Desperate Girls (Wolfe Security #1)(4)

She glanced up, startled, and her usually perfect mascara was streaked down her cheeks.

It was Faith’s boys. Had to be. Her two teenage sons were constantly getting into trouble, and Faith had started to worry that the older one was on drugs.

Brynn knelt beside her. “Faith, what happened?”

Faith squeezed her eyes shut and shook her head.

“Brynn!” Reggie boomed from his office. The door jerked open, and her silver-haired boss stepped out. “Brynn, get in here.”

She shot him a glare and returned her attention to Faith. “Are you all right?”

She dabbed her nose. “Yes, just . . . go on.”

Brynn stood and followed Reginald H. Gunn, managing partner, past the nameplate bearing his title. Shelves crammed with law books lined the walls, and towers of file boxes crowded every corner. Reggie walked behind his cluttered desk, and Brynn noted the pin-striped suit jacket hanging on the back of his chair. The pink silk handkerchief in the front pocket told her he planned to be in court later.

“Close the door, would you?”

She followed his gruff command, taking one last peek at Faith as she eased shut the door.

“Sit down,” he said.

“I’ll stand. What’s up?”

Reggie’s leather chair creaked as he sank into it. He ran a hand through his thick hair.

“Nate called me. Jen Ballard was killed last night.”

Brynn sagged back against the wall. “What—”

“I don’t have all the details yet, but she was murdered sometime yesterday evening in her home.”

Murdered.

Brynn’s blood turned cold. Beautiful, witty Jen Ballard murdered. The words didn’t belong in the same sentence.

She stepped closer to Reggie’s desk. “How?”

“I don’t know, okay? I haven’t even had time to call the police up there. And there’s something else—”

A sharp knock came at the door. Ross leaned his head in and immediately zeroed in on Brynn. “You tell him yet?”

“Tell me what?” Reggie asked.

Ross stepped into the office, oblivious to the tension hovering in the room. “Perez is missing. We were supposed to run through his testimony at nine, but he blew off the appointment.”

“Try his girlfriend.”

“She hasn’t seen or heard from him in days.” Ross looked at Brynn and frowned. “What’s wrong?”

She cleared her throat. “Jen Ballard.”

“What about her?”

“She was murdered,” Reggie said.

Ross’s face went slack. “What?”

“She was killed in her home last night. Up in Sheridan Heights, right outside of Dallas,” Reggie told him. “I just got off the phone with Nate Levinson twenty minutes ago.”

Ross shot Brynn a look, as if she might somehow make sense of what he was hearing, but she couldn’t. The forty-two-year-old woman who’d once been their boss, their mentor, and their friend was dead.

“What’s the other thing?” Brynn asked Reggie. “You said there was something else?”

Reggie stared at Brynn. A veteran trial attorney, he had a talent for creating drama, but the solemn look on his face was all too real.

“What is it?” Ross asked.

“James Corby is out.”

Brynn’s eyebrows shot up. “Out?”

Beside her, Ross made a strangled sound.

“He escaped.”

“Are you fucking kidding me?” Ross clutched his head with his hands. “How do you escape a fucking maximum-security prison?”

Reggie’s gaze locked with Brynn’s. “I don’t know.”

But he did know. And so did Brynn. As an assistant prosecutor, Brynn had tried James Corby’s case alongside then lead prosecutor Jen Ballard. Brynn had learned that James Corby was not only violent and sadistic but also smart. Frighteningly smart. And the prospect of him slipping out of prison had lurked in the darkest corners of Brynn’s mind for years.

Her chest felt tight. She placed her hand on her sternum and tried to breathe. But it was Ross who bent at the waist and looked like he was going to puke.

“Shit!”

“Hey,” Reggie snapped. “Don’t throw up in here.”

Ross straightened and shook his head. “This is insane. Where the hell are the marshals?”

“They’re on it,” Reggie replied. “That I do know. Nate tells me they’ve been working this thing from the beginning.”

“And when was that?” Brynn asked.

“Wednesday.”

“He escaped Wednesday, and we’re just now hearing about it?”

Beside her, Ross let out a blistering string of curses.

“What does this mean for us?” Ross asked. “Our trial begins in Dallas in three days, right down the goddamn road from Jen’s murder—”

“It means we have to take action,” Reggie said. “I’ve already started.”

“What do you mean?” Brynn couldn’t keep the skepticism out of her voice. She’d dealt with plenty of criminals and considered herself fairly streetwise. But what kind of “action” did Reggie think they were going to take here? Was he planning to jump into his Mercedes and hunt down an escaped convict?