by Lexi Blake
“Good evening, ladies.” The man was tall and well built, dressed in an immaculate suit. Even at this time of night, he looked well rested, energetic even. He had dark hair and piercing eyes that seemed to look right through her. “My name is Ethan Rush.”
“You’re a fed, right?” Kori asked, the words feeling dull in her mouth.
“How do you know that?” Sarah asked. “He could be a lawyer. Do we need a lawyer? Are we in some sort of trouble? When I got coffee ten minutes ago, I could swear I saw a couple of guys from the club walking around. Mitch and Harrison. They’re lawyers, right? Are you their friend?”
“No,” Rush said, still looking at Kori. “I’m Special Agent Rush with the Federal Bureau of Investigation. I believe you’ll find the lawyers aren’t here for you.”
“Did Kai call them?” She’d known he was a fed from the suit and how he handled himself. At this time of night most police officers looked as haggard as she did. The detectives who’d come out on call to the club had worn suits, but not one as expensive as this man’s. She would bet he had money on the side, money that hadn’t come from the FBI.
“Yes.” Rush set a folder in front of them and settled his big body across the table. “And neither one of you is in trouble.”
“But Kai is?” Sarah sounded a little panicked.
Kai was in a lot of trouble. Kai was in trouble Kori would never have suspected, but then she was a very dumb girl. Always so dumb. “What do you need from the two of us? I already gave a statement.”
“Yes, you gave a very brief statement about finding the body. I need to know more. I need to know what went on tonight with Lena and the rest of the group. Lena’s body was found within an hour of her murder according to the medical examiner. I need to account for everyone’s movements during that period.”
She was so damn numb. Shouldn’t she care more that Lena was dead? It was like discovering Kai’s betrayal had left her utterly hollow and nothing could quite reach her. “Check the security cameras.”
“Kori?” Sarah leaned in. “We should be more helpful.” She looked up at the special agent. “I’ll tell you everything I remember, but I was on the dance floor for most of that time. I know Lena walked away shortly before I left. She’d been arguing with that guy. One of the brothers. Brad or Tad. Have you talked to them?”
“They’re being questioned even as we speak. Why don’t you go and grab another cup of coffee. I need to speak with Ms. Williamson alone.”
“Maybe she should have a lawyer.” Sarah’s hand was shaking this time when she placed it over Kori’s.
Obviously whatever Rush had to say, he wanted it to be for her ears only. It was time to start protecting her friends. She’d done a fucking poor ass job of it up until now. She’d never seen the web they’d stepped into until the spider had come out all ready for dinner. Kori gave Sarah what she hoped was a confident smile. “I’ll be fine. I don’t need a lawyer. Special Agent Rush knows I didn’t horribly murder anyone.”
“Ms. Williamson is not a suspect,” Rush affirmed. “She is, however, a very important witness. There’s an officer outside who will take your statement and record anything you can remember. Thank you so much. I’ll be done with your friend very soon and you’ll be free to go home.”
“Okay.” Sarah picked up her shoes and gave Kori a pat on the back. “I’ll be waiting for you.”
The door closed and she looked at Rush. “Say what you need to say.”
Rush’s sensual lips quirked up. “Tough girl, huh? It’s funny because I happen to know you aren’t a McKay-Taggart agent, but you sure behaved like one tonight. That statement you gave was very careful. Normally witnesses to a murder are all over the place. Their statements are difficult to follow because they haven’t processed yet. Not yours. You were careful, as though you knew someone you cared about would be accused of the crime and you wanted to mitigate any damage you might do.”
Jared. Kai’s brother would be looked at. If Mia had managed to gather that much information, it stood to reason someone else would, too. Hell, the very presence of the FBI led her to believe they’d likely been watching Jared. “Why are the feds here so soon?”
If this wasn’t a serial case that crossed state lines, there would be no feds. This should be handled by the DPD. The body wasn’t even cold yet but here was a guy in a suit. She’d done enough research to know when and where the feds would be called in. Likely the Rangers would be called in if the murder case was big enough or crossed county lines, or the locals weren’t equipped to handle them. The Texas Rangers acted like a state bureau of investigations for Texas. The FBI would only be called in for special reasons.
