Miranda Vaughn Mystery 01.00 - Chasing the Dollar by Ellie Ashe

had relied on meeting with Bill Macias. I needed to recalibrate my next move, and I needed to do it alone.
    I fluffed my hair back up as big as I could make it and wiped the smudged mascara from under my eyes then started toward the hotel. Jake Barnes was at my side, and I wondered how I could ditch him. He seemed to read my mind, handing me my purse and putting an arm around my shoulder as we entered the hotel 's opulent lobby.
    I smiled at the concierge as we passed the desk on the way to the elevator. He didn 't give me a second glance, so I must not look as disheveled as I felt. We took the elevator up to the ninth floor in silence, alone in the mirrored box, a piano concerto playing softly in the background.
    As we walked to my hotel room door, I tried to remember how I had left it. But unlike last time Jake Barnes had barged into my life, this time I wasn 't worried as much about stray undergarments. Had I left my computer out? The papers I'd compiled? The hard drives?
    My heart was in my throat as I unlocked the door. Jake opened the door, keeping me from entering the room until he 'd scanned it, then pulled me in and locked it behind me. I also looked around the room and then exhaled a sigh of relief when I saw that my computer and other items were safely out of view.
    " So, what's with the get-up?" he asked, looking me over.
    " What are you talking about?" I tried to sound offended. "And what are you doing here? Isn't this a little out of your jurisdiction?"
    God, I hoped it was out of his jurisdiction, but I honestly had no idea how far the FBI could travel to investigate a crime.
    Jake strode across the room to look out the window and ignored my question. "Nice place. Have you stayed here before?"
    " No."
    I watched him, unsure of what to do. Was he here to investigate me? Arrest me? Did he know what I was doing here? If so, he would surely cuff me, and not in a fun way. But how could he know my plans? He turned and studied me and I shifted in my high heels, uncomfortable in the scrutiny. Then I took a deep breath and moved toward the closet to get a change of clothes from my suitcase.
    Pulling some comfortable clothes from my bag, I thought about the flash drive in my bra. My laptop was in the locked safe below my suitcase, but I couldn't very well open it in front of the FBI agent. Not without raising a lot of questions I didn't want to get into.
    " I'm going to go change my clothes," I said. "Try not to violate my Fourth Amendment rights while I'm gone."
    I saw a hint of a smile on his face before I raced to the bathroom and slammed the door. I quickly discarded the designer wrap dress, now a wrinkled mess, for a pair of jeans and a red and white striped T-shirt. I slid the flash drive into my pants pocket, and then washed my face and removed the stupid false eyelashes. When I was done, I looked in the mirror and saw my familiar face—not the Texas beauty queen I had been just a couple hours earlier. The brown hair was still a shock every time I passed a mirror. It made my blue eyes stand out, and I hoped was enough of a change that any Patterson employee who'd briefly met the blonde Miranda Vaughn two years ago wouldn't recognize me when I met with Martin Templeton.
    When I emerged, Jake was sitting on the edge of the king-sized bed.
    "We need to talk," he said.
    " Fine. You first," I said, closing the closet door, as if that would keep him from seeing what was in the safe. "Why are you in Macau?"
    He didn 't respond right away, keeping his gaze on the window. The sun was setting and the slanted light beginning to fade. I didn't move to turn on any lights.
    " I'm looking into a missing person."
    " Bill Macias?"
    He looked back at me with narrowed eyes and nodded.
    "Why is the FBI interested in him? How long has he been missing?"
    Jake gave me a tight smile and then shook his head. "No. That's not how this is going to work. You tell me why you're here."
    I frowned and tried to come up with something that I could