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Noelle cradled her hand. “Yeah. How much did the commander see?”
Callan winked. “From the moment he called you a bitch to your glorious punch in his rat face. Now would be a good time for you both to go.”
Brandon didn’t say a word and only circled her waist to pull her with him. Once outside, he stayed silent until they reached what she assumed was his car. He turned to look at her hand, the one still pulsing from the hit, and after turning it over to examine every inch of her skin, he finally exhaled.
“I’m all right, Brandon. Don’t worry...”
And in her next heartbeat, the man stole her breath in a feverish kiss, there, in the dimming light of day, in a very public parking lot.
The man was kissing her out of her brain, turning any remaining pain and frustration into cinders. And once more, it ended too soon.
“Let’s get home. It would be best if you iced that hand while I take a cold shower. We can put our minds together. As you just took down one bad guy, I’m fairly sure you’re up for the next level.”
CHAPTER 11
The man wasn’t joking when he said they’d get cracking. Noelle was in his small apartment, which, it turned out, was two doors down from Callan’s, sitting on his sofa. She’d been ordered not to move while she iced her hand, while Brandon ordered food enough for an army. Just before the delivery guy rang the doorbell, Brandon stepped out of the cold shower he’d said he was going to take.
Noelle rolled her eyes as he put everything on the coffee table. “You know I can walk to the kitchen table. It was designed for holding food.”
His blond beard still glistening with water, his hair loose and damp, he completely ignored her. “I didn’t know what you liked, so I ordered a bit of everything.”
“Yeah, for you, me, and the entire football team you’ve invited?”
He handed her a box. “I’m a big guy. I eat a lot. Most of this is for me, so grab something before it’s all gone.”
Brandon took a pizza box to prove his point, flipped the top open, and grabbed a slice. “How’s your hand?”
It felt a little numb when she finally could flex it. “I should have kneed him in the balls. It would have hurt less for me, and probably more for him.”
Brandon seemed to consider her words. “Yeah, but a punch is a male move and a statement. It was brilliant, even if it does hurt for a little while, so don’t regret it.”
There was a lot of pride and admiration in his compliment, and not the usual bullshit she’d received from men she’d dated about how unladylike that was and how she should’ve waited for him instead. Could that be a sign that this man, Brandon Turner, would treat her like part of the team, like an equal?
“It’s your brain that I need on alert. I want to lay everything out on the table and see if the Noble and Huntington-Whelan cases are similar to Jordyn and Leanna’s case.”
Noelle pulled the pizza box toward her and took a slice. “The Noble case is about a wife who killed her husband and has no recollection of it. The Huntington case is about a secretary who murdered her employer and has no memory of it whatsoever. Loss of memory is the link there.”
“I thought it could be a scorned lover, or maybe money-related. There are as many reasons for people to kill as there are individuals in this world.”
It was a fact of life Noelle couldn’t deny. “As usual, we have to look at the motive and the facts. What about their medical exams and blood tests?”
Brandon chewed a huge bite, and it was apparent the wheels in his head were turning as fast as hers going over all the data. “Your team did all the testing, and nothing was found in the samples of either the victims or the killers. Both victims were killed using a knife. The alleged killer’s prints are the only ones found on the murder weapons and at each crime scene.”
“So those facts are all lined up. It’s the motive that needs to be determined. That’s what you need.”
Brandon swallowed another bite. “And we need more. Maybe there’s evidence taken from Jordyn’s person. Hopefully, some DNA. That would be a welcome early Christmas gift for me.”
Noelle winced. “A DNA test could take weeks, especially comparisons. If you want something fast, we need to focus on other aspects of the investigation.”
“I grilled both women. Lottie Noble is an upstanding citizen who’s traumatized about what happened. She loved her husband, and apart from the usual arguments every couple has, there was nothing to raise any flags.”
“What about the other case?”
Pushing the pizza away, he grabbed a box of Thai noodles that smelled divine. “Employer-employee. Carole Whelan was his secretary and personal assistant for fifteen years. Again, I interviewed her thoroughly and searched both their backgrounds. There were no significant debts, no enemies. Hell, Jarrod Huntington’s wife is Carole Whelan’s best friend. There’s no foul play there either.”
Noelle gestured for him to share his box and grabbed a pair of chopsticks. “Maybe Marina’s suggestion is the solution. If they were hypnotized, we might be able to break through that barrier. I read a study on victims of trauma who forgot what happened. Maybe it’s worth a shot to explore that too. I’ll reach out to Severine. She has a network of colleagues and maybe one of them will have some expertise on the topic.”
Brandon agreed and continued bouncing around ideas with her. It was refreshing to be able to offer suggestions on a case and be listened to. It was both exciting and rewarding, the core reason why she’d chosen a position within the NOPD instead of going to some big corporation. The idea of helping people in theworst possible moment of their lives, or bringing justice to those unable to find it for themselves, was why she did what she did.
