‘Me too.’ Adam checked the time on his phone and inwardly groaned. ‘I’m going to drop Meredith at the safe house, then I’ll grab some sleep myself.’
‘Gather back here by noon,’ Isenberg told him. ‘We need to figure out what we have and where we go from there.’
‘Oh shit,’ Adam said, the sudden burden of dread stopping him in his tracks. ‘Kyle. We need to tell him about Tiffany and then we need to find a safe place for them to stay. Whoever killed Tiffany and her mother is clearly looking for Shane. And he’s on his way back to Cincinnati. I think we can assume he’d kill Kyle to get to Shane. Neither are safe.’
Isenberg sighed. ‘I’ll find them a place.’
‘What about the condo?’ Trip asked. ‘Can’t they stay there too? At least for tonight. We’ve already got a duty roster set. We can take precautions. Maybe get an additional guard for their door and make sure they don’t know where we’re taking them so they can’t share the condo’s location.’
Adam considered it. ‘They got no priors. They don’t seem dangerous, but I’m not taking chances. Kate’s on inside duty tonight.’ He would be too, right outside Meredith’s room, but if he needed to leave for any reason, he wanted the young men contained should they be more than they appeared. ‘Lynda, if you can get me a uniform to stand outside their bedroom door, it’ll work.’
Isenberg nodded wearily. ‘I’ll take care of it.’ She checked her watch. ‘Given that you have to get Kyle and Shane settled—’
‘And eat,’ Trip inserted.
Isenberg looked amused. ‘And eat,’ she allowed. ‘Be back by three. Get some sleep, gentlemen.’ She glanced at the window where Hanson and Meredith still sat at side-by-side desks. Hanson was fiddling with his phone and Meredith continued to color with a focus Adam both envied and hated. He hated that she’d needed the solace of her coloring tonight, wishing Meredith was home in her soft bed, safe and happy. With me.
‘Adam?’ Isenberg’s voice broke into his thoughts and he looked at her with lifted brows, hoping his eyes hid the truth of his feelings.
‘Boss?’ he replied.
‘Tell Detective Hanson to give me a minute or two. I’ll get that extra guard before I brief him on Broderick Voss and the college hookers.’
‘Will do.’
‘And please tell Kyle how very sorry I am.’
He nodded briskly, swallowing the sudden lump in his throat. ‘Yeah. I will.’
Fourteen
Cincinnati, Ohio,
Sunday 20 December, 6.00 A.M.
‘Do you want me to go in with you?’ Meredith asked Adam as she walked between him and Trip toward the interview room where Kyle and Shane waited.
‘Not at first. Watch from the observation room. I’ll motion to you if I need you.’
He said the last words gruffly and all she could think of was that moment in her TV room. You are what’s kept me going for the last godawful year.
God. All these months he’d suffered. Alone.
I didn’t know. I hate that you’re hurting. I’m mad that you stayed away, that you needed me but didn’t trust me enough to tell me. I needed you too.
‘How much are we going to tell them about how Tiffany and her mother died?’ Trip asked, his deep voice a quiet rumble in the deserted hallway.
‘That it was quick,’ Adam said grimly. ‘That she didn’t suffer.’
Trip sighed. ‘So we lie?’
Because from what little the two had told her, Meredith knew the mother had lived long enough to dial 911. Bleeding out and in agony, her last act had been to get help for her daughter.
‘Yeah.’ Adam bit the words out. ‘We lie like fucking rugs.’
‘For now,’ Meredith said softly. ‘Go light on the details. They’ll ask for more when they’re ready.’
‘Will they ever be ready?’ Trip whispered and Meredith’s heart broke a little more.
She patted his massive shoulder. ‘Some people never are. And that’s okay. These guys . . . God. They’re so young.’ Something in the set of his mouth set off an alarm in her mind. ‘Trip? Is this your first notification?’
He kept his gaze stoically forward. ‘Yeah.’
