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that night.”
Gabe shook his head. “Mad has flown in the worst of conditions. Not long after we got our pilot’s licenses, he experienced an equipment failure in heavy fog and came out perfectly fine. He wouldn’t have let simple weather derail him. And if he thought the plane was going down, he had the know-how and equipment to parachute out. There was no distress call. No call at all.”
“You’ve also forgotten more about planes than most people ever know, and Mad knew almost as much. This sounds like a pure cover-up to me.” Dax’s face tightened.
“I want to look at the black box data. I can tell you everything Mad did from there, but he was a good pilot. His plane was equipped with cutting-edge safety and navigation features. The thing practically flies itself. I don’t get why else the FAA would suddenly change their findings.”
“Someone has something to hide,” Everly whispered, so white she looked as if she’d seen a ghost. Then again, it had been a long day for her.
Just in case, Gabe sidled closer. “Money. Bad shit like this is usually about money, and I’m the only person who benefitted from Mad’s death.”
“That we know of.” Everly’s gaze turned thoughtful.
“None of this makes sense.” He shrugged. “Who else would want Mad dead?”
Everly hesitated, obviously reluctant. “Gabriel, you have very powerful friends who could convince the FAA to turn a blind eye.”
He stilled, his feet seemingly planted in the ground as her words sank in. “You think I had Zack strong-arm the FAA?”
“I think if anyone could do it, the president could. Or maybe Roman. I doubt a commander-in-chief does his own dirty work.” She gently bit into her bottom lip as she considered the problem. “You have the support of the White House, and your friend, Connor, is obviously very good at his job, which I suspect has something to do with intelligence. Between the three of them, they could likely cover up anything.”
He stilled and stared at her. Everly thought he’d killed Mad?
“Gabe would never do that.” Dax’s voice sounded like a hard warning.
Everly couldn’t possibly want him if she thought he was a killer. She couldn’t ever trust him if she thought he could do something so heinous to a man who had been like a brother to him, the man who’d been her brother.
Everly raised her gaze to meet Dax’s. “Of course he couldn’t. Don’t be ridiculous. But he’s the chief suspect. Everything leads right back to Gabriel. Would your friends cover that up for you? Would they try to protect you?”
Relief swamped him, and he no longer cared that they were standing in a parking garage with three of New York’s finest, two security guards, an EMT, and a crime scene photographer. He closed the distance between them and sank his fingers into her hair, drawing her face up.
“What are you—”
He didn’t let her finish the question. He covered her mouth with his. He needed to be close to her, needed the feel of her body against his. He took her mouth in a long, slow brush. The moment she relaxed against him, he invaded. He caressed her tongue with his own in a sensual slide. He found comfort in the way she curled into his body, the grip of her hands at his waist as she melted into him. At least she was honest with him when he kissed her. Her trust issues and his stupid mouth didn’t rule them here.
Being this near her was arousing him, and it had more to do with the chance to brand himself on her than simple sexual desire. His need for Everly was so much more complex. All-consuming.
But he couldn’t satisfy his craving for her here. He couldn’t claim her in the way he needed if he wanted any chance to keep her. With a growl of frustration, he pulled back, allowing himself one more brush of his lips against hers before setting his forehead against her own and letting himself breathe her in for a moment.
“You thought I was accusing you of something?” Everly asked, her hands still on his waist.
“I’m so grateful that one of us in this relationship is very smart.” He needed to grovel. He would get down on his knees and beg if he had to—whatever it took to earn her forgiveness and convince her that he cared deeply.
She chuckled. “I know you wouldn’t have hurt Maddox. Well, I think you might have kicked his ass, but you wouldn’t have killed your friend. You wouldn’t kill anyone.”
She was wrong about that. An hour ago, he’d wanted to wrap his hands around Valerie’s throat, not stopping until she could never threaten Everly again. When he thought about the people who had nearly murdered her over the past few days, Gabe felt savage and perfectly capable of killing. “I definitely didn’t end Mad and I’ll find out if Zack and Roman are worried that someone’s trying to set me up.”
He kissed her one last time, then stepped back and sent a questioning glance Dax’s way.
Dax shook his head. “I don’t know a damn thing about it. And you can leave Connor out, too. He would have simply confronted you. I’m not saying Connor wouldn’t cover it up, but he would find out the truth first, and that would include putting you through a very uncomfortable interview.”
Everly looked up at him. “You’re not going to let this rest, are you?”
“Not as long as I have breath in my body. Mad’s death wasn’t an accident.” He knew that. Maybe his conviction made him sound naive or mental, but Gabe refused to back down when he could help the people he loved. Just because Mad was gone didn’t make their bond less real. “I owe it to him.”
Dax nodded. “We all do.”
Everly looked his way with a resolution he’d never seen on her face. “He’s wrong about you. The man I met earlier, I mean.” Her jaw firmed, and she slipped her hand in his. “Since before the funeral, I’ve been getting messages from an individual who claims to know what happened to Maddox. So I met him earlier this afternoon.”
He let that wash over him. She’d been hiding information from him. He’d been honest with her and she’d been hiding. “Damn it, Everly. That was dangerous.”
He was going to let it go because he couldn’t afford to get his back up. That wall of hers now had a chink in it and he wasn’t going to give her any reason to fix the sucker. She was being honest now and that was all that mattered.
She shrugged. “Calculated risk. I had a gun. I’d like to look through the security footage, but I doubt we’ll get a great shot of this guy. He wore a hat and kept his head down. If we did capture an image of his face, I know some facial recognition software that might help us ID him. I’ll have to hack the FBI . . . unless one of your friends wants to help.”
Thank god. She’d found one thing about his lifestyle that might be beneficial. He had friends who could help her hack major government websites. Yeah, his life might have been easier with a girl who only wanted a Tiffany bracelet. Not his nerd goddess.
“I swear I’ll talk to Roman and get you whatever you need. Now tell us everything you can.” Gabe vowed to protect her. He didn’t want some crazy bastard texting her, convincing her to meet him. It was too dangerous. Even the thought of it made him insane.
“Not here,” she murmured. “I don’t have enough proof to bring the police into this. And I’m worried whatever we tell them will be leaked to the press. I think we should conduct our own investigation until we have a firm grasp of who’s hiding what and possess solid evidence.”
She was right; this wasn’t the place to talk about it. “Dax, can you bring the limo around? We should get out of here.”
Everly shook her head. “I need to go upstairs and get my laptop.”
“No. Valerie isn’t coming back. We’ll have security lock your office. It will be safe.” He refused to let her argue that point. After she’d nearly been killed again, no way was she walking back upstairs and calmly strolling into her office. Time to talk about her taking a short leave of absence while they figured out who was pulling what lethal strings.
Her shoulders lifted and fell with the force of her sigh. “I really need that laptop and some other items from my office.”
Gabe crossed his arms over his chest. “No.”
Everly shook her head. “Fine. At least it’s in my safe, so I know no one will make off with it. And we need to talk about where I’m sleeping tonight because I think it’s time we took a step back.”
He moved closer so she would hear his whisper. “That’s not what it felt like when I kissed you a few minutes ago. In fact, space felt like the last thing you needed.”
“Just because I respond to you sexually doesn’t make us a good match out of bed, Gabriel. There are still a lot of issues between us that can’t be solved with sex. I’m going to finish up with the police.” She walked over to the lieutenant, her heels sounding against the concrete.
