Maisie stared her filthiest daggers in Brent’s direction, while Military Man favored him with an impressively impassive stare.“You’re a shifter. You attempted to commit murder. You get cuffed behind the back.”
The expression on Brent’s face was truly pathetic. “But… my tea!”
Military Man’s face, if anything, somehow became even more rock-like in its impassivity. “You’ll work something out.” Almost as if he were bestowing a kindness upon him, he dropped a Milk Arrowroot biscuit into Brent’s cup of tea, where it promptly started disintegrating.
Maisie watched, somehow not even feeling any surprise, as Brent leaned forward and noisily slurped at his tea, winced as he burned himself, and then tried again half a second later, trying to pull the sodden biscuit into his mouth.
She glanced up at Military Man and actually caught his eye for half a second, before he looked away as if she didn’t even exist. She would’ve liked to have thought that they’d shared a moment, that she’d managed to conveyI’m not a threatorI didn’t do itor even justI’m guilty as hell, but I have nothing to do with this idiot, but she didn’t like her chances. Guy was completely unreadable.
Taking another bite of her biscuit, Maisie thought back on the conversation that had just occurred – and then sprayed crumbs all over the table, as well as all over Brent, who was still sucking at his cup of tea.
“Wait – you’re ashifter?!” she demanded. “You’ve got to be kidding me! We were going out for three months!! When were you planning on telling me – after the wedding?!”
She thought she saw the slightest hint of surprise on Military Man’s face at her outburst – and, she supposed, it didn’t make much sense for her not to know this if they were in cahoots, as he apparently thought – but she was more concerned with the issue at hand. Which was that Brent had been going out with her forthree months, and not once had he thought to mention that he could, oh,turn into an animal at will.
Brent’s eyes went wide, and Maisie was reminded of how he had always been a terrible liar.
“Haha, babe, what? What’s a shifter? Have you been getting into the supply cupboard at work?” Brent asked, his eyes shifting around in a way that Maisie could easily termfrantic.
“Brent, I know what shifters are,” she snapped – omitting that until a few days ago, she actually hadn’t. “So just cut the shit.”
Brent slumped back, looking vaguely offended. “Babe –”
“Andstopcalling me that!” Maisie snapped.
“All right, all right.” Military Man leaned over slightly, rubbing his temples, and Maisie couldn’t say she was entirely unsympathetic. “I’ve had about enough of your lovers’ spats.”
“We’re not lovers, he’s myex.Very much my ex,” Maisie said. If she could keep him distracted, maybe Rhys would have time to get here before thisinterrogationcould begin, not that she had anything to reveal.
“I don’t care!” Military Man burst out – and just at the same time, there was a knock at the door, followed by three of the guys who’d escorted them to the helicopter entering the room.
“Thank God,” Military Man muttered. “Get this guy out of here and find out what the hell he knows.”
The men who’d just entered only nodded, before they hauled Brent to his feet and hurried him out of the room, completely ignoring his protestations that he hadn’t even finished his cup of tea and his biscuit yet.
As the door slammed behind them, Maisie swallowed. She didn’t think she’d ever feel sorry to see the back of Brent, but now, alone, she wondered if she’d rather have the company, even his.
“So.”
Maisie resisted the urge to bite her lip as Military Man sat down across from her. What could she say to convince him she really didn’t haveanyidea what was going on here? Whatever Brent was mixed up in, he’d never told her anything, though she guessed it made more sense now why he was always standing her up for ‘work’ reasons.
I guess when you’re a shifter criminal standover guy, you don’t work regular hours. And you’re probably on call a lot.
She’d hardly worked regular hours herself, so she’d been sympathetic to Brent, at first. But there’d been only so many last-minute cancelations or outright standing her ups that she could take.
Not that that’s all that relevant right now!
“I’m going to ask some questions,” Military Man continued after a tense moment of silence. “And I’m going to expect you to answer them.”
Maisie grimaced. “Well, I’ll try. But really, I’ve told you everything I know already. Which is… not much. I didn’t even know Brent was a shifter until just now. So what else he’s been hiding or who he’s working for is really beyond me.”
She could tell from the flat stare the man gave her that he didn’t believe a word of what she was saying.
But there wasn’t a lot she could do about it – it was the truth.
But clearly, what these people want isn’t really the truth.
“I’ll only make this offer once,” Military Man said. “You tell us what you know about this Brent guy and who you’re both working for, and I'll make sure you’re protected. Tell us what we need, and maybe we can go a little easy on you.”
