Mike scowled at her. “I don’t think it’s a good idea for you to be running around the crime scene on your own. We assume Xander was the sniper’s target, but the guy was shooting at you too.”
“How about a couple of us go with her?” Becker suggested. “That way she can get a sniff of the suspect; then we can make sure she goes home for some rest.”
Khaki wasn’t too thrilled at the idea of having company, but she knew if she made a fuss, it was likely to make Mac and Mike so suspicious they would probably insist on going with her, so she nodded. She probably wasn’t going to learn much at the crime scene that the others hadn’t anyway.
* * *
It was dark by the time she parked her Mini beside Max’s Camaro. In silence, he and Becker led her to the building where the shooter had been.
The building was an eight-story office complex with more than twenty businesses, including a lawyer, a few investment firms, and a real estate company.
“And no one saw a damn thing,” Max grumbled as he held open the door for her.
Khaki followed Max and Becker up the stairs, relieved the two younger guys had been the only ones who’d come with her. For a moment back in the recovery center, she’d thought Xander’s whole squad was going to accompany her. But then Cooper said something about wanting to be there when Sergeant Dixon showed up so he could tell their boss what a dick he was being. The rest of the guys had wanted to stay too. Some to give Gage a piece of their mind, some to keep Cooper from saying something that would get him in trouble too.
“The shooter slipped out the building through a fire exit without tripping the alarm,” Becker told her as they stepped onto the roof.
Khaki was so caught up in the memories of Xander getting shot that she almost missed the faint but familiar scent clinging to the rooftop. When she finally realized what it was, she nearly stumbled over her own feet.
Jeremy.
“No way,” she whispered, feeling the color draining from her face.
She shouldn’t be surprised her asshole ex-boyfriend was the one who’d tried to kill Xander and her. It should have been obvious.
“Everything okay?” Max asked. “You smell something you recognize?”
Khaki hesitated. If she told Becker and Max the shooter had been her stalker ex-boyfriend, they’d almost certainly try and keep her from tracking him down and killing him. She shouldn’t have had thoughts like that considering she was a cop, but ripping Jeremy to shreds was exactly what she wanted to do. Jeremy had followed her here from Washington, stalked her, harassed her, then shot the man she loved. Tearing him to pieces seemed the most rational thing in the world to her at that moment.
Her cell phone rang, making her jump. “It might be Xander,” she mumbled as she pulled it out of her purse.
She glanced at the call display, expecting to see Xander’s name, but all she saw was a phone number.
She thumbed the green button and turned away from the guys. “Calling to gloat?”
There was a snort of amusement on the other end of the line that made Khaki bite back a growl. “Not much to gloat about since it seems I didn’t succeed in killing that caveman you call a boyfriend,” Jeremy said. “I have to admit, he’s one tough bastard. Although considering he’s been unconscious for almost three days, it makes me wonder if it’s just a matter of time.”
She growled this time.
“Everything okay?” Becker asked from over by the edge of the roof.
She turned to tell him everything was fine, but Jeremy’s voice interrupted. “I wouldn’t say anything to those two cops with you. I’d hate to have to shoot them like I did your boyfriend. I don’t think they’d survive a shot to the head at this distance.”
Khaki tightened her grip on the phone, darting a quick look around at the nearby buildings. Jeremy might have been lying about being out there somewhere with a rifle, but she doubted it. He was obviously close enough to see she was with Becker and Max, which meant he was probably close enough to shoot them. And if he hit them in the head, they’d be dead.
She forced herself to smile and nod at Becker and Max, then turned her back on them, moving a little farther away. “If you didn’t call to gloat, why did you call?”
“Because we need to talk,” Jeremy said. “You haven’t been answering your phone for the last few days.”
She wanted to shout at him that she’d been too busy worrying about Xander, but she bit her tongue. She needed Jeremy to give her a clue where he was.
“So talk,” she said.
“Not over the phone. This is a conversation we need to have in person.”
Khaki laughed. She doubted they’d be doing a lot of talking. Jeremy intended to kill her. Then again, if he wanted her dead, he could have shot her with the rifle he was pointing in her direction. But no, a quick kill like that wouldn’t be satisfying enough for him. Jeremy was the kind of sadistic bastard who’d want Khaki to see her death coming in slow motion.
And by meeting with him, she’d give him exactly what he wanted. But she was okay with that because she was going to get exactly what she wanted, too. A chance to punish the man who had tried to kill her mate.
