He climbed the stoop to the door and rang the bell and waited a good five minutes before Harley finally answered. Her hair was wrapped in a towel, but she was dressed in jeans and a sweatshirt.
“Brand? Is Carly with you?” She looked past him and frowned when she saw he was alone.
The skin under her eyes looked swollen and her tightly held mouth suggested she was less than pleased to see him.
“No. This is official business other than to bring you this plate of food,” he said. “Do you mind if I come in?”
“How official? It isn’t like you are on the force.” She stepped back as he entered, taking the plate from him, and closed the door.
“No,” he said as she led him through the kitchen, stopping for a moment to stick the plate in the refrigerator before proceedingto the living room. They sat on the sofa. “But Burns has asked me and the task force to head up the investigation as impartial members to look into things for him. I just have a few routine questions if you don’t mind.”
She frowned. “And this couldn’t have waited until tomorrow?”
“I didn’t think it could,” Brand countered. “Especially since I found out you were keeping something from me.”
“Keeping something from you?” she repeated. “What exactly do you think I have been hiding?”
“That you are seeing someone your brother didn’t like.”
Harley’s features tightened as she pressed her lips together and her nostrils flared before she finally spoke. “That’s right.” There was no mistaking the defensive tone in her voice. “I won’t deny it. I hadn’t told Reilly I was seeing someone he didn’t like.”
“Do you mind telling me who it is?”
She swallowed, looked down at the floor and then back at him. “Scottie Dugan.”
“Shit.”
“I know it doesn’t look good after what happened on the ice. And it definitely doesn’t look good that Reilly died because of it, but I know deep down that Scottie did not mean for Reilly to die.”
“You better hope not,” Brand said and rose, staring down at her. “Have you had any contact with him since the incident?”
“No. I tried calling him last night, but he didn’t answer. I don’t know if he was afraid to take my call or if he asleep or what. Who knows what was going through his head.” She shook her head. “I know I wasn’t thinking right myself. I deleted my call log, deleted him from my contacts like a crazy person. Then I put him back when I realized it wasn’t going to change anything. Reilly is dead. I chose to keep a secret from him, and it killedme to do it, but I did because I knew he didn’t like Scottie for reasons he wouldn’t tell me.”
“Scottie knew why Reilly didn’t like him, why didn’t he tell you,” Brand said. “Heck, I even knew. So I wonder why he didn’t tell you?”
Her eyes widened and he again noticed the weariness there. “You do?”
“Yea. It’s not a deep dark secret,” Brand said. “Reilly is the reason that Scottie’s first partner Monte Adam’s was thrown off the force. He found the evidence that Internal Affairs needed to prove their case, although to hear tell, Scottie doesn’t believe that Monte was guilty.”
Harley removed the towel from her head and began drying her hair. “I wonder why he just didn’t tell me that?”
“I’d be asking him if I were you,” Brand said. “Especially if the two of you are that involved, enough so that you were keeping it a secret from your twin brother.”
She nodded.
“How long were you seeing one another?” Brand walked across the room and stood at the fireplace. He picked the framed photo of her and Reilly together, stared at it a moment, before putting it back on the mantle.
“Five months.”
“That’s a good amount of time to keep your relationship hidden.”
“I know,” she admitted. “Longest time I’ve kept anything from Reilly, but it sounds like he was keeping a secret from me much longer. Not that it justified my secret. His dealt with the job.”
“I bet Scottie has been told not to talk to anyone right now and that is why he didn’t take your call last night,” Brand said. “But as soon as he is able to talk to you, I recommend having that talk.”
“I will,” she said. “There is something I do need to tell you. I searched Reilly’s room and didn’t find a prescription for Warfarin anywhere. There wasn’t one in our shared cabinet space in the kitchen either, so I have no idea how his labs came back showing the blood thinner.”
Brand nodded. “Thank you for that information. I’m sure it will remain a mystery to us until we stumble upon the truth.”
