“I swear I wasn’t doing anything,” he said.“I promise.”
She studied his breathing, posture, eye movements, and micro-expressions.
He held her gaze.Didn’t blink too fast.He didn’t scan for exits.Didn’t touch his face or shift his feet.His voice stayed level, spiking only with embarrassment, not fear of being caught.
Kayne was right to trust his instincts.They were rarely wrong.But instincts honed by emotion sometimes cut too deep.Anja’s were sharpened by evidence.
She exhaled.“Okay.Here’s what I think.”
His shoulders tensed.
“I think you made a poor choice, and it put you on our radar when you didn’t mean it to.”
Relief poured out of him in a shaky breath.“Thank you.I really wasn’t trying to cause trouble.”
“I believe you,” she said.And shedid.“But I need you to do something for me.”
“Anything.”
The way he said it, with his voice dropping low and his lids lowering to half-mast, almost had her reconsidering her magnanimity and planting her booted foot squarely in his family jewels.
“If you see anyone—anyone—lurking where they don’t belong, or acting unusual,” she said, holding his gaze, “you come find me immediately.”
He nodded so hard she wondered if he’d hurt himself.“Yeah.Yeah, of course.”
“And Joel?”
“What?”
She stepped closer to anchor the seriousness.“If you’re lying to me, I’ll know.”
His throat clicked.“I’m not.”
“Good.”She stepped back.“Get back to work.”
He practically jogged away, desperate to put distance between them.When he was out of earshot, Kayne emerged from around the corner, arms crossed.
“You buy his story?”Kayne asked.
Anja didn’t look at him.“I do.”
Kayne grunted.“I don’t.”
“I know,” she said calmly.“That’s why both of us are on this case.You catch the wolves.I catch the liars.”
“And which is he?”Kayne pressed.
She finally met his eyes.“Neither.Right now, he’s a scared kid who almost buried himself by accident.”
Kayne exhaled through his nose.“Your reading of him was cleaner than a lie detector.”
“I was homicide,” she said with a shrug.“People lied for a living.I got good at spotting when they didn’t.”
He gave a single nod.“So we scratch him off the list?”
“No,” she corrected softly.“We move him lower.But we don’t mark anyone off.Not yet.”
Kayne’s gaze was focused and dangerous.They both knew someone out there was circling Chloe.And unlike Joel Erickson, that person wasn’t making mistakes.
