Deadly Silence (Blood Brothers #1)(67)

Jay cut him a look and then focused on Zara. “You could do better.”

Ryker huffed out a breath. “People keep saying that.”

Zara bit her lip. A part of her was starting to enjoy Ryker’s protectiveness, and she wondered if that was all right. It seemed all right. Perhaps it was time to get back to business. “Where are we on the investigation?”

Brock spun a picture toward her. “I have a friend in the sheriff’s office, and I got most of the file. Julie was stabbed fifteen times in the neck and chest. She didn’t have a chance.”

Nausea rolled through Zara’s belly as she looked at the picture. Blood covered Julie’s entire body, and even some bones could be seen. God, her poor friend. The fear and pain she must’ve felt. “Any suspects?” She tried to keep her voice from shaking.

“Right now me,” Jay said. “They always look at the husband first.”

“I’m tracing all of Julie’s credit cards and phone calls from her cell,” Ryker said. “Should have more information for you by tomorrow noonish.” His phone buzzed, and he glanced at the screen. “Zara? A moment, please.” Without waiting for an answer, he pushed away from the table and pulled out her chair.

She fumbled and then stood. Her breath heated. She followed him outside the conference room. “What? Is it Greg? Is he okay?” The kid should’ve come to work with her. Her knees bunched with a desperate need to run and get him.

“The police are at your house,” Ryker whispered. “Denver heard the call come in on the scanner.”

“The police?” The hallway spun around her. “What I mean, why?”

“Dunno. Our best move is to meet them there and see what’s up.” He poked his head back inside the conference room. “I need to follow up a lead, and Zara’s coming along to assist.” He shut the door before Brock could respond. “Let’s go.”

Zara followed Ryker woodenly through the office, her mind going blank. One of her neighbors must’ve seen the break-in. What if they’d also seen Ryker kidnap the attacker? What was she going to do? Should they run? Her breath panted out.

They walked outside to the truck and drove in silence through town, both lost in their own thoughts.

“If I tell you to run, then do it,” Ryker said quietly.

“Where?” She turned on him in the Hummer. “Where exactly am I supposed to run?”

“My apartment. It’s listed under a dummy corporation and can’t be traced to Lost Bastards or me. Or anybody else for that matter.” He swung into her neighborhood.

“Who are you hiding from?” she whispered.

He glanced at her, his eyes shuttering closed. “It doesn’t matter. The past doesn’t matter for us, baby. It can’t.”

Yet that’s what seemed to drive him, now, didn’t it? “Why won’t you level with me, let me into your world?” She needed to know who to fear. Or rather, who to fight.

He sighed. “You are in my world. I promise. The past is just that and only that. Well, except for Greg.” Ryker turned toward her, his gaze somber. “Greg wants us to find a woman who knew Denver, Heath, and me as kids. She was a scientist, and she studied us.”

“But, well, how?” Zara shook her head. “How does that make any sense?”

“It doesn’t. I mean, my mind goes places about it, but everywhere I go seems too bizarre to contemplate.” Ryker turned down another snowy road.

She needed to tread lightly, but finally…some answers. “Is this because you’re, well, a little different? Did this scientist study you because of that?”

Ryker stiffened and kept his gaze on the road outside. Darkness had already begun to descend. “Different?”

“Yes,” she said softly. “Not in a bad way or anything. But you definitely have some gifts not everybody has. Your hearing is unbelievable, as is your strength. And don’t get me started on your instincts in finding missing people. Remember when we interviewed the wife of that accountant my firm hired you to find?”

“Yeah.” His fingers tightened on the wheel.

“You knew she was lying. Somehow you completely knew, and it wasn’t easy to tell. Then you started guessing at facts that there’s no way you could’ve known.” Zara had gone over it in her head so many times, she remembered the day clearly. “Maybe you’re just good at reading people and can guess well from their reactions, but, Ryker, there’s something a little bit more about you.”

His nostrils flared as he breathed in. “Okay.”

She stopped moving. “Okay?”

“Yeah.” He breathed. “I don’t understand it, but I’ve always had a few skills that are out of the norm. The scientist—we think her name is really Isobel Madison. She said that Heath, Denver, and I had high IQs, and she wanted to study us both mentally and physically.”

Zara warmed to the subject. “Well, that makes sense, right? A higher IQ might give you a few abilities that have developed more than most people.”

“I guess.” His frown looked like it hurt his forehead.

“So this woman, whoever she is, studies people with higher IQs. Greg is definitely smart, so it fits. But how did Greg find you?”

“He found us on the web and went through all our files, figuring out that we could find lost people when nobody else could. He wants to find Isobel in order to find his brothers, who were also studied by her.” Ryker’s upper lip twisted.