Deadly Heat (Deadly #2)(78)
Author: Cynthia Eden

But his SUV sat waiting, still parked in front of his room.

“This isn’t good,” Luke muttered.

No, not good at all.

She yanked out her phone and dialed his cell as she paced along the line of rooms. Answer, answer…

But the phone just rang and rang.

Monica froze, then slowly lowered her cell.

She heard the peal of sound then. A loud, quick beat that came from close by. She stumbled forward and her gaze scanned the ground near the ice machine. Oh, hell, it was—

“His cell.” Luke’s grim voice.

Monica glanced up and let her stare sweep around the lot. “We’re going to need a crime scene unit out here.”

“You need to come with me.”

Lora glanced up at Kim’s voice. Garrison and Sherri both turned toward the agent as she stood in the doorway.

“Why?” But she knew why. Phoenix. Lora rushed forward, and Garrison followed right on her heels. “Is there another fire?”

Kim shook her head. “Not yet.”

Not yet? Her brows dipped down. “Then why—”

The agent’s gaze held hers, and Kim’s lips pressed together. She swallowed, then said, “Kenton’s missing.”

And Lora’s world stopped.

When they arrived at the police station, Lora shoved her way through the crowd of cops with Garrison right at her side—until she found the man in charge.

“Hyde.” Hyde slowly turned toward her with his jaw locked and his eyes grim.

“Where is he?” Lora demanded.

“We have a crime scene unit at the hotel.”

A crime scene unit. She took the words like a punch to the gut. “Kenton’s been taken, is that what you think? Is that what you’re telling me?”

The voices quieted around her as everyone waited to hear Hyde’s response.

“It’s too early to know for sure.”

What? She flew at him. Her hands grabbed his pristine white shirt, and Lora yanked him close to face her. “Don’t give me that crap,” she ordered, her voice nearly a yell as the fear that had filled her during the long drive over finally destroyed her control.

Just found him. Can’t lose him—Jesus, Kenton!

“Do you think Phoenix has him, Hyde? Tell me!”

Hyde glanced down at her fists, then he looked back up at her eyes. “You should try to remain calm.”

A broken laugh slipped from her lips. “Trust me, I’m way past calm.”

If Phoenix had him…

Hyde’s hands closed over hers and slowly unpried her fingers. “There’s been no contact from Agent Lake in over two hours. We have no specifics at this time.”

“Two hours?” They’d waited this long to notify her? He could already be dead. Burning.

No.

“But I think it’s safe to assume that Agent Lake did not leave willingly from the Millway Hotel.”

Her breath hissed out. “Has there been a call? I mean, if Phoenix has him, he’ll call and give us a fighting chance.”

“There was no call for Bob Kyle.” Jon’s voice. Tired. Angry. She glanced at him and saw the dark circles under his eyes.

His words sank in, and they might as well have been a knife, because they cut right through her.

“What the hell is this?” Garrison demanded

Her head slowly turned toward him. Everything seemed slow right then.

Garrison stopped at the desk. His gaze was on the files. “My men?” His face tightened.

Kim crept closer to him, eyeing the files, but saying nothing.

“I thought we were past this. I thought—shit—”

“That’s a list of suspects…” Pete’s voice carried easily across the room. He stalked in and shook his head. “But it’s narrowed down now, right, Ramirez? Guess you and Sam tightened the list.”

“Down to four,” Sam said as she brushed past some uniforms. She looked as tired as Jon. The same dark circles lined her eyes, and the same tightness hardened her mouth.

Lora gazed at her as she tried to focus on what they were saying, but—dammit! She just kept seeing Kenton in her mind. Kenton, surrounded by fire. “Y-you’ve got four suspects?” Did that mean Pete had been cleared? Had he—

“You know them well, Ms. Spade,” Hyde told her, and she could only blink at him. “Some you work with, some you call friends.” He paused, then, “Frank Garrison—”

“The hell you say,” Garrison snapped. “Kenton knows I had nothing to do with—”

“Rick Suvalis,” Hyde continued quietly. “Max Quint, and Seth MacIntyre.”

Her right temple throbbed. “How—”

“They’re all tied to the station,” Sam said.

“And they’ve all been injured by fire,” Pete added. “That was the link, wasn’t it? I knew after I talked to Davenport… they’d all felt the burn.”

“What the f**k?” Garrison shoved the files away. “I’m no killer. You can’t—”

“Yeah,” Pete said. “It sucks being a suspect.”

Lora’s gaze rose to Garrison. He didn’t fit the age profile Davenport had given for Phoenix, and—“Garrison’s been with me at the hospital. He didn’t have anything to do with—with Kenton.”

“We’ve already ruled you out, Garrison,” Hyde said, voice unruffled. “And we’ve got two of your men waiting in Interrogation right now.”

Two?

“Quint and Suvalis. It was easy enough to round them up.”

Then just one was missing. One…

Seth.

Her breath caught even as her phone rang, vibrating in her pocket with a squeal. She pulled it out and glanced down at the screen. Lora could feel all the eyes on her. Don’t know that number. She turned away, fumbling. “Hello?” Not a good time. End the call. I can’t do this—

“Walk away from them.” A man’s whisper.

She didn’t take another step. “What?”

“Alert them, and he burns right f**king now.”

Lora lowered the phone and swallowed back the ball of fear in her throat. Glancing over her shoulder, she saw Hyde’s watchful eyes on her. Kim stood at his side now, with her hand on his arm. Lora cleared her throat. “M-my brother…” She motioned to the phone. “Ryan wants to make sure I-I’m all right.”

Hyde nodded, then bent to whisper to Kim.

Lora pushed through the crowd and headed for the corner at the far right. “What do you want?” she asked quietly.