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My fingers curl into fists, and I grip my jeans to keep from reaching into my pocket. Or throwing a punch. I don’t think of myself as violent, but the ACPD is really trying my patience.
“She might be curious to know that you’re bringing me in,” I say, not caring that I’m giving away my Achilles’ heel. I just need to know that she’s safe. I need him to make that happen. “She was the one who first questioned me, after all. And she was really interested in me today. More so than Carson. Maybe you should call her. She seems like the type that doesn’t like to be left out of the know.”
The look he gives me borders on rage. “Stay the fuck away from her. Do you understand?”
Nerve struck. Looks like Detective Quinn and I share the same Achilles’ heel.
He reaches into his jacket and pulls out his phone. Touches his screen. Then, “Bonds, where are you?”
My heart leaps into my throat. Just knowing that she’s on the other line—alive; safe—is enough to get me through the rest of this shit. I loose a tense breath, finally able to take my first full one since I saw her leave the club.
“No, that’s fine,” Quinn says. “Stay there. Just wanted to make sure you’re all right.” A pause where I’m desperate to hear her voice, then he says, “I want a report on my desk tomorrow, first thing, on what I asked for. No field work. Just bring your ass into the station and work on that.”
I grit my teeth, not at all liking how he talks to her. But I’m thankful we’re at least on the same page. If that’s what it takes to keep Sadie away from harm, then I’m grateful to the bastard.
He ends the call as he pulls into the police department. He parks and looks over at me. “Just between us, Colton, whatever pervy thing you and your brother have going on at that club…Agent Bonds is off-limits. You hear me?” His eyes widen as he drills home his point. “If I find out it’s been you or your brother fucking with her...” he trails off, letting his unsaid threat resonate. “Put it this way. I’m only a cop while on the clock. The rest of the time, I’m a man that will put a hurt on anyone who messes with my team.”
Despite the fact that his threat is directed at me, I appreciate his passion for wanting to keep Sadie safe. But there’s something else, a current of something sinister, just beneath all his macho bravado. It’s disturbing.
Holding his stare, I say, “I have no intention of involving Sadie in anything that will harm her.” And I mean every word. If my past has resurfaced to destroy me, then Sadie’s safest away from me. It’s a painful admission.
He doesn’t miss my intent by using her first name. His narrowed gaze drags over me slowly before he nods. “Be sure you mean that.”
Once we’re inside the department, I’m shuffled past a busy entrance with cops taking statements and led to an empty room. And that’s where I stay for thirty minutes before Detective Carson enters.
I’m past the point of breaking already. Half an hour spent imagining Sadie in some situation where I can’t get to her… If they wanted to break me, that’s all they had to do. Take away all communication and let me dwell on the worst. I’m willing to tell this asshole whatever he wants if it means this night will finally be over.
“Meeting twice in one day is never a good thing,” Carson says as he takes a seat at the table across from me. He loosens his black tie, looking like a bad cliché from a cop show. “I assume that if you didn’t know who I was before, then you probably have an idea now.”
“You’re the detective that followed my brother here.”
“I didn’t follow him. I followed the trail of bodies and carnage, Colton. It just happened to lead to your brother. And you,” he adds, “interestingly enough. I didn’t realize it at the time, but you also resided in Roanoke during the investigation of Marni Holloway.”
I open my mouth to correct him, but he holds up a hand. “Sorry. You resided there prior to the investigation. You skipped town after her murder. Which was one of the most gruesome I’ve ever seen.”
Carson flips open a file and spreads the contents across the table. The grisly images reach right into my chest and stop my heart.
He sits there, watching, waiting to see my reaction. Or lack of one. I wonder if Quinn called in Sadie, after all. If she’s on the other side of the mirror right now, analyzing me. Providing insight for the others as she deciphers my every word and action. A disgusted expression marring her beautiful face.
I don’t have to look at the pictures; I know what they reveal. I haven’t forgotten. I see them in my nightmares. Marni’s naked body tied and bound. Strung up against her headboard. A rope noosed around her neck. She was strangled so hard her eyes bulged and bled red.
But I reach across the table and pick up a photo, anyway. I know it’s what he wants me to do. He wants me to need to relive her murder so badly that I can’t help but touch them. Marvel over them. Be back in that bedroom with her and recreate that moment.
I don’t need crime scene photos to remind me, though; I have never stopped reliving it.
“Take a look, Colton. Can you tell me who this is?”
“Don’t play that fucking game,” I grind out, forcing my gaze away from the image to meet his eyes. “I’m here on my own accord. So far, I haven’t been charged, so I know you don’t have anything solid or else I’d be cuffed and my rights already read. I’m being…what’s that word you like? Cooperative. So I’d appreciate it if you’d just cut the shit and make your point.”
A knowing smile curves his mouth. “Fair enough. That strangled victim in the photo—”
“Marni,” I correct him. I hate that word—she was never a victim.
“Marni,” he says, the smile leaving his face. “She was more to you than just your brother’s girlfriend, wasn’t she?”
“She was.”
“In fact, you and your brother once got into a heated argument over her at a club where he worked down in Roanoke. Witnesses said that the argument escalated quickly and became physical.”
