He thought that Gray’s profiling skills were often so scary that the guy seemed psychic. “Someone needs to take some deep breaths,” Cass advised.
“Someone needs to keep his damn jeans zipped! That’s you—but, hell, you are already in bed with her, again, aren’t you? That’s what that whole waking up beside her bit was about. Do you understand how emotionally tangled you are about to get? Do you get how fucked you truly are?”
His shoulders tensed. “Agnes tugged me down in the bed with her.” She’d been dead tired. And he’d been too worried that some other crazy intruder might burst inside and shoot at the bed. No way would he ever leave the woman alone in a bed again. From here on out, they would always be sharing a bed, and he didn’t care if that made actual sense or not. He was doing it.
If I’m with her, the bullet will have to go through me before it hits her. Done.
“She tugged you, right. And you outweigh her by, like, one hundred pounds. But she tugged, and you could not resist. Got it. Thanks for explaining.”
He hadn’t wanted to resist her. “There is no emotional entanglement. Zero. I am not emotionally involved with Agnes. Not in any way, shape, or form.”
The floor squeaked behind him. Because, of course, it did. He whipped around.
Surprise, surprise, Agnes stood in the kitchen doorway. Agnes, with her hair wet around her shoulders. Wearing jeans that fit her like a second skin. A blue shirt that made her eyes burn brighter.
No shoes.
No shoes. Because if she’d worn shoes, he would have heard her coming. She had not worn shoes. Sneaky Agnes.
She had heard him say that he was not emotionally involved with her. At all.
Dammit.
“You are such a liar,” Gray snapped in his ear.
“A situation has sprung up,” Cass said. “I’m gonna need to call you back.”
“You lied about shooting the man at the Grove Motel. Agnes did that, didn’t she? When the ME performs the autopsy, the slugs that he pulls out of the vic will match her gun.”
“Not a vic, a perp. You need to understand that important distinction. What you have is a dead perp in a morgue. He broke into our motel room. He fired first. She even ordered him to stop, but he was gonna fire again.”
“She shot?—”
“Doesn’t matter if it was her gun. My hand was around it.” It had been. True story. Because Gray was often too good at spotting little tells that gave away lies. My hand curled around hers, and we held that gun together. “Agnes isn’t guilty of anything. Make sure that’s how the record shows things.”
“You are such an asshole.” A ragged sigh from Gray. “Listen to me, listen…”
Agnes began to tap one foot. Her hands were on her hips. Red fired in her cheeks. Hmmm. Had it been the “not in any way, shape, or form” part of the conversation that infuriated her the most? Quite possibly. “Got to go,” Cass rumbled. “Fun talk. As always.”
“It was not fun, and we need to talk more! Dammit, before you left town, I didn’t get to tell Agnes that you were also hunting for the Twins because I was too busy trying to get all the players in place for the scene at The Bottomless Pit. I didn’t have time to break down an investigation that has been years in the making.”
“Yep. Understood. But I sure am thinking you should have made time for that chit-chat. Or maybe just told her about the investigation long ago. The woman does not appreciate being kept in the dark.”
“I promised them I would keep her safe. That meant keeping her out of the investigation. Things are screwed now.”
Agnes took two steps forward. Her hands remained on her hips.
“Promised who?” Cass zeroed in on that point. Because that part seemed important. Gray didn’t just go around making promises to just anyone.
“You’re gonna find out.” A desolate sigh. “She’s there, isn’t she? Because your tone changed. Dude, have you lied to everyone else for so long that you’re now lying to yourself, too? No emotional involvement, my ass.” Another ragged exhale. “By the way, Judas Long is dead. He was hung in his cell.”
“How about that.” His gaze remained on Agnes. No one walks up to her with a knife and plans to take her from this world. Not on his watch.
“Fuck. Did you order the hit?”
Did Gray seriously think he was just gonna confess? In what universe would he be that dumb? “You are right.”
“Cass?”
