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“You know that’s not true, Livingston,” Julius drawled. Palms on the table on either side of his Stetson, he looked to Dove. “I’m sorry, but we need to hear it all.”
She swallowed hard, received a nod of encouragement from Rain, and repeated her earlier statement. “I heard my sister crying out. She wasn’t cooperating.”
Rain rubbed Dove’s arm in a soothing gesture. “I wasn’t.”
“What did the guy want from you?” Quaide asked.
Rain stared at the cheap, laminated faux wood of the tabletop. “They questioned me about Dom. They wanted to know if I ever heard any names mentioned. If he ever told me about his ‘friends,’ which I assume were his contacts for dealing.” She pushed out a low sigh. “I didn’t speak to any of his friends…but I saw them. I can pick them out of a lineup if need be.”
Clay gave a hard nod. “Lark? Let’s make that happen.”
“Making a note to call the chief of police after the meeting.” Her fingers flew over the keys.
Rain continued. “They also had questions about the money I carried.”
“What sort of questions?” Quaide kept shooting glances at Dove, checking her mood and gauging whether or not she was okay. If he needed to stop this meeting and take her to bed to give her the rest she needed, he would.
“They wanted to know amounts. What banks Dom used.”
“Did you tell them?”
She bit down on her full bottom lip and sliced a look at Dove. Quaide leaned forward, elbows resting on the table. He got the feeling that Rain wasn’t saying everything in order to protect Dove from the truth. Talk about a reversal of roles.
“I told them that the government closed the accounts and seized the funds.” She raised a hand and gingerly rubbed at the side of her head.
Quaide and Julius both saw the movement and traded a look. If he checked Rain over, he’d bet anything that she was hiding a goose egg from a blow to the head under her thick blonde hair. As soon as they finished here, he’d pull Lark aside and get her to examine Rain just to make sure she didn’t have a more serious injury than a bruise.
Rain drew a deep breath. “Then I heard the pops and explosions—”
“Flashbangs,” Quaide corrected. Dove shot him a quizzical glance. “I tossed some stun grenades outside the room they had Rain in—then under the cover of smoke, Lexis and I were able to rescue her.”
Dove gave a small shake of her head, her lips formed into a tinyO. He was trying to keep everything said here as neutral and as easy for her to hear as possible. But she’d been covered in his blood, for god’s sake. She couldn’t escape that event unscathed.
The minute he got her alone, he planned to make her shut out the entire world and just focus on him and the pleasure he was going to give her.
“Is there anything else you want to add, Rain?” Clay’s question brought Quaide’s attention from Dove’s stunning face to her sister.
She shook her head. “If I think of anything else, I’ll tell you.
Clay spread his hands on the table. “Jennings? Any progress on our friend off that list?”
He scuffed a fingertip over his stubbled jaw. “Julius and I paid a visit to the church. Had a thorough look during and after the meeting. But we didn’t see anything out of the ordinary. It wasn’t until we got out of town that one of our informants gave us a tip on that guy Sykes.”
Clay and Quaide both straightened in their seats.
Quaide eyed Jennings. “Sykes? You saw the man? He’s practically a ghost.”
“Not if you know where to look, and I do. Anyway, he isn’t a problem anymore.”
Silence throbbed in the room. “What does that mean exactly?” Clay asked.
Julius’s mouth set in a firm line.
Quaide issued a rough laugh. “Abel, tell me you didn’t shoot him so you can see another autopsy.”
He twitched his head toward the door. “I’m making the popcorn now. Don’t you hear the microwave running?”
The exchange made them all chuckle, breaking some of the tension from Rain and Dove’s recounting.
