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“You think I was in the bank?” The guy lifted his chin. “Prove it.”
“And when I run the DNA we collected, you’re so sure it won’t include yours?”
Steven scoffed. “I bank there. Of course you’re going to find my DNA. In fact, I’m pretty sure I gave myself a paper cut last time. You might even find blood.”
“I’m sure I might.” Gage studied him for a moment. “You have an important choice to make right now. It’s come down to you and what happens next.”
“I’m not going to talk.”
“Then I’m at liberty to charge you for two murders and one count of attempted murder.” Gage paused. “You think you’re ever going to see the outside of a prison after that?”
“Do it.” Steven lifted his chin. “See if I care what happens to me.”
“Are they worth you throwing your life away?” Gage waited but said nothing else. “You’re within your rights to seek counsel. Might be a smart move.”
Steven shrugged. “Come back with a better offer.”
Gage stood. “Maybe I will.”
He strode out so Liam could take a crack at the guy in a couple of hours. Because sometimes pushing and pushing didn’t convince a witness to talk. Better to let him sit and overthink it, come up with worst-case scenarios and eventually decide it was in his best interest to cooperate.
Until he started talking they wouldn’t make much sense of this. Unless Alex woke up and was able to ID the other members of their crew.
Someone had to start talking.
He closed the door to the interrogation room, trying not to make it obvious how frustrated he was.
Liam strode down the hall toward him.
Gage didn’t like the look on his face. “What?”
“Clare’s here.”
Everything in him wanted to turn and head the other way. “Did you find that address?”
Liam nodded. “She wants to know what we got from Steven Phoenix so far.”
“Text me the address. I need some time, maybe a couple of hours.” Until then he was going to keep feeling like the world had flipped upside down. Like everything he’d ever believed now made no sense.
He wanted to go home, take a shower, and not shut it off until the water ran cold.
Or go meet his father for the first time.
TWENTY-EIGHT
Clare walked out of the elevator through the ground-floor hallway in the police department. She could head back upstairs, get a meeting with Russ. Tell him that SWAT had shut her out. Force them to accept her admittance to what they were doing tonight.
Exhaustion hung around her like a cloud.
She needed a meal and a change of scenery. Instead, she lingered too long looking at Kyle’s memorial picture hanging on the wall. It wasn’t fair to compare Gage and Kyle. One was a lost dream, the other a living nightmare.
Clare didn’t know what to do.
Addie, one of the special agents with the small FBI office here, caught her attention as she passed the window, then motioned her into their office. Asking without words if Clare wanted to come in.
She lifted her wrist and tapped her watch. Shook her head. Kept going, outside where she could stretch her legs and inhale the crisp evening air.
Today hadn’t exactly been a success, but it also wasn’t a complete disaster. The police had one of the suspects in custody. One was dead. Alex would—hopefully—wake up soon. That only left two.
