The Girl Next Door (Shadow Agents #6)(14)
Author: Cynthia Eden

He grabbed her arm. “What are you talking about? What did McAdams write?”

Her eyes flew open. “I-in the blood. He tried to write a message. If you didn’t see it, if one of the techs didn’t, your guys are just getting sloppy.”

He glared at her. “There was no message in the blood.”

“Yes,” she said, voice adamant, “there was.” There had been no missing it.

“Then tell me…what did it say?”

Gabrielle licked her too dry lips. “There were three letters. I think…I think it was an E, an O and a D.”

His brows shot up. “What is that supposed to mean?”

She didn’t know, but Gabrielle intended to find out. “They could be the killer’s initials or perhaps even the first three letters in his name.” Maybe you need to do your job and figure it out.

But he just shook his head grimly. “You report the stories, Gabrielle. You aren’t supposed to get in the middle of them. I told you this before. What you’re doing is too dangerous.”

Yes, he had told her that before: same song and dance, different day. The fact that he kept trying to control what she did…no, the fact that he kept trying to change her and make her into someone else—a girl who played things safely—that had been why their short-lived relationship had crashed and burned.

Lane exhaled slowly. “If you aren’t careful, you could find yourself caught in the sights of a killer.”

Then he shoved away from the table, stalked to the door, and he left her there.

Just…left her.

But the image of Van McAdams stayed with her, tightening her stomach and seeming to squeeze her heart. I’m so sorry. I wish that I’d arrived sooner.

Because seeing him like that, actually still alive—it was just like the night she’d found her father.

He’d been alive, too, when she first burst into her home. He’d been hurt so badly. She’d wanted to save him.

She’d only been able to watch him die.

A tear slid down her cheek as her shoulders hunched.

* * *

THE INTERROGATION WAS a joke. Like this was supposed to intimidate him? Being shut in a twelve-by-nine-foot room with a cup of water and air blowing on him, all nice and cool and comfortable?

This was like a vacation for him.

The door opened. The detective stalked inside. Lane Carmichael.

Carmichael’s face was tight and angry, his eyes snapping. Ah, bad cop at his finest.

If Cooper hadn’t been mourning McAdams, he could have appreciated the detective’s performance. As it was, he felt annoyed. And he was ready to leave.

I need to meet up with my team.

“What was in the blood?” Detective Carmichael fired at him.

Cooper shook his head.

“Gabrielle said the victim wrote a final message in his own blood.” Carmichael slapped his hands on the table and leaned toward Cooper. “What was the message?”

“I didn’t see a message.” He had a job to do. He’d sworn to protect the EOD. I’m sorry, Gabrielle.

“So Gabrielle is imagining things?” Carmichael asked. “Is that what you’re saying?”

“I’m saying I didn’t see anything.” He’d hoped that she hadn’t seen those letters. But maybe she hadn’t been able to make them out clearly, and even if she had, Gabrielle wouldn’t understand the message that McAdams had left behind.

“I don’t trust you,” Carmichael growled out the words. Red stained his cheeks. “I’ve been looking into your background, and you know what—”

The door flew open behind the detective. It banged against the wall with a thud. “Orders just came down,” a sharp voice barked. “Marshall is free to go.”

Carmichael’s mouth dropped open in shock. Then he whirled and sputtered, “But, Captain, I was just—”

“Orders came down,” the captain said, her voice brooking no argument. “He’s free to go.”

Cooper pushed back his chair. The captain glanced over his way, and her gray eyes narrowed. “You must know plenty of secrets about this city, Mr. Marshall,” she murmured, “seeing as how the DA personally called me and said that you needed to be released.”

Because his boss had no doubt made a fast call to the DA. Cooper inclined his head toward the captain. “When I leave, I’ll be taking Ms. Harper with me.”

But Carmichael was already shaking his head. “I’ve got more questions for Gabrielle.”

“Then you can ask them tomorrow,” Cooper responded, his own voice roughening. He could remember the glimmer of tears in Gabrielle’s eyes. She’d been hurting and—she needs me. “She’s been through hell, and I’m taking her home.” He wasn’t looking for permission from the cops. He was telling them what would happen.

If they wanted to discover just how much pull he had in D.C., then they’d try to stop him from taking Gabrielle out of that station.

After a brief hesitation, the captain inclined her head. The lights glinted off the dark red color. “Of course, Ms. Harper is free to go. Detective Carmichael will follow up with her tomorrow.”

The detective’s eyes were angry slits.

“Thank you,” Cooper said as he marched through the open doorway. Then he turned to the left. He’d seen the other interrogation room when he’d been so…firmly…escorted into the station.

He shoved open that door.

Gabrielle was wiping at her cheeks. Wiping away tears. His chest ached. “It’s time to go.”

She glanced up at him.

When she cried, her face should have gone all splotchy. She shouldn’t have looked even more beautiful with her gleaming eyes and trembling lips.

But she did.

He opened his hand to her.

Gabrielle pushed back her chair and nearly ran to him. “I didn’t want him to die! I didn’t—”

“It’s okay,” he said, trying to soothe her.

The soothing didn’t work. Gabrielle shook her head. “I told McAdams that he could be in danger. I warned him that the killer could be targeting him next.” Her gaze searched his. “Why didn’t he listen?”

Because he trusted the wrong person.

That was what the man’s final message had been about. He’d opened the door to another EOD agent. Someone he’d thought he could safely admit to his apartment as a colleague or a friend.

But when McAdams had turned his back, that friend had attacked him.

Cooper wrapped his arm around Gabrielle and turned for the door.