Free Twisted Vine by Toby Neal Page A

Maui. Omura’s exacting standards had both challenged and improved Lei’s work—and Waxman’s had too. “I’m still not getting a clear enough picture of what happened to these two victims and why. Let’s have these dots connected by the next briefing. And how did you come up with this trend in suicides, anyway?” That sharp, pale gaze had come to rest on Sophie Ang.
    For the first time Lei could remember, the tech agent shifted in her seat and looked uncertain—though with her exotic features set in an immobile mask, it was hard to tell. Ang kept her gaze on her laptop screen while her fingers worked their magic, and the overhead filled with a log-in portal over a plain white screen labeled “Data Analysis Victim Information Database.”
    “This is how I detected a trend nationwide in suicides with oddities. I decided to narrow my search to local suicides, and DAVID twigged the Hale case.”
    “DAVID.” Waxman had become very still. “I am not aware of that software. And I’m aware of all of our Bureau software.”
    A flush stained Sophie Ang’s high cheekbones. “DAVID is my program. I have been building it on my own time for the last two years.” Lei knew Ang had been at the Bureau in Honolulu for three years, and until this moment, she was the only agent Lei had never seen come under Waxman’s hammer.
    “So this is an unsanctioned, untested program.”
    “Yes, sir.” Ang’s eyes stayed down.
    “Are you running our confidential data on it? Are you using Bureau computers to run it? Have you taken any of our information off-site to work on at home?”
    The flush deepened. Lei could see stress in Ang’s wide brown eyes as she looked up at their boss at last, and Lei felt the tech agent’s anxiety as Ang answered. “Sir, I’m aware this is a breach in protocol, and I’m willing to submit the program to the most stringent of reviews with the national tech department. I didn’t want to do that until I was confident of the value DAVID could offer the Bureau and had worked out the bugs in the program. I was waiting for the right time to talk with you about it.”
    Waxman let a long beat go by as he stared at Ang. Then he turned to Lei and Ken. “Go see the medical examiner. Get a rush on those tox results. Agent Ang, you stay here while we discuss the repercussions of this.”
    Lei wished she could find a way to show the Sophie Ang some support or sympathy— Ang was brilliant, and she had no doubt that the DAVID program was going to be a huge asset, no matter how it worked. Lei looked over at Ang, but the other agent had folded her hands in her lap and looked down. There was nothing Lei could do but say, “Yes, sir,” and follow Ken out.
    The click of the conference room door shutting behind them had never sounded so final. How well Lei knew the feeling of being under a superior’s scrutiny. She said a little prayer for Ang as she walked down the hall.

Chapter 9
    Sophie kept her hands folded in her lap and her eyes down as the conference room door closed behind the other agents. Her back was to the gorgeous view of a sunlit ocean dimmed by shaded glass. She wished she hadn’t sat with her back to the window. It might have calmed her racing heart to sneak a look at it now and then.
    “Agent Ang.” Waxman waited a long beat until she looked up. “I’m disappointed in you.”
    Hurt showed in the tightness at the corners of Waxman’s light blue eyes, the line of his mouth, the way he removed his glasses, tossing them down.
    “I’m sorry, sir. I only ever have wanted to help the Bureau and our cases.”
    He cut her off with a hand gesture. “I’m not disappointed that you used your considerable gifts to try to build something new to help the Bureau. That doesn’t surprise me at all. It surprises me that you didn’t tell me about it early on. It would have made this stage, when we tried it out on a case, so much easier.”
    “I’m  . . .” Sophie opened and closed her mouth a couple of