“No.” Maybe, but I didn’t want them so I shoved them back where they belonged.
He raised both eyebrows this time.
“I told you this case would be complicated the minute I realized my family was involved.”
“Let me talk to her.”
I hesitated to agree.
“One, they don’t know who I am, so it’ll uncomplicate things, and two, you’re too fucking close to this case in more ways than one.”
His logic was sound, but I still couldn’t make myself agree.
“And three, I promise to handle her with kid gloves.”
Ryan Gibson interrogated the worst of the worst, and he was damn good at it. His definition of kid gloves varied from mine.
“She’s not a criminal mastermind or a terrorist.”
“I know.”
“She’s an innocent kid trying to survive.”
“I know.”
The image of G’s tall, caramel colored, heavily tattooed, zero-body-fat body leaning over Nina’s short, pale, curvy body while he pointed a scarred finger at her face demanding answers refused to leave my mind.
When I mentioned it, he said, “Fucking hell, Winchester, I’m not a monster.”
Wednesday morning, Gibson and I drove back to Weatherford. I stayed in the surveillance van while he went to Grannie’s.
“Miss Novak, I’m Tim Jones from Conner, Ingram and Associates, and I’d like to speak to you.”
G’s invisible comms and camera were transmitting perfectly.
Nina looked like a squirrel in the middle of the road, debating between standing still and running away.
“Can I see your business card?”
“Sure thing, Beth,” Ryan said, laying on the charm.
Through the camera attached to his tie, I saw him hand her the card and watched her read it.
“Tone it down, G.”
Beth’s shoulders tightened as she squinted her eyes and pursed her lips.
Fuck, that reaction had me on my feet, my breath stuck in my throat as I watched.
“Mr. Jones, can you wait here a minute?”
“Cooperate,” I ordered him over comms.
“Of course, can I get a coffee while I wait?”
Soft country music and other sounds of the coffee shop filtered over the comms as Beth ushered Nina to the back.
I didn’t think Beth was stupid, but that was some ninja level perception if she picked apart G’s cover story from his business card.