Like the search for an international serial killer.
Was all of this about hiding something Jared had done? How well did she truly know him? He was sweet and funny and charming, but then she suspected Ted Bundy had probably been, too.
“What do you know about Jared Johns?” Rush asked, obviously getting down to interrogation mode.
She shrugged. “He showed up last week. I’ve spent some time with him. He’s living at my office right now. That sounds weird. Uhm, you see my boss owns the building and his office is downstairs and he lives upstairs.”
“Your boss or your boyfriend? Or is he better described as both?”
She felt herself flush. Some exhibitionist she was. It was funny how she could be naked in front of a crowd at Sanctum and it didn’t bother her at all, but having someone know her emotions made her feel so damn vulnerable. Still, it was apparent that he knew what was going on. “Kai and I have a relationship outside of work.”
Had, she amended silently.
“Did you know he had a brother? How often did he talk about him?”
She shook her head. “Never. I didn’t know about Jared until he showed up.”
“Do you think he would cover for his brother?”
“I don’t know.” She would have said no. Absolutely not. She would have said Kai was incapable of protecting a killer. But then they came to the problem of Mia and her phone. What other reason could he have? Mia was investigating Jared. Case and Kai had worked very hard to figure out a way to bug Mia’s phone. The only reason Kori could think of was they wanted to know how much Mia had figured out. “They aren’t close. I can’t tell that Kai has anything but negative feelings for him.”
Which would be a good front to put on if he wanted to help his brother get away with murder.
Had she really thought that? It was inconceivable. That wasn’t Kai. But then she would have said Kai wouldn’t use her, wouldn’t manipulate her emotions in order to get what he wanted and then dump her.
I’m happy to help, but this stuff with Kori has to stop. It makes me sick. I can’t keep this up.
Sleeping with her made him sick.
“Would you cover for your boyfriend? Would you allow his brother to go free?”
She wanted to go home. “I don’t know anything.”
Rush flipped open the folder, turning it so the photos were facing her. “This is why I’m here. These women are why I’m here, and I want to make sure you don’t allow your soft heart to aid and abet the man who killed them. Kori, I’m here to make sure you’re not next, that your friend Sarah isn’t next.”
She looked down and her stomach flipped. The women in the photos were all dead, their vacant eyes staring up. They’d all been stabbed like Lena had been. Kori couldn’t forget the way the white shirt Lena had been wearing had turned to a bloody color, the way it smelled.
There were so many of them. So many.
She couldn’t help it.
“There’s a trash can to your right, sweetheart,” Rush said.
She stumbled out of her seat and dropped to her knees, emptying the contents of her stomach into the can. She could hear Rush at the door calling for someone as she heaved.
Who could do that? She’d worked on movie sets and they always laughed as they poured blood on the “dead” actress, who usually joked
and complained the whole time. She’d played around with retractable knives and goofed off with prop guns.
This was real. Those girls were dead. Mia’s friend was one of them. Someone had stabbed her over and over and left her behind like she was nothing more than trash to be picked up.
She didn’t know Jared. She didn’t know Kai the way she thought she did. She would have said Kai wouldn’t hurt a fly, would never do anything secretive. How could she think she knew Jared if she didn’t even know the man she’d fallen in love with?
An emptiness swept through her. How could she know anyone if she couldn’t know Kai? He’d been everything to her.
Maybe this time she would go somewhere and be truly alone. She had some money saved. There were places she could go where no one could ever touch her again.
“Here.” Rush stood over her, a washcloth in his hand. “When you’re ready, I’ve got a cold soda for you. It should settle your stomach.”
She took the cloth and ran it over her face. It was cold and it seemed to seep into her skin. She rose, refusing Rush’s hand up.
She was alone now.
