AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Her jaw hardened “I do.I see him perfectly.You’re the one who doesn’t.”
“I’m the one who made the profile on him.”
Now she did flinch.
But she must have known that truth already.
“Ahem.”From Memphis once again.
And, again, both Lark and Oliver turned to look his way.
“Hate to say it, but the Fed makes a good point.I need more than just your belief in your brother.I need stone-cold evidence if I’m going to find the perp you think set him up.”He folded his arms over his chest and leaned back in the booth.“So what do you have?”
“M-mementos were found at my house.Jewelry from the v-victims…”
Her stutter made Oliver’s stomach clench, but he had to tell her, “We call those trophies, sweetheart.”
“Notyour fucking sweetheart.”No stutter there, just fury.
Right.She wasn’t.Not in reality, anyway.But in his head?You are still mine.He cleared his throat.“Serial killers often take trophies so they can relive their crimes.When I was helping you organize those boxes in your basement, I came across the—”
“You weren’thelping.You were searching for evidence to convict my brother.I think that counts as an illegal damn search, and I know Lane’s lawyer is working to get that evidence tossed out.”
“Youaskedme to help you move those boxes.You asked for help organizing.It was your house.Not your brother’s.He had only moved in a few days before because he’d sold his old home and was in the process of buying a new place.I thought I was helpingyou.” On this, he wanted to be clear.“I never lied to you about who I was.You knew I was a Fed the minute we met.You knew I was working on the Vegas abductions and murders.”
She leaned toward him.“Andyouhad my brother pegged as a suspect even before you walked into my florist shop, didn’t you?You lied about looking for flowers for your mom.Your mother is dead.”
“I wanted something for her grave.”
“That is such BS!You lied to meet me.And you were nosing around in my house looking for evidence to use against my brother under the pretense of helping me because no judge would give you a warrant.You were just busy digging on your own without—”
“Ahem.”
Their heads whipped to Memphis.
“That is my third ‘ahem’ of the night.Third and final.”He grimaced.“You two really need to separate.Or fuck.Don’t know if you’ve realized it, but there is a whole lot of tension in the air between you.”
Lark scooted away from him.As far as she could scoot in the booth.“Special Agent Foxx assumed the box with the jewelry belonged to my brother.”
“I assumed it belonged to the vics.”With good reason.He’d recognized one of the missing jewelry pieces.A cross that had belonged to Susan Peters.Victim number two.
“It wasmine.”
Now he shook his head.“Lying for your brother will do no good.Susan’s DNA was found on the cross.It belonged to her.Obviously.Your brother brought the box with him when he moved into the house with you because he couldn’t stand to be separated from his trophies.He probably relived the rush he got from the kills every time he looked at the jewelry.”Lark’s prints hadn’t been found on the jewelry.Neither had her brother’s.But—
“You’re not listening to me.Just like you and your team didn’t listen to me before.”Her voice rose.“The box wasmine.”
His stomach knotted.“Are you trying to incriminate yourself?Are you saying you were—”
Her head angled toward him.“I’m saying I forgot about that box.It was in a pile of materials I brought home from my store when I was cleaning up.I thought it had old Halloween decorations inside of it.Decorations like that were in the other boxes,if you will recall.I brought that box—and three others—home with me.But then Lane moved in.I met you.Things got…intense.”She wet her lips.“I forgot about that box because it wasn’t important.Only then, we started organizing.You actually opened it.I remember when you opened it because Itoldyou the jewelry wasn’t mine.I thought it was so strange, and I was trying to figure things out and then you said…” Her words trailed away.
“Must be your brother’s,” he muttered.
“Only it wasn’t.Ibrought the box home.It was in my store.Mine.”
“That doesn’t mean that Lane hadn’t put it in your store.”An obvious explanation.
But she shook her head.“You think I haven’t been digging?Every single moment and every single way that I can?Racking my brain over and over again?After Lane’s arrest, my assistant and I scanned through hours and hours of security footage.Not like I had customers coming in, so we had plenty of time to watch the recordings.So we watched and we discovered proof that box was originally delivered to us.”
