She turned and stared directly at him. “If they want it to be mine, it will be.”
She was right. There were ways. They would use slugs from the weapon in their possession and claim they had been retrieved from the victim. Almost anything was possible.
“I’m ... sorry about your assistant,” he offered.
Annette closed her eyes for one long moment. “I don’t want to talk about that.”
He felt like a heel for asking, but the insanity surrounding this whole mess wouldn’t allow for too much tact. “Do you know anything about the stolen car?”
She moved her head slowly from side to side. “All I know is that I was in the Mountain Brook area last night and a dark sedan attempted to run me off the road.” Her gaze collided with his. “Then it disappeared.”
Carson considered the sedan that had nearly run him over and the one, possibly the same one, that had been following him. Black. Maybe a Crown Vic.
“Do you have any reason to believe your assistant would want to stop what we’re doing?” Jesus, could no one be trusted in this?
“All I know,” Annette said somberly, “is that we have one chance to prove the truth. We have to find Dane Drake before anyone else does.”
Carson agreed completely. “Where do we start?” His first thought would be to call Elizabeth. But that would only give away their intentions.
“With his friends,” Annette said. “In places you’ve never been.”
Annette provided the directions to Dane’s most recent address, the SoHo Building in Homewood. The guy moved around like a gypsy. Six months ago his father had leased him an apartment in one of the better high-rises in downtown Birmingham. According to Annette, Dane preferred the gutter to his daddy’s gift.
“If he’s not here,” Carson noted aloud, “I’ll talk to Elizabeth to see if she’s heard from him.” That Dane had been missing from the scene of his father’s murder that morning nagged at Carson. Why the hell wouldn’t the guy show up for his mother’s sake? For his sister’s? Then again, he was likely terrified that his link to Zac’s murder would be discovered.
Carson damned sure intended to ask him the instant he found the bum.
But Carson knew Dane. No matter what Dane said under the influence, Carson couldn’t believe that he would hurt his family. Or his own family.
No way.
There had to be another explanation of how he came into possession of the wedding bands. And that explanation could be the first real lead in the case.
Once on the property, Annette led the way into and through the elegant lobby as if she’d been here many times before. Considering Dane was one of her repeat clients, she likely had. She paused at theelevator and pressed the call button. When the doors slid open, they stepped inside and she selected floor four.
When Carson leaned against the far wall, Annette joined him there. Her subtle scent tugged at his senses. Made him want to lean in her direction.
His body reacted. All his powers of concentration were required to maintain a steady respiration rate. The way she’d uncrossed and then crossed her legs during the interrogation kept rewinding and playing in his head. The woman knew how to get to a man. Knew how to make him want her in a way he’d never wanted anyone before. Despite the insanity going on all around him. Despite the slow, steady destruction of his whole life.
He told himself that letting this thing between them get any further out of control would be a mistake ... and still his body hardened at just being near her.
Bad idea.
The instant the elevator doors opened, he was out of there. At Dane’s door on the fourth floor, Carson banged repeatedly. Called the guy’s name. Nothing.
Annette tried the door. Locked.
Then she surprised Carson all over again. She removed a lockpick kit from her purse. Less than a minute later they were inside.
“Clever,” he commented drily. That was something he’d never taken the time to learn. Mainly because it was illegal.
“One of the perks of growing up with perverts and assholes. You learn many escape maneuvers.”
That she had been sexually abused as a child twisted in his gut. Made him wish there had been someone there to protect her.
Did she need protecting now?
There was a hell of a crazy notion. He’d never known a woman more capable of protecting herself.
