Indecent Danger (Danger Incorporated #3)(48)
“Add Alana to that list,” Shane offered with a grimace. “I personally don’t know what Martin sees in her but she does appear to be in love with him. If she thought he was being hurt by Bruce with the insider trading thing, and by extension Iris as his accomplice, she might have killed them to help her husband.”
Travis picked up two soda cans from the table and offered one to Aubrey. “At least you’re off the list. You might have had a motive for Bruce but you didn’t know Iris and had no reason to kill her.”
That was true, but it felt strange to have had a conversation with a woman a short time before she died. Had it been only been two days ago? It felt like a lifetime had happened since then.
“West said you shouldn’t worry about motive,” she reminded him, accepting the soda and popping it open. She needed the caffeine desperately as it had been a long night.
Travis grinned and nudged her foot with his own under the table. “I’m pretty sure you don’t have any hidden vendettas against Iris Perry, nor are you big enough to wrestle her into a pool and hold her down until she drowns.”
Aubrey tapped her pen on the table as she pictured different scenarios. “What if she was drunk or drugged?”
“That might make it easier or harder.” Travis raked his fingers through his hair for the dozenth time that evening. “She’d be dead weight if she was unconscious. No, I think it would take a man.”
Shane stretched his arms over his head and twisted his head side to side in an attempt to shake off several hours of sitting. “Of course we’re assuming that she didn’t drown herself or that it wasn’t an accident. I don’t see the latter happening but possibly the former.”
“She didn’t seem very suicidal when I talked to her at the spa,” replied Aubrey. “She wasn’t even mourning really. That could be part of the denial maybe. It’s all so confusing. Where do we go from here?”
Travis drank down the last of the soda and slid the can to the center of the table with the discarded pizza boxes. “Martin, Alana, and Caroline are our best bets as much as I hate to say it. Hopefully we’ll hear from that reporter Shane befriended and find out what the forensic team and coroner have to say. Without that information we’re flying blind.”
Aubrey stood from the table and tucked the laptop under her arm. “I’ll get back to work looking at those pictures from the party. Maybe we’ll see something in them that will help besides just looking for a picture of Martin’s cufflinks.”
“It’s late,” Travis objected. “You should get some sleep.”
“Are you going to bed?”
She knew he wasn’t. He had that look on his face she’d seen so many times before.
“Shane and I are going to go through the file that Jason sent us regarding Bruce one more time. See if we missed anything.”
No surprise there.
“Then I’m working too. Should I put a pot of coffee on?”
Travis opened his mouth to argue and then simply smiled. “I almost forgot about that team thing we talked about. Make it a strong pot, babe. I have a feeling we’re going to be up all night. Or what’s left of it.”
Aubrey hummed as she measured out the coffee, her gaze straying to the man in her life every so often. She admired his dedication in trying to help her and now he was helping his friend as well. He could go back to the office and mind his own business, letting Martin rot in jail, but he wasn’t the kind of man to do that.
He wasn’t perfect but he was good. And kind.
She waited for the fear and trepidation to seep into her bones but it didn’t come. It felt just fine and not scary at all. In six short months he’d managed to knock down years of defenses. He’d never given up no matter how many times she’d pushed him away.
She was ready to embrace being happy.
Now the only issue was making sure he felt the same.
He’d talked of the future. He’d even mentioned marriage.
Somehow she needed to find a way to tell him she was all in. Ready to take the next steps.
She was in love.
Chapter Twenty-Five
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Bleary-eyed and lounging on the sofa, Aubrey clicked through the remaining party photos one by one. In the past four hours she’d ingested three sodas, cold pizza, and a Snickers bar from the vending machine down the hall all in the hope of staying awake. So far it had worked but she wasn’t sure how much longer it would. She was fading fast.
Shane was snoring softly on the other end of the couch and Travis was in the bedroom talking to Jason on the phone. The younger brother might know someone who could comment anonymously on the insider trading investigation.
Clicking on a photo of Martin and Alana’s table, Aubrey sat up quickly and enlarged the picture so she could see more detail. She sucked in a breath and let it out in a rush when the cuffs of Martin’s white shirt were revealed.
He wasn’t wearing the onyx and diamond set either. Instead he was clearly wearing a plain gold pair that bore his initials.
Score.
Hopping up from the couch with a cry of delight, she ran into the bedroom still carrying the laptop, her fatigue a distant memory. It finally felt like something – anything – was happening with this case.