“Then what did you drop off?”
“Garbage,” he said through clenched teeth. “Branches, construction stuff. I had just finished building the shed and there was a lot of wood and sawdust and other crap. Would you like me to describe every piece of trash? I think there were some banana peels, paper towels, tea bags—”
“Cole.” She sighed.
The agony in her lavender eyes did nothing to ease the anger bubbling inside of him. It only got worse with her next question.
“Have you ever owned a gun?”
His jaw dropped. “I can’t believe you’re asking me these questions.”
“Have you?”
“No, I have never owned a gun.” Disdain dripped from every word. “I also didn’t kill my ex-wife.”
“Did you ever come into contact with a Smith & Wesson forty-five? Maybe a friend owns one and you held it once, admired it?”
“No.” The fury boiling in his gut spilled over, toxic waves of it pumping in his bloodstream. “Who exactly am I speaking to here?” he demanded.
She looked startled. “What?”
“Am I talking to Jamie, the woman I made love to this afternoon, or Special Agent Jamie Crawford?”
“Both,” she said, sounding anguished. “I don’t like doing this, but I understand why Finn had to bring you in.”
“Unbelievable,” he muttered.
Her voice grew desperate. “You told me you respect what I do, that my being in law enforcement doesn’t bother you. And I promised Finn to assist him on this case. Why can’t you see that I have a job to do?”
“Bull,” he shot out, his hands trembling with anger. He laid them flat on the table, resisting the urge to start overturning chairs. “You’re not even here officially, and once we slept together, you shouldn’t have been on the case at all.”
“Maybe not,” she whispered.
Their gazes locked. Cole battled a fresh rush of indignation. “You know I didn’t do this, Jamie.”
“The gun—”
“Screw the gun! You know in your gut that I didn’t kill anyone.” Every muscle in his body coiled tight. “I thought we meant something to each other.”
“We did. We do,” she corrected. “But you said so yourself, we don’t even have a future.”
“We might have,” he said quietly. “But now that you’re choosing your damn job over me, I can’t see how that will ever happen. Christ, why are you ignoring your common sense and questioning me about something I didn’t do?”
A sheen of tears glistened in her eyes, but her obvious distress did nothing to calm him down. She didn’t trust him, he realized. Maybe enough to have sex with him, but not enough to believe in him. Hell, it didn’t matter what she believed anymore. Her job was evidently more important. His reputation, his pain, it meant nothing to her.
The insecurity niggling at him didn’t help him keep his cool. What was wrong with his judgment lately? He hadn’t seen Teresa’s true nature until it was too late, and yet again he’d misjudged the female in his life. He’d thought Jamie was sincere in her assurance that she was open-minded, but clearly she wasn’t. Clearly, the evidence meant more to her than his word.
“I’m done talking,” he muttered. “I think I’ll wait for my lawyer.”
“Cole, I’m not doing this to hurt you,” she blurted out, tears clinging to her eyelashes. “I’m just trying to make sense of all this, about the gun, why it was found where you—”
“I did not leave that gun in the dump,” he snapped.
“I’m just—”
“Doing your job. Right, I got that, loud and clear.” He crossed his arms over his chest in a tight shield. “And I’m going to wait for my lawyer.”
“Cole—”
“I mean it, Agent Crawford. I’m not saying another damned word until my attorney arrives.”
Jamie paced the hallway outside the interrogation room, alternating between anger and self-loathing. She still couldn’t believe that Cole had banished her from the room like that. That he refused to see that she was simply trying to get to the bottom of this mess.
His words of accusation had been branded into her brain, and as she waited for the interview to end, she had to wonder if she’d handled this all wrong. She truly didn’t think Cole had killed his ex-wife, but in the face of this new evidence, what else could she have done? Any other suspect would have been brought in to the station for questioning. Any other suspect would have needed to answer the questions she’d put in front of Cole.
Then again, she wasn’t in love with any other suspect.
She stopped in her tracks.
She was in love with Cole?
How could she be in love with him? She’d only known him for such a short time.
She sagged against the wall, unable to control the pounding of her heart. Light-headed, she blinked back tears and drew in several long breaths.