Page 50 of Chilled
“We don’t know that, and bogeyman or not, if you remember, your car is still in the station parking lot.” He had to repress a satisfied smile as Brenna’s face fell.
At the very least, he would have her with him until they reached the station. And if he had any say, which he did as team lead, she would be by his side at all times. “I’ll be ready in five. Don’t go anywhere.” He spun toward his room and before he shut the door, he turned back to her. “That’s an order.”
Brenna maintainedher silence all the way to the station, refusing to talk about anything. Especially last night. What was there to talk about? She’d experienced the most incredible sex ever. But, in the light of day, she knew nothing could come of it. They were two people caught up in the adrenaline rush of a case. When they captured the killer, they’d go their separate ways—Nick back to Virginia and Brenna on to Minneapolis, with any luck.
Despite her attempt to be nonchalant about a one-night stand, Brenna couldn’t stop feeling as gray as the overcast sky.
Paul met them at the door to the war room. “Look at this.” He shoved Dr. Drummond’s autopsy report in Nick’s face.
Brenna leaned over Nick’s shoulder to read it.
“Death by strangulation. The coroner believes the cable used to bind her hands and feet was the same kind used to strangle her,” Paul said, before Nick or Brenna could read down to that part.
“What kind of cable?” Nick asked.
“Ethernet cable,” Paul responded.
Brenna cringed, imagining how painful it must have been to be strangled by such a thin wire. “Was it hers?”
“I have a man swinging by the doctor’s place to check.” Paul paced across the room and back. “I don’t know that it makes a difference.”
“What about the Conlin kid?” Nick looked up from the report. “Anything on him?”
“Melissa and I did some asking around. You might find this interesting in light of the cable evidence; he was a computer lab tech at the same college with Dr. Gomez. Robin Rutledge also goes to that same college. We staked out his place, but he didn’t come out all night.”
“I take it you two didn’t get much sleep.”
“Only in shifts while we waited for something to happen,” Melissa said from her position at the computer. “How about you two? Victor Greeley pan out?”
Nick didn’t answer, so Brenna spoke up. “Not really. He had a rendezvous with his latest mistress.”
“He’s married, isn’t he?” Paul asked.
“Yeah.” Nick’s lips pressed together.
“Scumbag,” Melissa muttered.
“So, you guys got about as much sleep as we did.” Paul yawned. “Very little.”
Brenna’s face warmed all the way to the tips of her ears. “I’m going for coffee.” She spun on her heel and marched away before anyone could read into her red face something she’d rather not get around.
As she left the war room, she could hear Paul ask Nick, “Did I say something wrong?”
Brenna didn’t wait to hear his response, mentally kicking herself all the way down the hall to the coffee maker. How could she allow herself to react in front of the rest of the team? Would they read into her dash out of the room, put two and two together and conclude that she and Nick had made love?
How mortifying if they did. They were professional FBI agents. How would it look for one of their own to make it with a local? How would she look as the local who made it with the big bad FBI team lead?
Brenna stood before the coffee machine, her hand shaking so badly she couldn’t pour a cup.
“Excuse me.”
The voice behind her made her jump, and she turned wide-eyed toward the one person she didn’t want to talk to—Nick Tarver.
“If you want coffee, you have to pour it into a cup.” Nick gave her a lopsided smile and took her trembling hands in his. Warmth flowed from her fingertips to her heart. “Hey, if it helps, we can pretend nothing happened.”
A tear slid from the corner of her eye down her cheek. “If only it hadn’t.”
Nick winced.
