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Odd, though. The kiss seemed so long ago. But it had only been hours since that moment.
The night had distorted everything.
The faint lines near Midas’s mouth deepened.
“If you’d been in the house,” Calvin scratched his chin, “wouldn’t that have been far more effective? She wouldn’t have been taken if you’d been inside. I imagine it’s exceedingly difficult to keep a close eye on your client when she’s inside and you’re camped out in your car.”
“I’m not his client,” Alina denied.
Calvin frowned. “Midas Monroe is well-known as a bodyguard for the wealthy and famous.”
The paper gown suddenly seemed very rough against her skin. And the room had grown colder. Hospitals were always cold, but this chill felt different.
“I just assumed seeing as you are something of a celebrity, Alina—is it okay if I call you Alina?” Calvin asked.
She didn’t care what he called her. Alina nodded.
“I assumed that you had hired Midas for protection. Why else would he be outside of your home in the middle of the night?”
“He…he supervises security at the rink.” She’d told them that part already.
Calvin pursed his lips. “Is that what he does?” His stare shifted to her father. “That the story you are going to stick with? You feel good about that?”
Her father’s face darkened. “I’m not telling you any story until my lawyers arrive.”
Lawyers, as in plural, because her father always had an army of lawyers at the ready.
“My daughter has been through an ordeal,” Ryker continued gruffly. “I am lucky she is safe. As for the men who took her—”
“The two dead men?” Joyce cut in. “The men who were found—still zip-tied, by the way, but dead—at the cabin? What about them?”
Very slowly, Midas turned his head so that he stared straight at the female detective. “I left them alive.”
She grimaced. “Are you sure about that? Tense situation. Dangerous moments. They’d abducted your client. You were desperate to get her back. They got in your way. They made you look bad. Ruined that perfect bodyguard reputation you have. So you let loose with your fury.”
“Midas isn’t my bodyguard,” Alina said. She jumped off the table. Grabbed tightly to the edge when her knees threatened to buckle. Her knees needed to get their act together. “And he didn’t kill anyone. The redheaded man—he was alive when we left him.”
Joyce tilted her head to the right. “Are you sure about that?”
“Yes, Midas said he’d checked his pulse. The man was sprawled on the floor, his hands were bound…” She looked down at her own hands. At the bandages around her raw wrists. Alina swallowed as she forced herself to focus on the detectives. “He was alive. Midas and I rushed out. Midas didn’t kill anyone.”
“So…” Once more, Calvin tapped his chin. “You weren’t worried about the knife sticking out of the man’s chest? That wasn’t a concern for you? All the blood?”
Her mouth opened. Closed. “What knife?” No, no, he was wrong. Her head shook. “There was no blood. No knife in his chest.”
The detectives glanced at each other.
They kept doing their silent communication bit, but that needed to stop. “Listen to me,” Alina’s voice rose. “There was no knife in his chest. I think I would have noticed that. Granted, I was stressed at the time.” Try terrified. “But it’s hard to miss a knife.” She crept closer to Midas. He needed to know that she had his back. “Midas did not stab that man. Midas knocked him out, bound his hands, and then Midas carried me from the cabin.”
Joyce’s gaze dipped back to Midas. “That your story, too?”
“I didn’t kill anyone tonight.” He shrugged. “If the redhead was dead, that was probably due to him fucking up his job. He was supposed to keep Alina in that cabin. He failed. I imagine when his boss showed up that the guy wasn’t too thrilled. It’s hard to find good help, you know?”
Joyce’s expression held plenty of suspicion. “That why the second man was dead, too? The one in the woods? A knife to the chest and a broken neck for him?”
Midas stiffened.
“You gonna tell us their boss did that, too? Or did you get a little overzealous in your attempts to subdue that individual?”
