Deadly Lies (Deadly #3)(8)

Maybe he’d been hanging around with Monica and Hyde too long.

Kathleen’s eyes were bone dry. No tears for her. “Jeremy was mine. That * should have told me about the call. He should have—” She broke off and shook her head. “Jeremy would be alive. Alive.”

Now her husband and son were both dead, and there was fury glittering in her green eyes.

“He cheated on me,” Kathleen admitted in a stark voice. The cops beside her were silent, their own eyes wide. “He bought houses for those sluts that cost more than my son’s ransom.” She swallowed. “He let Jeremy die. I can still see him, cut up. My baby…” Her eyes closed.

Luke watched her with a somber stare, then he caught the gaze of the older cop. “Take her outside.”

This kill would be the local PD’s show, not a case for the SSD, but the cops were still looking to Luke for guidance.

The cop nodded and reached for the cuffs on his hip.

“No.” Luke shook his head. “Just put her in the back of the squad car.”

Kathleen’s lashes lifted, and the fury had vanished. That fast. She blinked and just looked… lost. “Jeremy’s gone.”

Sam swallowed. So was Morgan. “Mrs. Briar, I really think you should reconsider that attorney.”

Another slow, almost confused blink. “My baby…”

The cops took Kathleen’s arms and guided her down the long, winding hallway. Her heels clicked on the tiles.

“I never expected her to react like this,” Luke said.

Sam’s gaze shot to Luke. He ran a fast hand through his hair. “Shit. She seemed so controlled earlier today.”

Because the woman had been in shock.

“I should have brought Monica to the scene.” He eased into the hallway. “She would have seen the signs. I should have seen them.”

Monica could look at a killer and see the darkest parts of his mind, but when it came to the victims… “She might not have seen it either.” The words came out harder than she’d intended.

One of Luke’s blond brows shot up.

Sam cleared her throat. Yes, that had sounded wrong, but lately, Monica made her nervous. Very nervous. She was worried that Monica might look too close and see—

Broken.

“Why am I here?” Sam asked him, leaving the study and the body and finally feeling like she could breathe again. “Hyde said—”

“I’m lead on this case.” Authority pushed through the flat words.

She inclined her head in agreement. “But we both know that when it comes to the SSD, Hyde calls the shots.” Sam really didn’t think Luke wanted to get into a pissing match with the big boss. “Hyde said for me to stay away.”

They walked down the hallway. No staff members appeared. In a place this big, she’d expected a maid or—someone. But maybe Kathleen Briar had sent the help away, right before she shot her husband in the head at point-blank range.

“Hyde said to stay away, but here you are,” Luke pointed out. “Guess you couldn’t stay away from the case, could you?”

She glanced over and found his eyes on her, weighing her. “You called me.” And she’d jumped at his call.

“Monica wants me to use you on this case.”

Sam couldn’t have been more surprised if he’d punched her. Monica and Hyde usually agreed on everything.

“She says you need the case.”

Her chin lifted. “I do.” She could work this case.

“But tell me, Sam, what will you do when the danger is right in front of you?”

Her tongue swiped across her lips. Are you ready to die? Beg… go on, beg… That bastard’s voice always seemed to be in her head.

“Hyde thinks you’ll crack,” Luke said bluntly. “He let you out on a test run before, but he doesn’t believe you’re ready.”

Luke had led her away from the other investigators. Maybe he was trying to save her pride by talking to her in private. Like she had a lot of pride left.

“I’m ready.” She injected steel in her voice.

“Maybe.”

Sam held his stare and refused to back down.

He exhaled on a sigh. “I like you, Sam. You got one messed-up deal on the Watchman case.”

Don’t flinch. Don’t.

“But I can’t have you screwing up my case.” Soft but brutal.

And not unexpected. For the SSD, the case came first.

Luke waited a beat and then said, “I have to be able to trust that you can do your job.”

In their division, trust was key. You trusted your teammates. You knew that they had your back.

His lips tightened, and then Luke said, “I know about the panic attack in Virginia.”

She flinched. What? No, no, she’d retreated to an abandoned office. No one had—

“Two uniforms saw you. They reported to Hyde and that’s why he yanked you off field work as soon as you returned to D.C.”

Her breath came too fast, too hard. “I haven’t had another attack in weeks. The department shrink gave me the all clear.” Didn’t that fact matter to anyone?

“And I’m giving you a chance.” His head cocked to the right. “Prove Hyde wrong. Show him the steel inside, the steel that kept you alive when the Watchman wanted you to break.”