Page 54 of Wicked Games

I press my lips together. No, I didn’t think to mention I had tried calling her, and I didn’t tell him I spoke to Marcy, either, but I didn’t think my conversation with Marcy was relevant until I talked to Avery and read Hattie’s twisted account of that morning.

“We talked about other things, and I apologize for not thinking of it,” I say, though grudgingly. I need to keep him on my side or he could cut me out and I won’t know anything.

“As for Mrs. Lockwood and Mrs. Maitland’s acquaintance, I asked Mr. Vale, and he didn’t have much to say outside of the fact that Mrs. Lockwood was hoping Mrs. Maitland could help push donations toward the community center using her blog and social connections. Whether it went further than that on a personal level, we may not know.”

The hair on the back of my neck stands up. “You think Brooke’s dead.”

Avery tightens her grip on my hand.

“I’m reluctant to go that far, Mr. Lockwood, but missing adult cases rarely turn out well.”

I scrub my free hand through my hair to hide the tears that are threatening to run down my face. I don’t love Brooke anymore, but I didn’t want her dead. Vale must be going out of his mind. “When is Vale’s press conference? Are you planning to be there?”

“He’s speaking on the steps of the courthouse in an hour, and I’ll be in attendance, as will Detective Mueller. We’ll be watching the crowd.”

“Do you want to drive into the city?” Avery asks me.

Even if we left right at this minute, we’re four hours out of Ashfield and we’d miss the press conference. I’m not sure what we’d do once we were there except talk to LaSalle and Mueller at the police station, and if they don’t think we need to be in the city, I’d rather not. “No, not today, though we might have to later.”

She nods.

“Was that all?” LaSalle asks, and I suppose he does need to get going if he wants to watch Vale’s press conference in person.

“You said you were going to speak to Jenkins. Did anything come of that?”

“No. He seemed pleased Mrs. Maitland was no longer with us, but he didn’t take the credit as much as I think it would have thrilled him to do so.” LaSalle tries to muffle a deep, hacking cough.

Avery winces but I don’t know if it’s because of what LaSalle said or because it sounds like he has lung cancer.

“But I didn’t expect him to,” he continues, “even if he had been the one to order the hit.”

“Are you going to talk to any of the gang members? Have you?”

“Around midnight last night we raided a run-down apartment complex in north Ashfield, but we didn’t find anything except the beginnings of a meth lab. Nothing that indicated they knew of Mrs. Lockwood’s whereabouts or who murdered Mrs. Maitland or your son. We didn’t have much to go on and barely obtained a warrant. I think we may need to consider the gun a dead end. At least from the Reapers standpoint.”

I agree. The bastard who killed Theo and Hattie could have gotten the gun from anywhere. Trying to nail this on Jenkins won’t get us anywhere.

“Do you have anything else, Avery?” I ask in case she has other questions.

“No. Thanks for your time, Detective LaSalle.”

“Keep me in the loop,” he says in warning and then disconnects.

I pull my hand away from hers and rub my face.

She rounds the island and steps between my legs. Wrapping her arms around me, she says, “I’m so sorry, Seth. Maybe she just needed to get out of town for a bit. We know what it’s like to need to get away and think things out.”

“Yeah, we do, but I really doubt she’d leave Vale behind. At least, not without telling him where she was going and when she’d be back. Fuck.” I hold her close and breathe in her scent. Her heart beats steadily against mine, and I try to calm down. “Do you want to watch Vale’s press conference?”

“Yeah, I suppose we better. Do you want to watch it here or go back to your place?”

“We’re already here. Might as well stay.”

She searches my eyes and then gently kisses me. I love how she nudges her tongue against my lips, tentatively, like she’s not used to kissing someone, and I open my mouth, letting her in. I don’t let her go when she tries to step away, and she hums, enjoying being trapped against me. I’m going to adore courting her. Darren stole her worth, and I want to give it back.

Finally, I loosen my arms. “Where’s the TV?”

“There’s one in the living room,” she says, tilting her head. “More coffee?”