I raised a brow. “Really? So you didn’t ask Julia to leave treats on my wife’s desk? I’m fairly positive you could be charged as an accessory in an attempted murder case.” I wasn’t. And judging by the expression on his face, neither was he. “That’s right,” I went on. “The foodyoudelivered was laced with poison.”
Beneath the blood coating his face, the guy’s skin turned ashen. “P-poison? I didn’t know.”
I wanted to call the piece of shit a liar, but one look at his panicked expression, I knew he’d told me the truth. It pissed me off. If he really hadn’t known, he didn’t have anything of value to add.
Still, I asked anyway.
In the thirty minutes it took for the police to show up, the guy—Travis—confessed everything. He’d met Julia at a coffee shop, and not long after they started spending time together, another guy approached him with the sappy story of having a crush on Kate.
As luck would have it, Travis was a true romantic at heart and didn’t think twice about helping the guy out. The guy, suspiciously named John, had the same features as every other average middle-aged man in New York.
“What a fucking mess.” I wrapped my arms around Kate’s shoulders and pulled her into my chest. The officers were gone, only detective Mackenyu Tanaka remained.
He’d vouched for me when Travis told the officer he didn’t want to press charges.
The officer had taken one look at my bruised hands and urged the boy to change his mind.
Inreturn, Detective Tanaka took one look at the officer and suggested she walk away. I guessed knowing a cop came in handy at times like this.
“I’ll get to the bottom of it,” Mac assured me. “The kid’s statement might not mean shit, but at least, he gave me a starting point. Whoever gave the food to him must’ve been watching him. I’ll start with the coffee shop and see if they have surveillance cameras and work my way back here.”
“And if you come up empty?” I hated to ask, but we had to know what our chances were of figuring all this shit out.
Rocking on his heels, he gave me a pointed stare. “I never come up empty. I’ll be in touch.” With a clap against my shoulder, he got into his car and drove out of the garage.
I waited until his taillights disappeared before I tucked my fingers under Kate’s chin and guided those pretty eyes to mine. What I saw cut me straight to my soul.
So much fear and sadness.
I didn’t want that for her.
“If anyone can figure this mess out, it’s Mac.”
Tears sat on the verge of falling down her cheeks. “How can you be so sure? We’re no closer to the truth.” Those tears finally fell. “We don’t know who or why.”
“Baby.” I took her face in my hands and swiped my thumbs over the wetness under her eyes. “He won’t stop until you have your answers. And neither will I. No matter what it takes.”
Mac might’ve had a badge, but he wasn’t bound by it.
I’d hung out with him the few nights neither of my friends had been available. He never drank, just watched the crowd like a predator looking for its prey. I’d never asked outright, and he’d probably never admit it, but more than once I’d noticed whenever a guy harassed a girl on thedance floor or at the bar, Mac would zero in on him. They’d both be gone, and the following day, there’d be an article about a clubgoer found beaten up.
It wasn’t that hard to connect the dots.
Which was exactly what I told Kate.
Those hazel irises bored into mine, touching parts of me no one ever had. The longer she stared, the more I realized how far gone I was for this woman.
“Is it wrong not to care how he gets his information but just that he does?” she whispered.
I wasn’t entirely sure how to answer. It wasn’t that I didn’t have an opinion. It was more because I didn’t want her to think differently of me when I told her I didn’t care what measures Mac used to find this son of a bitch and put him behind bars.
The only thing that mattered to me was her and Millie’s safety.
Instead of saying any of that, I pulled her close and rested my head on top of hers. “Why don’t we pick up Millie from Izzy’s and go back to my place.”
Even with her nose buried in my chest, I didn’t miss the small shake of her head or her soft, “Let’s go home.”
Nor did I miss the tight squeeze behind my ribs when she’d said it.
