It was...nice.
So much more than nice. It was what she’d been waiting for her whole life and never thought she’d find.
Damn it, she wanted to help clear Tanner’s name so they could go on that getaway he’d talked about. Whoever this master puppeteer was, he needed to be stopped, not only because of all the bad murderer stuff but because he was getting in the way of Bree’s love life.
She’d never had one before, and now that she did, she was tired of waiting.
Bree kept her Kelsey Collins persona wrapped around her as she walked to an empty visitors’ table, just a couple down from where they’d met with Carrico last time. She refused to let her fears—not that she would get hurt, but that she wasn’t capable of doing this—get the best of her. She would talk to Carrico, study every bit of his nonverbal behavior that she could and get the answers she needed.
The Kelsey Collins disguise didn’t fool Carrico very long. He hadn’t been across from Bree more than a few seconds before his eyes narrowed.
“You’re looking a bit different than the last time I saw you, cop lady friend, not that I mind the blond. Where’s Mr. Cop today? You decide to trade up for a real man?”
Carrico was slouched in his chair, face set in a half smirk. Bree forced herself to look deeper at the man, beyond the surface conceit and attitude. To study him the way Tanner would if he was here.
Carrico’s thin face was even more gaunt than it had been a few days ago. Dark circles had taken up residence under his eyes. The man was worried. Not nearly as flippant as he pretended to be.
She needed to get through to him and keep him from becoming defensive. Otherwise he’d never talk to her.She didn’t have any sort of interrogation training. She barely had any sort ofconversationtraining.
She decided to go with what she did have: the truth.
“I owe you some thanks. Because of you I figured out I was in love with Tanner.”
One of his eyebrows shot up almost comically. “And how is that, exactly?”
“Because after we left here three days ago, Tanner planned to help you with your situation regardless of whether you’d given him any useful information to help him out or not.”
Carrico shrugged, not looking impressed.
“Tanner has his own problems,” she continued. “Believe it or not, ones just as big as yours, but he still planned to help you—even though he doesn’t know you and you acted like a complete jackass when we talked last. He wants to help you because that’s just the type of person Tanner is. Someone who does the right thing, even when it doesn’t benefit him personally.”
He’d done that with her, too. Risked everything to protect her and get her out of a situation where she would’ve died.
Tanner Dempsey was courageous, strong, smart and just a little bit broken. Bree didn’t know a lot about feelings, but she knew with absolute clarity that she was in love with him.
“Yeah, well, I’m still going to Colorado State Penitentiary, so I’m not feeling like your boy is such a golden angel.”
She leaned forward. “He has to get himself out of trouble before he can help you. But he will help you, Darin.”
“My brother says not to trust cops. Not to talk to anyone else.”
“Believe me, I know what it’s like to trust no one but yourself. But I promise you, if Tanner can get himself clear of his own charges, he will do what he can to help you. Don’t you want to be able to know you did everything you could to be able to see your daughter?”
He didn’t say anything, but she felt like she was getting through to him. “I can tell you’re not sleeping well—I know that feeling, too. Staying awake, trying to figure out if you missed anything. If anything can be done to change the situation you’re in. I know what it’s like to sit alone with my own desperation, Darin. Tanner will help you. He’s a man of his word. I’ve bet my whole life on it.”
He let out a sigh and leaned in toward the table. “Fine. What do you want to know?”
“Why was Dr. Michalski here last week?”
Darin shrugged. “He was my last resort. I knew he’d talked to both Anders and Newkirk, and that he was part of the reason they’d gotten paroled early. I never could get Dr. Michalski to come talk to me, though, to see if there was anything that could be done about my transfer. Finally, my brother Glen convinced him.”
“Do you know how Glen convinced him?”
“Not really. Maybe used the cancer card.” His face tightened in grief. “Glen has Stage IV lung cancer. So maybe he played on the doc’s sympathy.”
Stage IV cancer. That would explain why Glen had looked even more gaunt than Darin when she’d seen him.
“Did Dr. Michalski say anything about Tanner when he was here?”
