‘Didn’t the staff find that unusual?’
‘Not really. Rivera found Hinman’s butler’s name and number taped to the phone in the home office, so he knew who to call. The butler said that Hinman sometimes brought home “women who wore another man’s ring”, and when he did that, he wanted no witnesses. Saturday night, the camera caught his car pulling into his garage at eleven. A masked man, the same size as the guy Sam caught on your security camera, dumped the body where it was found tonight, then left on foot immediately afterward. No movement was seen after that, inside or outside the house.’
Comprehension dawned and relief shuddered through him. ‘He was killed during our poker game at my house on Saturday night.’
‘I think so. So your alibi is better than decent, which is why you’re not under arrest right now.’ JD stood up again. ‘Come on. Gwyn’s probably paced that trench so deep that she’s in the basement.’
Thorne found himself being tugged to his feet, his friend’s hands squeezing his shoulders hard. And his eyes stung. Irritated with himself, he looked away.
JD squeezed his shoulders once more before dropping his hands to his sides. ‘Ready?’
‘Yeah.’ He looked around, feeling like he was seeing the walls surrounding him for the first time. ‘This is the second time I’ve been in an interrogation room as a suspect. Can’t say I liked it any more the first time.’
JD grimaced sympathetically, then checked his phone and groaned, aggrieved. ‘Gwyn’s giving me hell. Can we please just spring you now?’
Thorne found himself smiling. ‘Yes.’
Gwyn was waiting for them in the lobby, pacing anxiously. Her face lit up when she saw them and she launched herself into his arms. He caught her easily, lifting her until her shoes dangled from the ends of her toes, shuddering out another relieved breath when she lowered her forehead to his.
‘Are you all right?’ she demanded in a hoarse whisper.
‘I’m fine. Let’s go home.’ To whose home, he didn’t care. As long as she was with him, it would be home enough for him.
‘Clay’s,’ she said in his ear. ‘They’ve called a meeting.’
He reared back, suddenly afraid. ‘What else has happened?’
She patted his cheeks lightly. Comfortingly. ‘No one is hurt. It’s just strategy. You should probably put me down now. People are beginning to stare.’
He glanced around, annoyed to see the occupants of the Montgomery County police department’s lobby gawking. He held her a few moments longer, just to be contrary, then carefully lowered her until her feet touched the floor. He took her hand, happy when she curled her fingers around his.
They were halfway to JD’s car when Thorne stopped in his tracks. ‘Wait. If the guy dumped Hinman’s body and immediately left, that means he didn’t get my medal from Hinman. His killer already had it.’
JD’s brows lifted. ‘I wondered how long it would take you to figure that out.’
Gwyn frowned, looking between them. ‘What did I miss?’
‘We’ll tell you in the car,’ JD said. ‘Come on. I want to get out of here before something else happens that I have to bail you two out of.’
Nineteen
Baltimore, Maryland,
Tuesday 14 June, 8.55 P.M.
They’d decided to stop by the hospital first, because visiting hours were almost over and Thorne needed to see Phil. After everything that had happened – both good and bad – he needed to touch base with the men who’d stood with him through the old nightmare. And who’d become targets because of this new one.
On the plus side, Gwyn hadn’t let go of his hand since they’d left the police station. She still clutched him, her heels clicking against the shiny tile as she walked at his side through the long hallway of the hospital’s cardiac care unit. She’d pretended to be okay, but he could see the stress lines at the corners of her mouth and wished he could exchange them for one of those grins that had once been so effortless.
Before this nightmare. Before Evan. I wasn’t drugged the whole time. The words ate at him. He needed to understand them. He needed to find a fucking minute when he wasn’t dodging Tavilla’s bullets – both real and metaphorical. His friends were targets, his father had been assaulted, a fucking drug-dealing gang leader thought that he’d challenged them, his nightclub had been closed down, his employees were out on bail for drug charges, for God’s sake, and people he visited kept being dead.
And in the middle of it all was Gwyn. She was his oasis, except she had her own nightmares. I wasn’t drugged the whole time.
He needed to know what she saw when she closed her eyes. He needed to find a way to make it go away for her. He desperately needed to keep her safe. To make her happy again. And he was doing a piss-poor job of any and all of those things.
He’d find time to figure that out. After he visited Phil. After he made sure Jamie really was okay. And after he met with the friends who were risking their lives to help him keep his ass out of jail.
‘I need to tell Clay that we’re going to be a little late,’ he murmured.
‘I already did,’ JD told him, following closely behind them.
Thorne threw an appreciative glance over his shoulder. ‘Thanks, man.’
JD pointed ahead, at the doorway to Phil’s room. ‘Look, there’s a line.’ It was true. On one side of the doorway, a nurse stood typing at a rolling workstation, glancing furtively into the room, a frown bending her lips.
On the other side of the doorway, Frederick leaned against the wall, weary but alert as he constantly scanned the area for threats. ‘Once a soldier,’ JD murmured, and Thorne remembered that JD had been one too, a sniper actually.
‘What kind?’ Gwyn asked. ‘I’ve wanted to ask, but he doesn’t like to talk about it.’
JD made an impatient noise. ‘Then don’t ask him to talk about it.’
‘I’m not,’ Gwyn said pointedly. ‘I’m asking you.’
JD repeated the noise. ‘I don’t exactly know, but I know that look. I wore that look.’
‘Still do,’ Gwyn muttered. ‘It’s a little freaky, JD.’
‘That’s probably why Frederick doesn’t want to talk about it,’ JD snapped.
‘He was Special Forces,’ Thorne told her quietly. ‘That’s all I know. All I needed to know. The man can take care of himself, which was what I’d been asking about when he agreed to work for the firm.’
She nodded. ‘That’s all I needed to know too.’
‘Didn’t know he’d be needing all those skills, though,’ Thorne grumbled guiltily, and Gwyn squeezed his hand. So hard that he winced. ‘Ow. That hurt.’
‘Poor baby,’ she said, sounding zero percent sympathetic. ‘Stop blaming yourself. It’s getting damned old.’
‘What she said,’ JD added.
‘How is he?’ Thorne asked, because they’d reached the nurse, who looked up from whatever she’d been typing. Her smile eased his heart.
‘Doing great. They’ll probably release him tomorrow or the next day.’
‘To rehab?’ Thorne asked, hating that he was wishing Phil could stay here a little longer, until it was safe. There was still a cop stationed between the elevator and his room. Just having seen the officer there had lowered Thorne’s blood pressure.
‘For a while. And after that, his insurance should pay for home visits from a nurse.’
Thorne’s brain was already wondering how he’d care for Phil when he was released, because he sure as hell wasn’t leaving it all up to Jamie. ‘Can we go in?’
The nurse craned her neck to see into the room. ‘He’s got two in there with him now. You’ll need to wait until one of them leaves.’
Thorne stretched to see around her, blinking. ‘Detective Prew?’ His eyes flew to Frederick’s, his brows raised in question.
Frederick shrugged. ‘He showed up ten minutes ago. Brought Phil a book. Some biography, I think. Plus some crayon pictures from his grandson.’
‘Oh, right.’ He’d nearly forgotten what had gotten them talking to Prew to begin with. ‘They’ve known each other for years. Prew’s son was one of Phil’s students.’