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“And here’s Alex.” Joel slid the picture of the poor girl toward him.
Tad gagged harder and bolted to the bathroom.
After Christian overheard far more than he ever wanted to, Tad returned, pale as a ghost.
Tad retook his seat, and Joel didn’t give him a moment’s rest. “Tell us about the mystery woman, as you called her.”
“I don’t know anything about that woman,” Tad said, shifting in his seat and dabbing his perspiring forehead with a silk handkerchief he pulled from his shirt pocket.
“You don’t know her?” Joel pointed at her crime-scene photo.
Tad gagged and turned his head. “Please take that away before I get sick again. I don’t know her!”
“Then maybe you need another look.” Joel leaned forward with the picture.
“Fine.” Tad huffed. “Take the picture away and I’ll tell you what you want to know.”
Joel sat back, steepling his fingers, indicating with a dip of his chin for Tad to proceed.
Tad grunted out an exhale. “She was the woman from the gala. But that’s all I know.”
Joel looked up at Christian and then Andi and indicated with a slight move of his head for them to jump in anytime.
Christian pulled out a chair for Andi, and she slid into it. “Thank you.”
He nodded, then flipped a chair around, straddling it. He rested his hands against the chair back and interlaced his fingers. “We know you’re lying.”
Tad blanched. “Nice tactic.”
Christian arched a brow. “Tactic?”
“Yes. To get me to talk. I don’t have anything to say.”
“That’s fine. You don’t have to help us, but you’re next,” he said.
Tad swallowed. “Wh-what do you mean?” His pitch was high enough for dogs to hear.
“Whoever these guys pulling off the heists are,” Joel began, “they clearly don’t like loose ends. And like it or not, you’re a loose end.”
“Why ... why would you say that?” Tad’s voice quivered, despite his poised posture.
“Because,” Joel continued, “you know both of the other victims, and you know who’s behind the heists. You can either give them up or become their next victim.”
Tad swallowed, then wiped his brow. “I can’t.” He shook his head. “I’ve never even seen them. I don’t know who they are.”
“Oh?” Joel sat back and shifted, crossing one booted foot over the opposite knee. “You do know them.”
“I just said...” Color rose up Tad’s neck.
“We know you hired them,” Andi bluffed.
“We know you needed the insurance money,” Christian added, courtesy of Greyson’s digging into Tad’s financials. “You’ve got a hefty gambling debt, and you needed a way to pay up before they...” Christian drew a line across his neck.
Tad sat back, arms crossed. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“How about this,” Andi said, leaning forward. “We know you met with your mystery woman months before the heist. We have eyewitnesses.”
Tad’s gaze darted from them to the door, then back again.