Kori made it back to the table. Loyalty had kept her mouth shut, but there was something more going on now. Those girls were real.
“Kori, when we found Jared, he was with Sarah,” Rush said, his voice gentler than before. “He’d taken her to a private room. I don’t know what would have happened if we hadn’t gotten there in time. There might have been two victims.”
She still wasn’t sure it was Jared. Her heart ached at the thought, but she shoved it aside. Her heart was a stupid thing.
Justice. That was all that was important now.
“I’ll start at the beginning of the evening. Jared had a limo pick us up. Me and Jared and Kai.” She settled back and began her story.
* * * *
“What the hell is taking so long?” Kai demanded as he paced.
He’d been separated from Kori for hours. Every minute that dragged by was a minute too long. What the hell was happening and why were they being detained by the police? There was zero question in Kai’s mind that this was a detention. Oh, there might not be a lock on the door, but he suspected if he or Jared tried to leave, they would be stopped and quickly.
“I don’t know.” Jared sat in one of four metal seats, his head in his hand. “I can’t believe she’s dead. I didn’t see her. You did. Are you sure it was her? Maybe it was some other woman.”
“It was her.” He’d never forget the sight. He’d run in at the sound of Kori’s scream, and for a moment he’d thought it was Kori’s blood that coated the floor. For a moment he’d thought something horrible had happened to his Kori, and his life had stopped. He’d fallen to his knees, ready to do anything to save her when he’d caught sight of Lena out of the corner of his eye. She’d been laid out in the largest of the stalls, likely falling where she’d been murdered. She’d been on her side, her knees close to her chest, so Kai could believe she’d tried to protect herself.
Something horrible had happened to his girl. She’d heard him betraying her and then she’d seen something no one should ever have to see. Now she wouldn’t accept his comfort.
Fuck, even Mia had clung to Case afterward. She’d cried and held on to him. Kai had picked Kori up and carried her out while Case called the cops. He’d held onto her, praying she hadn’t hit her head. When her eyes had fluttered open, she’d seen him and for a moment it was like nothing had happened.
Then she’d come to her senses and moved away from him.
Tell me you didn’t do it.
He’d known in that moment that she’d heard everything and there wasn’t much he could do. He couldn’t lie to her again. It wasn’t in him to do it. He couldn’t lie and he couldn’t tell her the truth. He was caught in a trap and she was the one who would pay the price.
“Why?” Jared asked. He looked up and for the first time Jared looked tired, weary even. For the first time he could see how his brother had aged. “Why would someone kill her? I know she was a bitch, but she never deserved anything like this.”
“I don’t know.” He was tired, too. Tired of everything. Case had been taken to a room to visit with his lawyer. Mitchell Bradford was here, and Kai wouldn’t be surprised if he’d brought Harrison Keen along for the ride. Mitch was McKay-Taggart’s attorney, but Harrison was one the top criminal defense attorneys in the state and he happened to be a sub at Sanctum. While Harrison might enjoy submitting to Dommes in his free time, the man was an animal in the courtroom. An alpha animal.
McKay-Taggart was busy protecting their own. And he couldn’t protect Kori at all.
He was starting to believe he needed to protect his brother, too.
“When was the last time you talked to Lena tonight?” Kai asked. He couldn’t talk to Jared about the FBI investigation. It would go against McKay-Taggart’s deal with the feds and could stop the flow of information. He couldn’t risk that, not when they were in the middle of an interrogation room. Anyone could be listening in. They could be taping the two of them for all Kai knew. Without a lawyer present, the cops could do what they liked. He would feel better if they’d been taken to Derek Brighton’s precinct. Lieutenant Brighton was a Dom at Sanctum and he’d taken care of issues before, but he wasn’t here tonight.
Jared’s shoulders slumped. “I don’t know. It was hard to talk to anyone. The club was so loud. I talked to her before we went in and she said she needed a couple of hours of my time tomorrow because she wanted to talk about a staffing issue. She said one of the guys had to go. I don’t remember who she said because the reporters were in my face by then.”
