He paused to consider. In all of the events this week, he’d been reacting so far. He’d taken steps to try to get ahead of whatever it was, but he’d also been respecting Ky’s jurisdiction on the investigation. When it came to keeping Sophie alive, Forte needed to ask the same questions she just had.
“Ky asked you questions after the bomb and after the break-in.” He wanted to prompt her, see if something new came out. And if it did, they’d contact Ky and share it with him.
“Yes. Mostly what I was doing just before each of those things happened. We also talked about whether there was any way someone might want to hurt me.” Her voice was steady for the most part, but she tripped up on the last two words.
“Problem is, none of us can think of anyone who’d be out to seriously do you harm.” Forte had thought long and hard about the possibilities. “You haven’t been dating anyone recently, so no spurned boyfriends. Your relationship with immediate and extended family is good. Your neighbors love you.”
“You’ve been paying attention to who I’m dating?” Sophie’s tone turned sharp.
Oops. “Well, you’re at the kennels on a weekly basis. And you talk to all of us. It’s not like you keep your dating habits a secret.”
“I also don’t kiss and tell. It’s not like I’m waving my dating status around like a flag, either.” She was definitely sounding unhappy.
“No.” He’d acknowledge it. “You don’t.”
“Then why—”
Forte’s phone rang.
*
“Hey, Forte, am I on speakerphone?” Ky came across the speakers via the rental car’s Bluetooth connection crystal clear.
“Yeah.” Brandon didn’t mention Sophie’s presence in the car.
Sophie considered speaking up but decided not to. Maybe Brandon had a reason for not using her name. She was fairly certain Ky knew Brandon was taking her away somewhere and obviously the two of them were in touch. But she had no idea how possible it was for someone to intercept the conversation or otherwise listen in to their discussion.
“We had our K9 unit search the area.” Ky was all business on this call, his enunciation and cadence brisk. “They picked up a trail and followed it through a few of the neighboring apartment buildings, but the trail doubled back on itself. The perpetrator could be hiding out in any of those buildings or might have gotten into a vehicle and left the vicinity entirely. We’re not sure at this time.”
Sophie drew her good leg up to her chest and wrapped her arms around it. The person who broke into her home was still out there. And the person probably wanted to hurt her, if not kill her. Since a bomb in her car was definitive, she really needed to get used to the idea that someone was trying to kill her.
Brandon gripped the steering wheel, and even from the backseat, she could see his knuckles turning white. “So that lead isn’t going to turn up new information for you.”
“Not at this time.” Ky sounded equally unhappy. “We’ve got descriptions on basic body build and height, but since he was wearing dark gear and had a hat on, there’s not a lot of chance we’ll catch up with him. We’ve done a door-to-door asking if anyone’s seen anything, and there are no hits. Whoever it was might even have changed clothes once he was out of sight. He managed to go unnoticed by every nosy neighbor in the complex.”
Wow. Sophie wasn’t sure if even Brandon could manage that. Mrs. Seong had sharp hearing, and the elderly neighbor had called nine-one-one almost at the same time as Sophie because of the gunfire.
“We did locate the bullet in the wall of Sophie’s apartment. That’s a priority with ballistics, and we’ll run it to see if there are any matches against any other crimes in the databases.” Ky let out a sigh. Sophie wondered if he’d been working around the clock on this. “We’re going to investigate Sophie’s former employer, too. I’ll let you know if we have anything new for you as soon as I can.”
“Copy.” Brandon ended the call.
“That’s it?” Sophie was startled. No questions?
Then Brandon hit the button to roll down the driver’s-side window. Cold air rushed through the SUV and the air pressure buffeted Sophie’s ears. He tossed the phone out the window.
“What are you doing?” Sophie sat forward and craned her neck to see where the phone landed. She thought she might be able to see it lying in the middle of the highway.
“It was a disposable.” Brandon rolled up the window. “Or are you upset about me littering?”
His eyes were framed by the rearview mirror, more brown than green in the dark of the night and barely discernable unless there was another car on the road to add their headlights to the reflection from the mirror. He’d been looking up into the rearview once in a while, and she was sure he was checking on her as often as he was checking for what was behind them on the highway.
“At first, I was freaked because I thought it was your phone.” She pressed her lips together. “And I guess it makes sense to use a disposable. But I’m wondering how Ky knew to call you on the disposable number and how he’s going to call you in the future.”