Page 91 of Breathe Me In

I couldn’t believe how quick Brad’s reflexes were. I hadn’t even seen Ford go for his gun. A second later, SWAT stormed the greenhouse and cleared the scene while my heart was still wedged in my throat.

“C’mon.” Brad pulled me to my feet and whisked me outside.

“The asshole shot himself!” He shook his head in disbelief at Kennedy and Cap as they rushed up. “I tried to wing him, to stop him. Dammit! Now we won’t get any answers.” He smacked his leg in disgust.

He walked me right to a squad car and sat me inside and closed the door. He turned his back as he spoke to the guys. I couldn’t hear anything, and the damn car doors wouldn’t open from the inside, so I couldn’t get out. I wondered if that was Brad’s intent. What is he up to?

Once the guys left, he opened the door and bent down. “You okay?”

“I am.” I really wasn’t, but I was good at tucking away the things that scared me. “What was that all about?” I pointed to Cap and Kennedy.

He looked away. “Nothing.” I wanted to push, but I could see he was still reeling from what happened. “Brad, you asked Ford about someone named Rodger Gumbo. Who is that?”

He started to fill me in about how Gumbo was driving the truck and how he was texting someone named Savage. “I’m not sure how he was connected to everything, but I’m still working on that. He’s been in and out of surgeries. The doctors said it doesn’t look good. The chances of us getting anything from him are slim to none. I’d be surprised if he made it another day.”

“Wow, okay.” I still couldn’t believe Brad had a full-out chase and made it out unharmed. “I asked Kennedy how you guys found Ford’s address. Lucky break.”

“It really was.” He shrugged, then looked over his shoulder at someone. “You sure you’re okay?”

“Yeah.”

“Good, you should go home. You’re putting your head through a lot lately.”

“I’m fine.” I wished he’d stop worrying.

“Look, I’ve got something to deal with. I’ll call you later, okay?”

“Brad.” I snagged his hand so he’d stay put. “Why do I feel like you’re hiding something from me?” I didn’t miss the way he lifted his chest. I’d seen kids do it when they were about to lie. “Oh shit, Brad, what’s going on?”

“It’s nothing. Go home, Bree. That’s an order.” He leaned in and kissed the top of my head, then turned away.

Chapter Fifteen

Brad

I tapped the file against my leg as I studied Jeremy Law. The kid could have had a future with Sea Foam Brew if he hadn’t become obsessed with Sophia. Now she was dead, and he was probably going to jail for life. He sat in the interrogation room, looking pale and tired, but he still had a cocky tilt to his head. A day in prison hadn’t been enough to shake him.

“He seems pretty confident.” Officer Smith stepped closer to the two-way mirror. “If it was me sitting there shackled to a table, I’d be sweating through my jumpsuit. ’Specially if I was about to see the detective that I kidnapped and tried to kill.”

“Mm,” I grunted in agreement, “he thinks I can’t find any evidence to connect him to Sophia’s death. He’ll serve time for what he did to me, but slap a murder charge on him and I bet he’ll crumble.”

“Do you have something to actually connect him to Sophia’s death?” He pointed to the file I held.

“He confessed, and you recovered more of Sophia’s tape, and Ford gave me something. I can work with that.”

“But that’s not really enough, is it?”

“It will be soon enough, when I make him slip up.” I pushed down the handle of the door and stepped into the room, leaving Adam to watch. In my experience I had found that guilty people sometimes gave things up while trying to cover their tracks. Since I didn’t have much to go on, I needed him to slip up. But first, I needed to know one thing.

“Detective Stone.” The corners of his mouth tugged upward. “We meet again.”

“Indeed, we do.” I pulled a chair out and held down my tie as I took a seat.

“Glad to see you’re no worse for wear since the accident.”

I kept my eyes on the folder and ignored his dig. I took a moment to think about the angle I was going to use. “I’m going to jump right in here, Jeremy. I got a call from a man named Timothy.” The skin around his eyes tightened, and his head tilted ever so slightly. Interesting reaction. “He told me you guys were in the same grade at the same high school. Also seems he provided you with a solid alibi for the night Sophia was murdered.” I lied, but I needed to see if he and Ford knew one another. If he didn’t, Ford was telling the truth.

Nervousness showed in his microexpressions, but hope made his eyes widen and his pupils dilate.