They exchanged worried glances.
“I was here,” Rune said with a growl. “I was the one who threw the bomb into the street. Understand?”
They nodded.
“Thank you,” I said. “Hold on, where's that customer?”
“She's over there, talking to the police.” Simon waved to the right.
“Fuck,” I muttered. “Do you know if she saw Braxen?”
They shrugged.
“If she did, we'll act as if she's confused,” Rune said. “We look alike anyway.”
“Yeah, you kinda do,” Elaine said. “Are you two related?” Her wide eyes jerked back to me in silent question.
“I'll explain later,” I said.
She nodded rapidly.
And then the police found us. Turned out, the woman didn't remember much at all. She'd been too busy cowering. But Rune answered all the officer's questions calmly and with such detail that I knew Brax had thoroughly briefed him. As he spoke, I kept thinking about Braxen. How he had protected me. That kiss. I wondered where he was and what he was doing. And if Kaleo would survive it. Poor Kaleo.
“Ma'am, are you all right?” the policeman asked.
“Yes,” I said. “Just shaken.”
“Thank goodness your boyfriend reacted so quickly.” The man grimaced. “I mean, you didn't do anyone out here any favors.” He glanced around before leaning in to whisper, “But you did what you had to do to save yourselves, and you probably saved the block as well. A blast like that could have taken down the building. And when one of these buildings comes down, it can have a domino effect. Plus, we're talking plumbing, electrical, sewage, even gas. It could have been . . .” He shook his head, then shook Rune's hand. “You're a hero.”
“Honestly, I wasn't thinking. I just reacted,” Rune said.
“Still, thank you on behalf of the city. Those reactions kept this day from being the kind of tragedy that gets monuments erected to it. Can any of you identify the man who brought the bomb?” The policeman looked around at the injured people. “He must be here. If you tossed that bomb out after him, he would have been hit. No way around it.”
Shit. I hadn't thought of what shape Kaleo would be inbeforeBraxen started questioning him.
“I don't see him,” I said as I looked around, making a show of it. But then I saw the blond hair. Streaked blond, not natural. “Hold on. Is that him?”
I stumbled around a car's bent bumper and stared at the back of a man's head. He was lying face-first on the ground. Even as I went to him, an EMT hurried over and rolled the body. And it was a body. Kaleo was dead.
I gasped, both hands going to my mouth, and tears forming in my eyes. Kaleo. He'd been such a nice man. And I knew he had been forced to do this, drawn into this horror simply because he'd visited my gallery. Or maybe because he'd gone on that date with me. Whatever reason he was targeted, it wasn't his fault. He had nothing to do with this.
“Is that him, Ma'am?” the policeman asked as the EMT moved on.
There's no point in trying to revive the dead.
“Yes,” I whispered.
“That's him all right,” Rune added. “Damn. Looks as if he got hit in the chest.”
I stared at the multiple chest wounds, then at Kaleo's face. He was cut up, but still recognizable. Had all his wounds been caused by the bomb or had Braxen made a few? Had Brax killed him? Rune said Braxen had taken Kaleo. But here he was. Hardly any time had passed. There was no way that Brax had gotten Kaleo back to their house, interrogated him, then brought him back here. And how had he dumped Kaleo's body without anyone noticing?
Who am I kidding? In the middle of that chaos, no one would have thought anything of a man carting a bloody body around. Fuck. Brax had killed Kaleo. He killed him and left him here so that it looked as if the bomb had done it.
I felt sick. Turning away from the body, I stumbled a few feet, then retched.
“I'll, uh, leave you to, uh, well, the firefighters will come and speak to you. They'll want to check the building to make sure it's stable.”
“Thank you, officer,” Rune said as his hand went to my back and rubbed. “We'll be fine. “
