Page 95 of Ice Covered Heart

She watched him walk away. His hand went toward his taser. “If it’s a kid playing, it’s not funny!” Kimber shouted after him. “Not funny at all.” She shoved her phone back into her purse. Rubbed her arms. She shuffled toward the security desk. The bright lights that now shone overhead should have chased all her fear away. They didn’t.

She plunked down behind Harvey’s desk. The desk had been positioned about fifteen feet away from the front doors of the admin building. The gleaming, glass doors. Maybe she should just go ahead and leave, walk right out of those doors?

Or should she wait for Harvey?

You don’t have your keys. You can’t leave without your keys.

Her fingers fiddled with his drawers. Did he have another weapon in one of those drawers?

Kimber opened the top drawer. Then the second drawer. Her fingers skated inside. Well, well, was that a flask? Tricky Harvey.

A fist pounded into the glass of the entrance door. Her head whipped up. She blinked.

The fist pounded again. “Open the door!” A shout.

Oh, right. Harvey locked the doors after seven p.m. It was way, way past seven. She shot up from the chair, hurried around the desk, and flipped the lock.

Detective Jonah Campbell yanked open the door.

Relief shuddered through her. “Thank God!” Kimber grabbed Jonah and hauled him inside. Then she pushed him toward the stairs. “Go help Harvey!”

He spun back toward her. “What? Kimber, what in the hell? Dammit, stop shoving me!”

Maybe once upon a time—or twice upon a time—she’d hooked up with him. When she’d been drunk and the bars had been closing. So she had a history with the detective, one she’d been careful not to reveal in front of anyone else. But they were alone so… “Jonah, get that hot ass of yours up the stairs and help Harvey!”

He frowned at her. Then took a step back. Took in all of her. “Where are your shoes, Kimber?”

“I lost them…when I was pushed down the stairs.” Yes, she was definitely going with pushed now because she was about eighty percent certain that she had felt a touch on her back before falling.

“You were pushed down the stairs?” His hand went to his weapon. An actual weapon. Not just a taser like Harvey possessed.

“I think I was pushed…I might have been…look, the lights went out. It was pitch black. I fell—or was pushed—but when I was at the bottom of the stairs, I heard a man’s voice.”

“Saying…what?” He squinted at her.

Her stomach twisted. “I see you.”

He stiffened.

“Harvey is upstairs searching for him. But Harvey only has a taser—go help him!”

“I’m not leaving you alone. Not if the perp is here. I saw Tiffany’s body. You don’t want that to happen to you!”

Uh, no. She did not. “Staying is good,” she whispered. “You can stay right here.”

“Clear,” Harvey’s voice shouted. He clunked his way down the stairs. “No one up on the second—Jonah? That you?”

Jonah rushed toward him. “Are you sure it’s clear? You checked everywhere?”

Harvey finished descending the stairs. Slowly. “Most rooms are locked. Didn’t check in them.”

“But you have keys to the offices!” Jonah pointed to Harvey’s waist. “They are right there on your hip. Dammit, a killer could be here! We need to check all areas! All!”

Harvey took the keys off his hip. He extended them toward Jonah. “Help yourself, detective.”

And, speaking of keys, Kimber spied the keys she’d dropped. She scooped them up. Went right back to clenching them like claws.

Jonah snatched the keys from Harvey. He slanted a hard glance at Kimber. “You’re sure someone else was here?”