like it might be a good time. Just out of curiosity, what was Tyler doing here?”
Jellard stepped in front of Kate and closed the door. “His daddy found a way to give him my job. I’m being put out to pasture in two weeks. He was here to gloat. I wanted to kick his ass all the way to the Canadian border, but I didn’t want to hurt my foot. I didn’t know you knew how to cook.”
Kate was speechless. She finally got her tongue to work. “I don’t know how to cook, but I can learn. I learned how to be a damn fine DEA agent, didn’t I? Are you being transferred, or are you retiring?”
“Got two more years to go. No way is that little shit going to force me out. I have two choices, Miami or New Jersey. I’m taking Miami. Josh and Roy already put in for transfers. I’m kind of hoping they follow me, but with those two, you never know. Maybe I’ll drop by for a cup of coffee.” Affection rang in his voice when he said, “I was jerking your chain a few minutes ago. I know you’re no quitter. If it’s any consolation to you, Kate, I would have done exactly what you did.”
Kate nodded. “My door is always open, Jelly.” The nickname Jelly was allowed only in private when they were just people, not agent and boss.
Her eyes burning, Kate left the office and took the elevator to the ground floor. She stood a moment and looked around. She didn’t love this small field office. It was just a place where she checked in from time to time. She was a field agent. She corrected the thought: She used to be a field agent. She wasn’t crazy