Please, don’t let it be Cole.
She shot to her feet, deciding the only way to ease her worry was to find out for sure. She would call Cole, just to make sure he was okay. He probably was. Hell, he was probably sulking at home, still angry with her.
She’d left her purse on one of the desks in the bullpen, and she made a beeline for it, finding her phone just as a familiar voice came from behind.
“Sitting around doing nothing,” Valerie Matthews remarked coldly. “Why am I not surprised, Agent Crawford?”
Stifling a groan, Jamie turned to face the other woman. “Hello to you too, Valerie.”
Teresa Donovan’s sister directed a scowl in Jamie’s direction. “You promised to keep me posted about the case.”
“I did. I mean, I am,” she corrected.
“Really, then why did I have to find out from Tom Hannigan that you have the gun that killed my sister?”
Ignoring the dull throb of her shoulder, Jamie crossed her arms over her chest. Tom Hannigan? The lab tech, she remembered. Then she frowned, annoyed that someone involved with the case would reveal crucial information to a civilian.
“We did find the gun,” she conceded. “But it was wiped of fingerprints and the serial number was filed off. We have no way of knowing who it belongs to.”
“Cole Donovan, obviously,” Valerie muttered.
At the sound of Cole’s name, Jamie glanced at the cell phone in her hands. Damn it, she had to know if he was all right. “Look, Valerie, I’m kind of busy at the moment. Maybe you can come in tomorrow and the sheriff and I will update you on—”
“Update me now,” Valerie interrupted, her eyes flashing with anger.
“I can’t. I was actually about to call Finn to tell him to pick me up,” she lied. “He’s supposed to drive me over to his house.”
“Fine. I’ll drive you.”
Jamie narrowed her eyes. “No, thank you. I’ll just wait for Finn.”
“You need a ride. I need answers about my sister’s murder,” Valerie snapped. “And I’m going to get my answers, damn it. This has gone on long enough.”
A tremor of suspicion climbed up Jamie’s spine. Why was Valerie insisting? And why had she shown up here out of the blue?
Right after Finn received a 911 call that had him rushing out of the station.
Something didn’t add up. She felt like she was looking at a missing piece of the puzzle, but couldn’t seem to fit it in place. She looked into Valerie’s dark gray eyes and the suspicion grew stronger. Did Valerie know something? About Teresa’s death? About the attacks on her?
“Okay,” Jamie finally agreed, an edge to her voice. “You can drive me to Finn’s.”
“Good, and you can answer my questions,” the other woman retorted.
With reluctance weighing down on her chest, Jamie followed Valerie out to the parking lot, where a shiny white Honda Civic was parked. Valerie unlocked the doors and, with a mocking gesture, motioned for Jamie to get in. Still uneasy, Jamie slid into the sleek leather interior, then waited for Valerie to get in.
She had to find out what Valerie knew. If the woman even knew anything. Maybe the painkillers she’d taken were making her mind jumbled, steering her instincts on the wrong course. Either way, she intended to find out.
Valerie put the car in Drive and pulled away from the curb. “Why the hell haven’t you arrested him yet?” the woman demanded. “You’ve got the murder weapon now.”
“Have you ever stopped to think that maybe Cole didn’t kill your sister?” Jamie asked in a quiet voice.
“Of course the son of a bitch killed her!” Valerie tossed her black hair over her shoulder in outrage. “And he’s going to kill you too, if you keep hanging around him.”
Jamie sighed. “Seems to me like the only person making threats about me dying is you, Valerie.”
“Oh, trust me, honey, those were just warnings.” Valerie gave a hard laugh. “I haven’t even started with the threats yet.”
Cole was stunned as he hung up the phone, unable to comprehend what his P.I. had just revealed. Hank had kept him on the line while he looked into Cole’s request, and the entire time, Cole had clung to the hope that this was a mistake.
Now, it was glaringly apparent that that wasn’t the case, even as his brain continued to fight the obvious. It was too appalling to even consider. She couldn’t have done that. She couldn’t have.
She did, an irritated voice buzzed in his head. So deal with it and do something.
Christ, he had to find Jamie. He was probably overreacting here, but if what Hank said was true, then there was a chance she was in trouble. Big trouble.
Darting out of the kitchen, he paused only to swoop up his keys from the credenza in the front hall and put some shoes on. Fighting the panic rushing inside him, he stumbled down the porch steps towards his truck, determined to find Jamie and make sure his suspicions were unwarranted. Of course she was okay. There had to be a logical explanation for what Hank had discovered.