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“God, you should see your expression.” Lucas walked around the table, tugged Snow out of the chair and into his arms. He held him tight against his strong form and Snow let himself absorb some of that strength—even if it was only imagined. For a brief moment, his world felt a little less unbalanced. Lucas had held the power to right his world from the time they’d met as kids. Snow had always joked that it was his superpower.
Lucas pulled back, but he kept his hand on shoulders as if trying to keep him upright. “Your home won’t be available for some time, so I already sent Candace out to pick up clothes for you. I’ll be taking you to my place when we leave.”
Snow almost smiled. He would have if his heart didn’t feel like it weighed more than the rest of his body. Lucas and his tendency to take over a situation had never been more welcome than it was right then. “I think I have to stay at the station. It looks bad, Luc. Really bad.” He saw that damn splatter again and squeezed his eyes shut. Lucas’s hands tightened on his shoulders, grounding him again so he could continue. “You won’t believe what happened to that man inside my home,” he whispered, wanting to tell Lucas about the bat and worse, about that split in the man’s cheek. But Hollis Banner and Sarah had followed Lucas into the room and sat in the chairs across the table.
They gave him the time he needed to get himself together. Lucas’s solid hand on his arm helped. He worked to push the blood from his head, leaned into Lucas and the second hug that followed helped even more.
Lucas pointed to the chair. “Sit down, Ash. You look like you’re going to collapse.”
Snow nodded and sat, gaze locked on his hands as if he could will them to stop shaking.
“So, doc, your man showed up,” Hollis said. “He’s out there now giving a statement.”
Startled, he looked up. “My man?”
“The paramedic you spent the night with showed up. He came running to your rescue the second he saw the news. Nice job, by the way.” He winked.
Snow resisted the urge to lunge across the table and punch that expression off the annoying cop’s face. “You’re being awfully flip at a time like this.” He thought of Jude with Hollis and felt that heave in his stomach again. “Also, I doubt you’re his type,” he muttered.
Lucas jerked next to him and Snow didn’t look at him, knowing he’d find shock. And questions he couldn’t answer. Yeah, that had most definitely been jealousy thickening his voice and Snow simply didn’t have the energy to think about it.
The corner of Hollis’s mouth went up. “I’m everybody’s type, doc.”
Snow curled his lip. He didn’t want the cop anywhere near Jude and before he could share that feeling, Hollis held his hand up.
“Listen, in my job, it’s imperative to keep my perspective in place. We find humor where we can.” He leaned forward and clasped his hands on the table, his blue eyes full of curiosity. “So you spent the night with a date, came home and found someone had sex with and killed a man in your house. Inside your fucking house.”
“That sums it up,” Sarah said, her frown fierce. “Dr. Frost has gone over and over that repeatedly with other policemen here. And now he has a solid alibi. Someone is obviously trying to set him up.”
“Obviously.” Hollis’s tone dragged with sarcasm, his slight southern drawl more pronounced than usual. “Regardless, this isn’t going to be that easy for the doc. Not since he was seen by a lot of witnesses fighting the victim last night. His every movement before and after will come under scrutiny and the fact you guys buried a loved one just yesterday, only makes things worse.”
“For fuck’s sake, Hollis, the man has an alibi attesting to his whereabouts all night.” Lucas ran his hands through his hair and leaned back against the wall. “That should steer you guys toward finding the real bad guy here.”
Hollis glared at Lucas. “He’s also got a reputation as…let’s just say…a rough date. He has a kick-ass security system that wasn’t tampered with, and we have a couple of men telling us that he took them to that same room on the second floor for sex. Hey Vallois, this isn’t a black-and-white case here for your best bud. It looks bad.”
“You think I did this.” Snow didn’t bother to make it a question, his heart picking up beats.
The cop’s sigh was loud. “Off the record…no, I don’t actually think you did this.” There was a long pause and Snow didn’t need to look at Lucas to know that his friend heard it too. Hollis still had an axe to grind over events that happened during the fall and the disappearance of the man behind the threat to two of Cincinnati’s richest citizens as well as the death of a third.
