Her gaze lifted, so blue and deep. “I took the virus to negate the bond. I’m free, Jared. The mating bond is gone.”
Chapter 4
Ronni rushed into the back room of the coffee shop, her files in a backpack and a tall latte in her hand. Her steps were sure and steady. Energized and healthy. Yeah. She was back, baby.
Two of her friends were already seated, files and papers scattered in front of them. Olivia hurried in from the bathroom, her pretty face breaking into a wide smile. “Ronni!” She rushed forward for a hug.
“You weren’t kidding about making the meeting.” The cabbie must’ve sped from the airport to the shop. Ronni hugged her best friend and leaned back to look. Olly’s eyes were a sparkling blue, and she all but glowed. “You’re happy.”
“Yeah.” Olly laughed out loud. “You will be, too. I just know it.”
A man cleared his voice from the table. “What’s going on? Ronni? You look tons better.”
Ronni turned toward the off-duty detective. Lance Peters was about thirty with sharp green eyes, an angled jaw, and a pissed-off expression. His skin was a dark mocha, and unlike the month before, it now had a healthy glow. He’d been angry since his partner had died—supposedly of a suicide. “So do you. Is your shoulder healed?” Ronni asked.
“One little bullet won’t stop me,” Lance said, rubbing his shoulder after having been shot a month ago while investigating an unrelated case. “You?”
“I’m better. Maybe on the mend,” she said. “Ready to figure this thing out.” She turned toward Dr. Mabel Louis, the assistant medical examiner. “Any news on the poison?”
Mabel shook her head, her blue eyes clouding. “No. Nothing from your blood tests has shown the poison. It could be anything, Veronica. I won’t know, I mean, until…”
“Until you can cut open my heart and take a look,” Ronni said thoughtfully.
Olly slapped her on the arm. “That’s not going to happen.”
No, it wasn’t.
Mabel flushed, her pale skin turning a bright pink. “I’m sorry to be indelicate.”
“You’re not. That was the plan until recently,” Ronni murmured, taking a seat.
“You really do look better,” Lance said, his gaze tearing across her face. “Is there a chance you’ll survive this?”
“Yes,” Ronni said, unable to hold back her smile.
“How?” Mabel asked, hope leaping into her eyes.
Ronni shrugged. “It’s hard to say since we can’t identify the poison.” She cleared her throat. These were the three people she trusted most in life, which is why they were working the case off the books. The official investigation didn’t seem to be going anywhere, and she had to wonder why. “Lance? Have you finished looking through yours and Walt’s cases? Anything jump out?”
Walt was Lance’s partner, who’d died four months previous. While his death had been ruled a suicide, the facts didn’t add up. He’d been a regular psychology patient of Ronni’s, as were many of the undercover cops in the precinct. His death and her poisoning had to be related, somehow.
“There are several leads in Walt’s death.” Lance pushed manila files across the table. “I went through your list of which cases you talked to him about, and I’ve cross-referenced all of them. There has to be a connection here somewhere.”
Olivia took a seat and cleared her throat. “We’re making an assumption that the same person who killed Walt also tried to poison you, Ronni. Walt died of an overdose.”
“Walt didn’t do drugs,” Lance snapped.
“Yes, he did,” Mabel countered softly. “We all know it. Walt was struggling after losing his wife two years ago, and we all know he drank and occasionally did drugs.”
Ronni intervened before Lance could explode. “We’re not knocking him, Lance. I agree, based on every session I had with him, that he wouldn’t have killed himself by such an overdose.” The amount shot into Walt’s veins was way too much to be accidental. “Let’s find out who wanted him, and then me, dead.”
Lance shoved a red folder toward her. “Walt was working an internal case regarding drugs that had disappeared from lockup six months ago.”
Ronni reared back. “We hadn’t discussed any internal case. You think a cop took those drugs?”
Lance shrugged. “Walt did. I found the notes in the bottom of his locker at the gym.”
That would make sense. A cop could easily get to her as well with the poison.
