Mickey stopped to stand in front of him and pushed back a coil of stray hair. She furrowed her brow and studied him, but the smile never left her face. “Hi.”
Graham shoved his hand in the pocket of his khakis, rocked back on his heels, and let the file dangle at his side. The sun hung high in the sky behind her, causing him to squint despite his aviator sunglasses. He noted the dark circles under her eyes. She hadn’t been sleeping, either. “Can we talk?”
Her amber eyes darted around him and she shifted her stance. “About the plane? I already gave my statement. I don’t want to talk about it anymore.”
“No, something else. Can we go somewhere private?”
A light blush colored her cheeks and her eyebrows rose. Dammit, he was giving her the wrong idea. He cleared his throat. “There’s been an incident this morning and I need to ask you some questions.”
“What kind of incident?” Her voice held a hint of weariness and she hoisted her yoga mat higher on her sunburned shoulder.
He ground his teeth together. She wasn’t making this easy. He wanted to get her somewhere private so he could gauge her reaction when he told her about the girl. “I’d really like to sit somewhere to talk about this.”
She folded her arms across her chest and pressed her lips together. The pleasure etched on her face moments before disappeared. “And I’d really like to know what’s going on.”
A young man in a suit and tie bumped into his shoulder as he hurried by. Graham grunted and staggered back before gaining his footing. Enough. He was hot and tired and he didn’t have time to play games. If she wanted to do this the hard way, he’d play along. “I’ll try one more time to be nice. We can go to yourapartment and have a conversation, or I can take you to my office. The choice is yours.”
Mickey’s eyes hardened, sketching lines in their corners. “Fine.” She stepped around him and climbed the stairs of the stoop. The faint scent of sweat and strawberries lingered behind her.
Following her, he climbed the two flights to her apartment and his dress shoes slapped against the wooden stairs. He pushed his sunglasses to the top of his head and tried to keep his eyes off the rounded shape of her ass. He was in enough hot water with his boss right now. He didn’t need to add fuel to the fire by allowing himself to become attracted to a woman involved in one of his cases. He could already hear Harper berating him over conflict of interest bullshit.
She took a key out of a discreet pocket in the top of her pants and opened the door. Pushing the door wide, Mickey stepped over the threshold and threw her yoga mat on the gray sectional in the small living room. The door squeaked as he closed it behind him and he followed her to the kitchen. Mickey grabbed a clean glass from the cabinet and then banged the door shut. Water splashed out of the faucet and she filled the glass before bringing it to her full lips for a sip.
“Can I get a glass?”
Mickey shut off the water and sat down at the round distressed table nestled in the corner. “Sure. Once you tell me why you’re here.” The tight smile on her face told him her patience wore thin. She’d worn the same smile when he’d pissed her off on the plane.
He walked over to the table, sat down across from her, and placed the file in front of him. She placed her glass on the table and kept her gaze trained on his face. He studied her. How would her porcelain coloring change? Would lines ripple on her smooth-as-silk skin? Would tears burst from the corners of hereyes? He blew out a breath and dove in. “I’m here to tell you Becca Stanley went missing this morning around ten a.m.”
Water sloshed over the side of the glass and dripped down onto the table. Her hand trembled and she set the glass down. “You can’t be serious.”
He watched her intently. Her forehead puckered as she took in his words, but no other signs of distress burst forward. “Trust me, this is no joke. I’d like to know where you were all day.”
She jumped out of her seat and pulled her shirt from her body and said, “What does it look like? I was working out. What happened to Becca? I need to call Suzi. She doesn’t have a lot of family. She’ll need me.” She started pacing across the kitchen and pressed the back of her hand to her mouth. “This has to be a mistake.”
His gaze followed her. No tears sprang to her eyes, no asking who took the girl. Mentally tucking away his observations, he waited a beat before he said, “You need to answer some questions before you call Suzi.”
She stopped moving and scanned the kitchen. “Where the hell did I leave my phone? Dammit!”
Mickey raced into the living room and threw decorative pillows and blankets off the sofa. Graham stood from the table and walked to the cabinet Mickey had taken a glass from. He grabbed a clear glass, filled it with water, and waited for her to find her phone.
Her head popped up from the front of the couch and she raised her phone in the air. She shot fire at him with her eyes. “She didn’t call. I don’t know what game you’re playing, but Suzi would have called me if something happened to Becca. I love that girl with my whole heart.” Mickey’s voice cracked, but the heat never left her gaze.
Graham pressed the small of his back against the countertop and set the glass down beside him. “Suzi didn’t contact youbecause she was told not to. If you want to help us find Becca, it’s important you tell me where you were today.”
Mickey pressed the tips of her fingers into her eyes and drew a long breath in through her nose. She lowered her hands and tears hovered above her long lashes. “I went to yoga class this morning.”
“What time did it start?”
Her cheeks sunk in as if she were biting them. “Nine.”
That was hours ago. No way she’d been doing yoga until after three in the afternoon. He scanned the lean lines of her body. Well, maybe she had with a body like that. He forced his eyes back to her face. “What time did class end?”
“The class lasts an hour and a half. After class, I went for coffee with a friend.” She lifted a hand to her forehead and her fingers rubbed her hairline. “By the time we finished, it was lunch. We intended to get a quick bite to eat but ended up talking for a while.”
“About?” He picked up his water and took a sip.
Anger flashed in her eyes. “About how I almost died last night in a plane crash and the asshole who saved my life.”
