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“You seem a little stressed tonight, Maddox. Maybe there’s something I can do to help relax you.” She curls herself around me and trails her hand a little higher on my thigh, but before I can stop her, shouting from the back hall draws my attention.
A second later, Roxy bursts into the room, rapidly followed by Zak, who is attempting to grab hold of her. Every eye in the place, turns their way at the exact moment Roxy’s eyes land on mine before snapping to Candi beside me.
ChapterTwenty-One
Roxy
DCI Winters sits behind his desk, but it’s not him my eyes are focused on. No, my eyes are firmly fixed on the other man, now standing, to the left of me.
“Sir, my apologies, I didn’t realise you were busy,” I manage to say, peeling my eyes from Noah to look at my DCI. “I can come back later, sir.”
“No, no, please, come in and take a seat, Miss Whitmore.” Hearing him referring to me as Miss Whitmore smarts more than a little. “Roxanne, I’d like you to meet Noah Shaw, he’s an investigator with the National Crime Agency,” he says, gesturing to the other seat as Noah and I shake hands, which is a fucking joke. “We were just talking about you actually.”
“You were?” I question, eyeing Noah suspiciously.
“Yes, Noah was hoping you’d be able to help him with his current investigation, so your timing couldn’t have been better.”
“Sir—”
“I’m aware of your current status, Roxanne, but that doesn’t affect your duty to aid in the capacity of a member of the general public.” His words may have indicated I have a choice, but his tone belies him. Without waiting for my response, he turns to Noah. “If you can give me five minutes with Roxanne, then after that, I’m sure she’ll be happy to assist you anyway she can.”
Noah, climbs to his feet, reaching across the desk and shaking DCI Winters’ hand, thanking him for his time. “I’ll wait outside for you, Miss Whitmore,” he says, then leaves.
I spend exactly five minutes with the DCI who informs me that while there is no evidence of misconduct on my part, I’ll need to wait for the conclusion of the internal investigation before I can be reinstated. If that’s what I want.
I don’t get a second to let his words sink in or gather my thoughts. As soon as I step out into the hall, Noah is there waiting for me.
I barely look at him as I barge past, seeking out the nearest free interview room. I shove the door open, and as soon as I hear it click shut behind Noah, I round on him.
“What the actual fuck are you doing here? And talking to my DCI…Jesus!”
“Calm down, Roxy. I didn’t come here to see you. It was just my cover—”
“Cover? Cover for what, Noah?”
“Another case I’m working, but I was planning to call you when I was done here. We need to talk, Roxy.”
My defensive attitude drops a little at his tone and the look on his face. “About what,” I ask suspiciously.
“Let’s sit,” Noah says, gesturing to a chair.
Nobody tells you to sit to give you good news, but I sit all the same, begrudgingly. Noah sits the other side of the table making this feel even more formal. Up until recently, I hadn’t sat in this position since I was a teen, but this is the second time in the last few weeks. I can’t say I enjoy it.
“What’s going on? Is everything okay with the trafficking case?”
“The case is fine. Our little stunt hasn’t impacted it at all.” He pauses, rubbing a hand over his chin. “How much do you know about the Theo Rogers case?”
My head jerks a little, tilting to the side in confusion. “I wasn’t on that case, you know that. Why?” Aside from the fact I wasn’t actually here the day Theo was murdered, I deliberately stayed clear of the case for fear of running into Maddox and Zak. Of course, over the years, there have been plenty of cases where our paths could have crossed inadvertently, but there was no way I could have avoided them with Theo’s case; there’s no way they weren’t connected to it in some way or another.
“From an anonymous tip off, we recovered the gun believed to have been used in Theo’s murder.” He pauses, pulling his phone from his pocket and finding whatever he’s looking for before sliding it across the table to me. “Do you recognise this?”
I look down, eyes scanning the picture of a gun. Not just any gun. This particular gun is one I recognise, or at least I’m almost certain it’s the same one.
“No, should I?” I ask casually, looking him straight in the eye. Beneath the table, every muscle in my lower body is tensed but above everything is relaxed and masking the fear that’s winding through my veins. Because if that is the gun I think it is, then I know without a doubt it belongs to Maddox.
An image of the three us sharpens in my mind; me holding the gun and marvelling at the feel, the power. I’d never even seen a gun until Maddox pulled it out to show me. Hell, I was 15 and even though we lived in an area synonymous with gun crime, the boys tried to keep me away. That’s not to say I was an angel, far from it. I remember posing with it and thinking I was some bad arse gangster when in reality I was the severely lacking character foil.
Maddox was on a high that night. I knew that he and Zak had been spending time with the Rogers family, which wasn’t a surprise seeing as Don Rogers was a friend of theirs, so having Theo hand him a gun seemed like a big deal. I didn’t really get it then, but I do now.
