Deadly Silence (Blood Brothers #1)(74)

The man moved like an elephant. She couldn’t help but compare Sheriff Cobb’s hard abs and lack of conscience with this soft, silly pretend soldier. Soon she’d be rid of Todd and his bizarre quest to rid the world of science. Even so, she forced a smile. “Yes. I had an alarm go off, and I think I know where a couple of my test subjects are. Cisco, Wyoming.”

He smiled, revealing a slight gap between his front teeth. “We’ll take them out.”

“No.” She held up a hand. “First, we need to find them and see who we’re dealing with. Many of these boys formed connections with each other when they were young, so if we find one, we should be able to use him to find more. Your mission is one of intelligence gathering.”

His face settled into harsh lines. “I’m a soldier.”

He wasn’t even close. She nodded. “Yes, and part of any mission is to gather intel. Just go to Cisco and stake out the address I sent to your phone. Trust me, darling. This is the right way to get the job done.”

“Where were you this morning? When I awoke, you were gone.” He sounded petulant.

She’d had to shower him off her from the night before. “I came to work, as usual.” Forcing her lips into a flirty smile, she sent him a wink. “You know successful ops stir my desire, Todd. Do a great job on this one, and I’ll let you do anything you want to me.”

He moved then and leaned over to kiss her on the mouth. His lips were too soft and mushy. “I love you, Isobel.”

“Then trust me with this op. I know what I’m doing.” She licked along his lips. “I love you, too.”

He stepped back, warmth in his eyes. “All right. I’ll check in.” Turning sharply, he stomped out of the room.

She breathed out and lost her smile. The man was straining against his leash. She couldn’t guarantee he wouldn’t let emotion overrule logic and try to kill whoever was on the other end of that beacon.

Well. Hopefully it was one of the men she’d created. If not, or if they’d lost their edge, Todd or his men would kill them.





Chapter





26




Zara fiddled with her purse strap in the interrogation room of the police station. The heat blasted through, warming the surprisingly cozy area. The oak table appeared well polished, and the chairs were upholstered in thick leather. Pretty landscapes covered the walls, and even the commercial mint green carpet seemed well vacuumed.

Detective Norton sat across from her while Heath kicked back at her side.

“I expected something colder,” she said, looking around.

Norton smiled, wrinkling the corners of his deep brown eyes. “This is more of a conference room. The cold concrete block room is down the hallway a bit.”

“Oh.” Even though the place was nice, she couldn’t banish the hard knot in her chest. She glanced at Heath.

Heath nodded. “My client would like to make a statement.”

The detective lifted both eyebrows. “All right. Go ahead.”

Zara took a deep breath and told the detective about her helping Julie, about being in the motel room the day of the murder, and finally about the breakin at her house, where the intruders got away. She left out the tiny part about Ryker kidnapping one of the intruders and then questioning him.

Norton just looked at her, no expression on his rugged face. For a man in his early forties, he had very few lines fanning out from his eyes. Maybe he didn’t smile much.

Heath drummed his fingers on a blank legal pad in front of him. “As you can see, my client may have been in the wrong place at the wrong time, but she hasn’t broken any laws. Are we done?”

The detective blinked, not taking his gaze from Zara. “No. We are nowhere near done, counselor, and you know it.”

“It’s late, Detective. Get to it so I can get my client safely home.” Heath kept his voice even, but strength and intelligence clipped his words.

“Ms. Remington, let’s chat again about the motel. Your fingerprints were all over the place—from the dressers to the walls to the bed. It appears as if you searched the room. What exactly were you looking for?” the detective asked.

Zara swallowed. “I already told you that Jay Pentley said Julie was on drugs, and since I had been loaning her money for bills that had possibly already been paid, I searched for drugs.”

“Did you find any?”

“No.” The need to defend her friend rose hard and fast in her.

“I see. Were you looking for anything else?” the detective asked.

Zara shook her head. “No.”

Norton rifled through papers. “You say you saw Julie’s car in the rear parking lot, but she wasn’t there.”

“True.”

He looked up. “I find it odd that you hid your car in the back lot, making sure nobody saw you.”

“My firm was representing Julie’s husband in a divorce action. I was breaking firm rules, malpractice rules, and legal ethics.” Her face heated. “But Julie was my friend, and she needed help.” The idea that Julie was gone still made Zara’s chest ache, and the fact that somebody had stabbed the kind woman made her sick. “So I helped her.”

“By giving her three thousand dollars a month,” the detective said.