“He has her!” Derek got right into York’s face. “Don’t you get it? He set this whole thing up. My car, the fire...now, this. And you and those detectives in New York played right into his hands.” He looked at his brother. “We all did.”
“You don’t know for sure she’s with him, D,” Eric tried to reason with him. “She could’ve gotten stuck in traffic or something.”
Derek wanted to scream for the fear gripping his heart. “You know what he’s already done to her, Eric. What do you think he’ll do, now...after she left him like she did? After she and I—” his voice broke, and he forced himself to take a breath.
Pain and turmoil swirled in his brother’s eyes as he glanced at York.
“Release him into my custody. I’ll take full responsibility for him.”
She shook her head. “I don’t know, Eric. The captain won’t—”
“Come on, Riley,” Eric practically begged. “I’ll take the heat on this one.”
Derek pleaded with her to listen. “If you want, you can lock my ass up again the second we find her. Please, just let me make sure she’s okay.”
York glanced over at Eric and back to him, her resolve wavering. “I-I can’t release you. Not without the green light from the NYPD.”
“So call them!”
She glanced at her watch. “They’re still in the air. It’ll be another couple of hours before they land.”
Derek brought his bound hands to his forehead, his chest heaving as he tried hard to control himself.
“Charlie doesn’t have a couple of hours.” He dropped his hands, his eyes locking with his brother’s. “He’ll kill her, Eric.”
York continued her feeble attempt to make him see reason. “As far as we still know, Caleb Porter is dead and lying on a slab in the Manhattan morgue.”
His head swung toward hers. “You willin’ to bet an innocent woman’s life on that assumption?”
Ready to defend herself, the woman started to say more, but an officer chose that moment to knock on the door and enter the room.
“Sorry for the interruption, Detective, but the Manhattan medical examiner’s office just faxed this over to you.”
Rather than let York get it, Eric snatched the paper from the officer’s hand and started skimming its contents. The lines on his forehead smoothed, and he lost all color when he looked back up at Derek.
“It’s not him.” Eric’s eyes shot to Derek’s. “The body they found wasn’t Porter’s.”
York grabbed the paper from Eric and, as he had, quickly skimmed the M.E.’s findings. “Shit,” she muttered under her breath. “According to this, the DNA and dental records from the man who was killed match someone named Shane Dunham.”
And the hits just keep on comin’.
“Shane was the guy I hired to watch Caleb,” Derek told her woodenly. “I knew him from when he was in the Navy. He was solid.” Pushing back tears, he looked at his brother. “Now, he’s dead because he agreed to help me.”
“You were right,” resignation dawned behind York’s chestnut eyes. “The sonofabitch is still alive. I’m...I’m sorry.”
Derek didn’t want her fucking apology. He needed to get the hell out of there.Now.
Grinding his teeth together, he held his hands out again. Without hesitation, Detective York pulled her keychain from her pocket and quickly released the cuffs.
Rubbing the skin there, Derek gave his brother a nod. “Let’s go.”
