Page 23 of Hard Rain

The room shifted almost imperceptibly around the name.

Whip spoke first.

“Thought he was still in Belize.”

“So did everybody else,” Boone said. “State police got a hit off a gas station camera outside Paisley three nights ago.”

Boone’s cool blue gaze settled on both of them.

“The deputies in Paisley think he’s couch-hopping with locals who don’t ask questions. I want you there ASAP.”

“Fucking locals always messing up shit,” Axel groused, earning a hard squint from Boone.

“Got it,” Whip cut in smoothly.

Their boss nodded once before his attention shifted toward Knox still standing there with both cheeks full of bear claw like a damn chipmunk.

A dangerous silence settled over the room.

“Where’s my donut?”

Knox nearly choked.

Beth breezed in from the hallway carrying a paper plate wrapped in a napkin. “Right here, boss.”

Boone took it without looking away from Knox.

“Thought maybe you forgot me,” Boone said mildly.

Knox swallowed hard, shaking his head fast enough to deny several crimes at once.

“Wouldn’t dream of it,” Beth answered with a smile.

Axel snorted under his breath, grabbed the case file from Boone’s desk, and took that as his cue to leave.

Whip fell into step beside him.

Behind them, Knox was still trying to explain the donut he was eating definitely hadn’t belonged to Boone.

Neither of them wasted time escaping the office before Boone decided everybody needed another meeting.

Cold rain hammered the parking lot hard enough to bounce off the asphalt in silver sheets.

Axel followed Whip out of the building while Boone’s voice carried faintly somewhere behind them and Knox kept trying to defuse the stolen donut situation.

The office door shut behind them.

Quiet.

Just rain again.

Whip tugged his jacket higher against the weather and headed toward one of the task force SUVs parked beneath the flickering lot light.

“We’re not taking your Jeep?”

“I don’t want bullet holes in my Jeep,” Whip muttered. “Paisley’s gonna be a mess.”

“Whole town’s a mess.”