Adam’s sigh bounced off the walls. ‘God, Trip. I’m sorry. They’re never easy, but this one’s . . .’ He sighed again. ‘I’ll do the talking. You be ready if either of them detonates.’
‘Emotionally,’ Meredith added when Trip’s spine went abruptly stiff. ‘Not like with a real bomb. They’re both wound super tight.’
They’d arrived at the interview room where a uniformed officer stood guard beside the closed door. The officer took one look at their faces and his own fell.
‘They’ve been asking,’ the officer said. ‘Every three minutes. Kyle tried to make a break for it once. Said he needed to get outside to get an Internet signal.’
‘How did you get him to stay put?’ Adam asked.
‘I didn’t. Shane did. Dragged him bodily, but Kyle let him.’
With a nod, Adam opened the observation room door for Meredith. On the other side of the glass, Kyle paced frantically. Shane sat on the floor, his back to the wall, knees to his chest, his expression one of exhausted, quiet anguish.
‘Jesus,’ Adam whispered, his throat working convulsively, his hands fisted at his sides. Letting her instincts guide, she leaned into him, resting her forehead against his upper arm, his muscle so tight it felt like she leaned against stone.
He shuddered out a breath, tilting his head so that his cheek rested on the top of her head. ‘I do not want to do this.’
‘I’ll go in with you. For you.’ She found his hand, gave it a brief squeeze. ‘It’s all right to need someone, Adam. It’s all right to need me.’
He stiffened for a second, then drew a huge breath. ‘I have to do this now. I can’t keep those kids waiting any longer.’
She stepped back and followed the two into the room where Kyle froze mid-pace, then spun on his heel to face them, his face registering instant understanding. And horror. ‘No.’ He staggered back a few steps, shaking his head. ‘No. No.’
Shane lifted his head from his knees in a slow motion. His gaze locked with Meredith’s, then his eyes closed in weary acceptance.
Adam took a breath. ‘This is my partner, Special Agent Triplett. I’m sorry. Tiffany is dead.’
Kyle was still shaking his head. ‘She went to her mother’s house. She was safe.’
Adam squared his shoulders. ‘Her mother is also dead.’
‘No.’ Kyle backed up until he hit the wall, then lunged at Adam, fists swinging. ‘No.’
Trip started to intervene, but Adam caught Kyle and dragged the young man close, wrapping his arms around him, holding him upright when Kyle’s knees buckled. Kyle’s fists banged against Adam’s back weakly, his tortured sobs the only sound in the room.
Adam held on tight, his hand visibly shaking as he smoothed it over Kyle’s hair, then cupped the back of the younger man’s head, holding him against his shoulder. His own shoulders sagging, he tipped his head up so that he stared at the ceiling. ‘I’m so sorry,’ he said quietly. ‘So damn sorry.’
‘She was supposed to be safe,’ Kyle sobbed. ‘Safe.’
‘I know,’ Adam murmured. ‘I know. It’s not your fault this happened.’
Shane’s head hit the wall hard, the crack audible. ‘It’s mine.’
Trip went to him, kneeling at his side. ‘No,’ he said firmly. ‘Not your fault either.’
‘Why?’ The single word exploded from Kyle, but was muffled by Adam’s shoulder. ‘She was sweet. Tiny. Did he hurt her?’ His voice dropped to a whimper. ‘Please tell me he didn’t hurt her.’
‘It was quick,’ Adam said roughly. ‘She would have felt no pain.’
Kyle choked on another sob, his body shaking pathetically, his fists now clenching Adam’s suit coat. Adam continued to hold him, letting him cry.
Shane covered his face with his hands. ‘It was that guy,’ he said so quietly that Meredith almost didn’t hear him.
‘Which guy, Shane?’ Trip asked.
Shane’s hands slid off his face, his gaze finding Meredith again. ‘The guy looking for me tonight. It was him, wasn’t it?’
‘Maybe,’ Trip answered for her. ‘We’re working with Chicago PD.’