“Of . . . of course.” He grabbed his phone with shaky hands and hit the screen. A moment later, he showed it to Duke.
Sure enough, there was a text there from an unknown number.
If Colin were smart enough, he could fake this text. The jury was still out on whether he could have sent this text to himself or not.
“When did you last see Gina?” Duke placed his hands on his hips as he stood over Colin, keeping him in place.
Colin’s face crumpled. “Tuesday night. Outside her office building. In the parking garage.”
Realization washed over Duke, and his muscles tightened. “You followed her.”
“No! I was supposed to walk her to her car. But I was late.” He choked on the words. “She got a phone call just as she reached her car. And her face—it went completely white. She just . . . froze.”
Duke leaned in. “Then what?”
“She jumped in her car. I thought she’d spotted me and was going to chew me out, so I didn’t stick around.” Colin scrubbed atrembling hand over his scraped palm, smearing blood. “I tried calling her after that. She didn’t answer.”
“What time was that?”
“Around nine.”
Duke logged each statement. “And the next day?”
“I still didn’t hear from her. I tried to call, but there was no answer. I even drove past her apartment, but her car wasn’t there.”
“Did you see anyone else on Tuesday?” Duke asked. “Maybe in the parking garage that night? Anyone who stood out?”
“Not really. Except . . . well, there was this van.”
Duke’s pulse spiked. “Describe it.”
He cringed as he shrugged, his gaze shifting. “It was white and old. Seemed out of place in the parking garage for some reason. There was someone sitting inside it.”
“Could you see this person?”
Colin shook his head. “No, it was too shadowed, and I wasn’t paying that much attention.”
“Even though you knew someone had broken into her home and threatened her?” Duke asked. “You didn’t stop to think that maybe the person inside was a threat?”
His face went white. “I . . . I wasn’t thinking clearly.”
Duke’s expression hardened. “What else?”
“I’d seen the van at Gina’s a day earlier. Outside her apartment building. I noticed because I thought maybe someone else was . . .”
“. . . stalking her,” Duke finished.
Colin flinched, shame flooding his face. “Watching her. Like I was.”
Duke wasn’t sure he bought this man’s story. In fact, right now, Colin might be his number one suspect.
Andi watched as Ranger eased the door open.
For a long moment, the hallway felt suspended, breathless, filled with nothing but the soft hum of the hotel’s air system.
Then Ranger disappeared inside.
The rest of them waited.
