Page 102 of Smoke Screen
“Go inside,” Reid said. “I got this.”
Now that sounded like a brilliant plan. “You sure?”
“Wouldn’t be the first time I cleaned up a mess. Go. When I calm him down, he’ll be in. Be ready.”
Thankful for the intervention, Phin peeled off, hustling to the door that would lead him back inside to his family and Maddy.
“And Phin?”
At the door, he paused, facing Reid. “Yeah?”
“Next time, call me. Doesn’t matter what it is. I’ll help you. Got it?”
“Got it,” he said. “And thank you.”
19
“He’s dead,”Phin said.
Maddy sat back, her body slumping into the curve of Phin’s sofa. After being questioned, Maddy and the Blackwells were sent home and told to stay put in case there were further questions. Ash, being one of the agents assigned to the Thompson theft, had remained with Sheriff Kingston and they’d yet to hear from him.
Not wanting Maddy to be alone, Phin invited her up to his suite. Now, he sat across from her in a black upholstered chair, his elbows resting on his knees, his gaze on hers.
For a few seconds, he didn’t speak. Somehow understanding she needed to absorb this news.Horrificnews that a man they’d been speaking to just a few hours ago had died.
Murdered, while standing right next to her.
“Maddy?”
She shook her head, battling another round of shock. “I’m … I …”
What? What could there possibly be to say? The man had died, and maybe he wasn’t exactly a stellar citizen, but someone must have loved him.
Phin touched her knee, jolting her from her thoughts. “Ash just called and told us. You okay?”
Was she okay? Compared to what? The dead guy?
She focused on Phin’s eyes and how the afternoon sunlight streaming through the open curtains brought out the dark speckles in his irises.
Getting ornery with Phin wouldn’t help. His only infraction had been caring about her. What kind of bitch did it make her to be irritated with him?
She squeezed her eyes closed. These thoughts. Too much. Stress. That’s all this was. She opened her eyes again. “I’m okay. I’m sorry you and your family got involved in this.”
“I’m not. It’s important work. And, whatever you’re thinking, it’s not our fault he lived the life he did. Did he deserve to die that way?” He shrugged. “I don’t know. But, make no mistake, he was not a good guy. The only thing I feel bad about is putting you through it and it happening in town. That was an epic fail on our part.”
She scooted to the edge of the sofa cushion. “Hey, none of that. You thought it was a meeting. Aconversation. None of us could have anticipated what happened. What now?”
“Probably more questions from Maggie. It’s a homicide and she’ll need every detail we can remember. As far as finding the jewels, we have his phone. Well, the feds have it. I didn’t want to keep it from Ash, so we backed it up to an external hard drive and gave it to him.”
“You backed it up? Wow.”
“It might help us. Cruz, Rohan, and Zeke are going through everything.”
“Won’t Maggie need it?”
“Ash said he’d take care of Maggie. The phone has evidence regarding an FBI investigation. They’ll probably get warrants to search his house.”
“What’s his name?”