Maybe he was thinking about this the wrong way. Maybe this had nothing to do with the serial case. “Okay. So Lena had a problem with one of the guys.”
Jared sighed. “Lena always had a problem. She’s tried to get me to fire every one of them at least twice. She hated everyone. She was always asking for private meetings so she could talk shit about the guys.”
“But if one of the guys thought she was a threat to his job, he might have wanted to take her out.”
“I can’t imagine that. They all knew she talked about them behind their backs. They expect that behavior. Why aren’t we talking about the patrons of the club? Someone likely followed her back there and tried to take her purse or something.”
“This wasn’t a crime of opportunity.” Lena had been killed in the same fashion as the others. Even with only a brief glance he could see the same MO. “Besides, it would be difficult to get back there without going through one of the two ways into the VIP longue.”
The lounge was cordoned off from the dance floor, but there were two ways servers and staff could get there. There had been the direct route to the bar and bathrooms, and then there was a specific entrance to the right for staff that led back to the bathrooms but not through the lounge. It was the way he and Case had gone to discuss the op.
If only they’d been smarter and not discussed it at all.
It was his fault. Not Case’s. Case had tried to make the handoff and leave it at that, but Kai had to push. Kai had to get his two cents in there. Now Kori knew and she hated him.
He needed to see her. Maybe if he could get her alone, he could make her understand.
Understand what? He couldn’t tell her anything. He couldn’t do anything but apologize.
He was so fucked.
Kai sank down into the chair beside his brother’s. “I’m sure they’ve got security cameras. They’ll be able to tell who went back there and at what time.”
Jared nodded. “I only went back once and it was to go to the bathroom. I didn’t see Lena back there at all. I have to admit though that I skipped the lounge and went the back way because I thought she was in there at the time. She was arguing with Brad and I didn’t want to get in the middle of that shit.”
“I would like to know if Brad followed her to the bathroom. You don’t remember anything?”
“No. I got up r
ight after Sarah took Kori in the back. When I returned, I realized Sarah was practically humping some asshole on the dance floor and then I acted like a douchebag the rest of the night. I know I ignored her. I know it hurt her. I was actually trying to apologize to her when they told me Lena was dead.”
“You were trying to apologize? Verbally?” He knew his brother pretty well.
“Fine, I was trying to kiss her. The cops came in just as I got my hands on her. They acted like I was trying to murder her or something. For a minute I thought someone was going to shoot me. Who’s the guy in the suit? Is he the lead detective? He’s the one who damn near shot me.”
Rush. Of course Rush had come to the scene. He’d likely been shadowing them all night. He’d been waiting for something to happen and it had. Kai guessed he should be happy Jared wasn’t under arrest yet. He needed to tell Jared who Rush was and why he was here, but he glanced toward the mirror that covered a good portion of the room. Somewhere behind that mirror they were watching. He wasn’t sure if it would be Rush or one of the FBI’s profiling team, but they were watching every move his brother made. It was likely why they’d left Kai in here with him. They wanted to see if Jared would screw up and say something.
They might want to see if Kai was more loyal to his brother than he looked.
If they were listening in, he would give them a show. Jared wasn’t showing any signs of lying. There was nothing in his manner that led Kai to believe Jared was anything less than devastated by what had happened. So maybe if there was a profiler on the other side of that mirror, they would see it, too. “Has anything like this happened before? Any women you knew who went missing or got killed?”
Jared’s eyes widened. “No. I’ve never known anyone who got killed. Like murdered. I knew a guy who died of a brain tumor, but that’s about it. And missing? No. I meet a lot of people though. Why are you asking?”
His brother didn’t even realize he’d left a trail of bodies during his travels. “Do you keep up with the women you sleep with on the road?”
His brother turned a nice shade of pink. “That’s none of your business, Kai. And there aren’t as many as you would think. Every now and then I’ll hook up with someone, but when I’m on the road, they very rarely ever call. I give them my private number, but no one calls. I think they probably see me as a collectible.”