Into the Night(73)

Samantha inclined her head. “Yes. Damn it, yes.” She began to pace. “I have a crack team of computer analysts going through his files now, and that infamous program of his? Turns out he was trying to use it to locate Patrick Remus.”

Bowen rolled back his shoulders. “We need to talk with Patrick’s girlfriend again. Find out just what Patrick may have been doing for the last two years. No way he quit cold turkey.”

“Lydia Chasing didn’t know who he was!” Macey fired back. “She’s not going to have any clue about what he did.”

Samantha seemed to consider this. “Let me take a run at her.”

Macey’s head tilted toward her and her eyes widened in surprise.

“I’ve got a bit of experience,” Samantha continued as her lips twisted into a humorless smile, “with being too close to a lover who turned out to be a killer. I can understand exactly what she’s going through.”

Because Samantha’s ex-lover had turned out to be one of the worst killers out there.

“As for you two... I hear that Peter Carter is out of surgery and that he’s conscious—for the moment.” She looked pointedly at them. “Find out what you can from him. Push hard on the dead vic, I think her name is—”

“Susannah Kaiser,” Bowen supplied. “We already tried to dig, but it seems her family is gone. Her mom passed away when Susannah was a teen. Her dad died a few months back. She has a brother, but the guy cut out when he was seventeen. No one seems to know where he is.”

“Then he doesn’t even know his sister is dead.” Sadness flashed in Samantha’s eyes. “I’ll make sure the FBI is using all resources to locate him.” Then her gaze dipped between Macey and Bowen. “Is there anything else I need to be aware of regarding this case?”

“When do I officially get my gun back?” Bowen demanded.

“Consider yourself cleared,” Samantha told him. “The shooting was justified, we’re in the middle of a clusterfuck, and I want you in the field. If there is any pushback from brass, I’ll handle them.” Her eyes gleamed. “I’m pretty good at getting Executive Assistant Director Bass to see things my way these days.”

Bowen’s head inclined toward her. “Thank you.”

“Before you two go, don’t you think you need to update me on your...personal situation?”

Macey tensed.

“There’s nothing you—” Bowen began.

“We’re lovers,” Macey said as she stepped forward. “I’m the one who went to Bowen. I’m the one who pushed for the relationship.”

But it wasn’t a relationship, not really. It had just started...

As a way to stop the pain.

Only, being with Bowen had become so much more. A lifeline.

At Macey’s blurted words, Samantha merely raised one perfectly arched brow.

“Did you know?” Macey asked, taken aback.

“Let’s just say that I knew this could be coming.” Her gaze slid to Bowen, then back to Macey. “FBI brass won’t approve of you two continuing to be partners in the field, so we’ll be dealing with that firestorm after we close this case.”

“Do you truly think Jonah is the killer?” Macey didn’t want to be wrong about a friend again. No, damn it, not again.

“I think that’s a possibility that can’t be ignored. He’s either involved or he’s a victim. Either way, he’s one of us, and we will be bringing him in.”

*

A SHORT TIME LATER, Samantha Dark paused just outside the interrogation room. She squared her shoulders. She tucked her hair behind her ears. She eased out a slow breath.

Lydia Chasing was in that room. Samantha had gotten an officer to bring the other woman back to the station. Lydia was grieving, hurting for the lover who’d been brutally taken from her.

She was also a woman trying to come to grips with the fact that she’d never known that lover at all, not really. I understand. Believe me, I do. Samantha reached for the doorknob, and then she walked briskly inside, her high heels clicking on the floor.

At her approach, Lydia glanced up. She wore no makeup. Her nose was red, her eyes were bloodshot and her lips were trembling. “Who are you?” Lydia’s voice was weak and rasping, probably because she’d broken it with too much crying.

“My name is Samantha Dark, and I’m with the FBI.”

Lydia’s gaze fell. “Patrick wasn’t a killer.” Her scratchy voice was almost painful to hear. “He...he was a good man. He loved me.” And her hand fell to her stomach.

Oh, sweet hell. That one gesture pierced right through Samantha. The way the woman cradled her stomach. “Are you pregnant?” Slowly, Samantha sat down in the chair across from Lydia.

A tear leaked down Lydia’s cheek. “The other agents...they had my blood checked. They said they thought I might have been drugged while Patrick was taken. They don’t have the results yet on the drugs. I—I hope I’m okay.”

“Did you tell the nurse who took the blood sample about the baby?” Because she was convinced now.

Lydia shook her head. “Patrick...he wasn’t a monster.”

Samantha’s gut was in knots. “As a precaution, I’m going to call the local hospital. I want you to go in and have a full evaluation, okay?” She started to rise.