He let out a shuddering breath, his hands reaching for her hips to hold her close. ‘All right.’
It felt so good, so natural to be held by him this way. Like it always had, except . . . not. This moment was far more intimate than mere friends might share. And it wasn’t awkward, not at all. It was right. She hesitated for a moment, then went with her gut and pressed a kiss to his forehead.
His gaze was searching, but he said nothing, just let his hands drop from her hips when she took a step back. Again going with her gut, she extended her hand, breathing a sigh of relief when he took it. She gave it a tug and he came to his feet.
Drawing a breath, he squared his shoulders and held her hand tightly. ‘Let’s go figure out who hates me.’ But he didn’t move just yet. Hesitating much like she had done, he kept his eyes on her as he brought their joined hands to his mouth and kissed her fingers. ‘Thank you.’
Her throat grew thick and a shiver rippled down her back. ‘You’re welcome.’
When he walked into Hyatt’s very crowded conference room, it was with his back straight and his head high. Until he saw Stevie. She held an icepack to one hip and clutched her cane so hard that her knuckles were white. Her face was tight with pain, one cheek scraped and raw.
‘Oh, Stevie,’ he murmured. ‘I’m—’
Stevie glared at him. ‘If you say you’re sorry, I will kick your ass, Thorne. I swear to God.’
That made his lips twitch. ‘You can’t kick that high.’
That earned a snort from Clay, who stood behind Stevie, his hands on her shoulders. Both of them were pale but steady. ‘You’d be surprised what she can kick when she puts her mind to it,’ he said. ‘I wouldn’t push her, Thorne. Plus, she’s right. This isn’t your fault and we’re going to make it stop.’
‘Damn straight.’ The declaration came from Hyatt, who sat next to Stevie, arms crossed over his barrel chest, his face set in his trademark scowl.
Gwyn blinked a little to see Special Agent Joseph Carter sitting on Hyatt’s other side. His expression was unreadable, but then it always was. The man was a damn enigma. Joseph led a joint task force comprised of BPD detectives and federal agents. JD was often on loan to his organization, so Gwyn supposed it made sense that the Fed had become involved.
JD sat at the far end of the table, looking appropriately grim. Lucy was at his side, giving both Gwyn and Thorne worried looks.
‘We’re fine,’ Gwyn assured her, then frowned. Another detective stood leaning against the wall, glaring at them with contempt and suspicion. Gwyn glared right back, because the man was a fucking asshole. His name was Brickman, and he’d been the one to handcuff Thorne to his hospital bed the day before.
Thorne either wasn’t aware of this fact or he was ignoring the sour-faced man, because he drew a breath and gave Gwyn’s hand a squeeze. ‘Okay. Let’s figure this out.’ He pulled a chair out for Gwyn, took the one next to it himself, then focused his attention on Stevie. ‘What happened?’
Stevie glanced at Hyatt from the corner of her eye. The man appeared carved out of stone. ‘Lighten up,’ she said to her old boss. ‘Nobody’s dead.’
‘Yet,’ Hyatt growled. ‘I should have locked you all up last night.’
‘And then you’d have nothing,’ Stevie countered. ‘Thorne, he had tails on all of us today. It was one of the reasons you were allowed to leave the hospital so freely.’
Sonofabitch, Gwyn thought, but bit it back. ‘I knew that felt too easy.’
Thorne had stiffened. ‘I knew you’d have surveillance on me. But on all my friends too? Why? Because you thought I was guilty?’
Hyatt rolled his eyes. ‘No,’ he snapped. ‘Because I’m pretty sure you’re not, and I knew your friends would gather round like . . .’
‘Friends?’ Stevie supplied helpfully when Hyatt was unable to find the right word.
Clay coughed to disguise a laugh. Lucy covered her mouth and JD pursed his lips, hiding their smiles. Joseph Carter didn’t even bother to hide his chuckle. ‘It was a fair prediction, Peter,’ he said to Hyatt. ‘You guys kept us busy today, I have to say.’
Gwyn bit back another curse. ‘You were in on this too?’
‘It was my idea,’ Joseph said mildly. ‘And before you go off on a rant, listen. I know Thorne’s not guilty of this. I also knew that you weren’t simply going to sit still and wait for us to investigate. So we let you do what you were going to do anyway. We just made sure you were protected as you did so.’
Gwyn had to concentrate on not grinding her teeth. ‘And that you got a bird’s-eye view of the action was a pleasant by-product?’
‘Hell, no,’ Joseph said. ‘A view of the action was the primary goal of the plan. Your protection was a pleasant by-product. Well, not yours specifically because you shook your tail this morning.’
Gwyn’s gaze shot to Jamie, who looked very pleased with himself. The asshole detective’s face, though, had grown dark with anger.
Thorne was frowning. ‘I thought Stevie was saved by Clay’s quick reflexes.’
‘She was,’ Clay replied, grim again. ‘I heard glass shatter from the missed shot and shoved her out of the way.’
‘Which is how I got scraped up,’ Stevie said. ‘Clay threw himself on top of me, but unfortunately we were on asphalt.’
Gwyn looked up at Thorne just as he looked down at her. ‘Sound familiar?’ she murmured.
Thorne nodded. ‘Yeah.’ To the group he said, ‘That’s what happened to us, except for the asphalt. Was it just the one shot fired?’ he asked Clay and Stevie.
Stevie nodded. ‘Yes. I was terrified that Clay was about to get shot.’ She aimed a glare over her shoulder at her husband. ‘Again.’
‘It was the same with us,’ Thorne said quietly. ‘I was sure another bullet was coming, but none was ever fired.’
‘What was different,’ Joseph said deliberately, ‘was that Clay and Stevie had not shaken their tail, who was one of my best agents. He was able to get the make of the shooter’s van and a partial plate, but the shooting occurred in a crowded shopping area and he couldn’t return fire. It was a white panel van. Did you see anything that looked like that?’
Jamie shook his head. ‘I didn’t, but I also didn’t stop to look. I just wanted to get us all out of there.’
Phil looked unsure. ‘I don’t think so. It happened so fast.’
Thorne shot Phil an it’s okay look before turning back to Clay and Stevie. ‘Where were you when the shots were fired?’
‘Coming out of a restaurant,’ Stevie said. ‘Kaia’s Kouzina. It’s an expensive place in Bethesda. Patricia Segal was supposed to have been there for a meeting today with one of her fund-raising committees. Clay and I went for lunch. I don’t recommend the place, by the way. Small plates started at fifty bucks.’
Clay winced. ‘Yeah. Man, that hurt. But we got an earful about Patricia. Seems like nobody on the committee liked her, although it took several bottles of wine before they loosened up enough to say so.’
‘And when they did, it was loudly,’ Stevie added. ‘She was having an affair. Maybe more than one.’
Just like Prew’s wife told him, Gwyn thought. ‘Did anyone say with whom?’
Stevie made a face. ‘Some guy half her age. And she was only thirty-four.’
‘Wonderful,’ Jamie muttered as Phil made a distressed noise.
‘No names?’ Gwyn pressed, forcing herself not to think about the sexual assault committed against a seventeen-year-old boy.
‘No,’ Clay said. ‘She’d bragged about him to a few of the ladies after too many cocktails. She was afraid her husband would find out, though.’
‘The thing is,’ Stevie added, with another glance at Hyatt, ‘Patricia has a son who’s seventeen going on eighteen. The young man she was . . . “seeing” might have been the same age. And she might have known him through her son.’