Desperate Girls (Wolfe Security #1)(14)

“So the killer’s already inside. Why doesn’t he ambush her right then?”

“I don’t know. Maybe he wants to draw it out. So she goes back to the bedroom to get ready for her date. Maybe he watches her undress and get in the shower. Then he comes back in here, scoops up some glass with the sheet music, and scatters it here on the floor where she’ll notice it for sure when she walks back into the kitchen. When she does, he’s waiting there. Her look of surprise, her fear, that’s what gets him off.”

Dillon stared at her. “Scary.”

“What?”

“The way your mind works.” He shook his head. “How do you come up with that?”

“Just . . . look at the scene.” Lindsey swept the flashlight over the floor, and something glinted under the piano. She crouched down and aimed the beam at it.

“Dillon.”

“I’ll be damned.” He knelt beside her. “How the hell did they miss that?”





BRYNN RUSHED to the elevator and spilled coffee on herself as she lunged to catch the door. She rode downstairs, blotting her jeans with a tissue. When she reached the lobby, she spotted the luggage cart beside the front door, where she’d left it under Ross’s watchful eye.

He was nowhere to be seen, though. She glanced around with annoyance as she crossed the lobby. A white Chevy Tahoe had pulled up to the entrance.

One of the commandos-for-hire stood beside it. Tall build, impossibly wide shoulders. Erik Morgan was dressed like a civilian today, in jeans, work boots, and an untucked gray T-shirt. The look might have been casual if Brynn hadn’t noticed the bulge of the gun at his side.

Okay, this was happening.

Brynn walked outside, and Erik opened the SUV’s cargo hatch.

“Morning,” she chirped. She couldn’t see his eyes behind his mirrored aviators, but he gave a brisk nod. “Sorry I’m late. I was watching Drew and Jonathan while I waited for my curling iron to cool.”

He stared at her.

“You know, Property Brothers? Forget it.” She sighed and looked around. “Have you by chance seen Ross?”

“He dropped off his bag.”

Brynn noticed a second SUV, a silver Ford Expedition, parked in front of the Tahoe. The rear door was open, and she saw Ross’s garment bag inside. Where the hell was he?

Erik moved past her to grab the luggage cart. Someone must have broken the news that all this stuff was going to Dallas with them, but he didn’t say a word as he pulled the cart over and started loading file boxes into the Tahoe.

Brynn set down her coffee cup and grabbed one of the boxes, which were even heavier than they looked.

“I can get that.” Erik reached for her box.

“I can do it.” She stepped toward the car, but he blocked her.

“Ma’am. I need you to wait inside with Jeremy.”

Understanding dawned as she stared at her reflection in his shades. He wanted her indoors. Away from the open parking lot, where—she glanced around—exactly zero people were lurking on this quiet Sunday morning.

She handed him the box, then turned on her heel and strode back into the lobby, seething with irritation. She spotted Ross lounging on a sofa near the restaurant. He was scrolling through his phone, oblivious to Jeremy, who stood beside him with his arms folded over his chest like a sentry. Jeremy wore the same pseudo-civilian clothes as Erik and probably had the same serious firepower concealed under his shirt.

This was so weird.

Brynn walked over, and Jeremy acknowledged her with a nod. Ross didn’t look up from his phone as she sat down. She wanted a slug of coffee, but she’d left her cup outside. She distracted herself by going through her purse to make sure she hadn’t left anything in the room.

A shadow fell over her. “Ma’am, we’re ready.”

Erik exchanged a look with Jeremy before leading Brynn and Ross across the lobby to the packed SUVs. The Tahoe’s front passenger door was open. Brynn saw that her coffee was now tucked into the cupholder, which dissolved a teeny-tiny bit of her annoyance.

She slid inside, closing her door before Erik could, and then watched as Jeremy and Ross climbed into the SUV in front of them.

Jeremy was Ross’s team leader. Erik was Brynn’s. All this had been explained to her yesterday by Liam Wolfe.

“Where’s everyone else?” she asked.

Erik started the engine and adjusted the air vents as Brynn waited for him to answer.

“They went ahead with the advance team.”

“Advance team?”

He looked at her. “Our tech people are already up there, getting our systems in place.”

Systems. She could only imagine that meant the security cameras and . . . what? Some sort of special communications? Brynn gritted her teeth and looked out the window. She didn’t know what all this entailed, and she dreaded finding out.

“Ready?”

“No.” She turned to look at him. “We need to get clear on a few things first.”

He watched her for a moment, then peeled off his sunglasses. It was the polite thing to do, so she could see his face while she talked to him. And wow, she hadn’t really noticed his eyes before. They were brown with flecks of gold in the irises, and his lashes were thick and dark.

“It’s Brynn. Not ma’am.”