Page 94 of Breathe Me In

“I can’t promise that.” She folded her arms and glared at me. Guilt burned in my gut.

“Look, I’m really sorry, Bree, but—”

“Oh my god. You’re here, right now, to get him!”

“Yes.”

She looked hurt, and I didn’t blame her. I already felt shitty about my decision to leave her out of it.

“Once again, I thought we were partners.”

“Look, I promise I’ll fill you in more later, but in short, we used Gumbo’s phone to contact him, and he chose this place to meet up.”

She pulled her chin in and pinched her brows together. She was really mad. “And you weren’t going to share that with me? Brad, I went with you, and we discovered that name together. I was brought in to help solve this case. Why am I being shut out now?”

“Keep your voice down.” The last thing we needed was to call attention to ourselves. “Look, I’m sorry, but—”

She raised her hands, then dropped them. “Who made the call to keep me off this?”

“Me.” I knew she wasn’t going to like that one. “Wait.” I stopped her from leaving. “Bree, you’re not even healed from your concussion. You haven’t had this kind of training, and I can’t risk this guy getting his hands on you.”

“That’s not your decision to make.”

“As lead detective, it is.”

“Everything okay here?” Hayne was suddenly by her side, and I had to push my frustration back.

“Yeah.” Bree dropped her hands. “Just give us one more minute.”

“Sure.” He gave me a strange look but held back.

“Look,” I said and gently took her hand, to pull her attention back to me, “please, I beg you to go home.”

“No.”

This woman was going to kill me. “Bree—”

“Bradley!” Sherry’s voice made my stomach drop. “What the hell? You couldn’t take me to the fair, but you took her?”

This was going south fast, and I didn’t know how much time I had left before this guy showed up.

“Why the hell would I take you to the fair, Sherry?” I was beyond finished with her.

Bree stepped in. “Sherry, you’re wrong. I’m not with Brad. I’m here with Hayne. I just walked in on this. He’s here for work, and I’m not involved.” I felt that dig, and it stung.

“You’re working?” Sherry seemed skeptical.

“It’s true,” Kennedy piped in over the radio, “and, Bradley, get in the game here, man. We need all eyes on this crowd.”

“Stay off the damn radio.” Cap sounded pissed. “This isn’t friggin’ As the World Turns.”

“Sorry, Cap.” As I spoke I pitched the bridge of my nose. “Sherry, please go, for your own safety.”

Anna came up and tucked her arm through Sherry’s. I saw the nasty glare she threw Bree. “I think we’re done here. Come on, Sherry.” For once I was happy her friend Anna was there. I needed Sherry away from me.

“Kennedy.” I didn’t have to say more. He knew I wanted him to keep eyes on Sherry. It would be just like her to circle back.

“On it.”