“Reed, tell me what’s the matter. Why are you so worried about me?”
“Lila, I have a strong suspicion your life is in danger. I can’t tell you everything, but if you stay at my place while I’m gone, at least you’ll be protected. The people behind these home invasions are escalating their violence.”
My throat threatens to close. “What does that have to do with me?”
“Don’t do this again, Lila.” His nostrils flare with his crisp inhale. “Have you seen Silas or Riddick lately?”
“No. But again I ask, why do you think I’m in danger?”
“I wasn’t truthful with you. Not entirely.”
Without conscious thought, I pull my hand out of his. He lets me. “What do you mean?”
“On our last date, you asked if we had a suspect, and I dodged that question. Truth is, we’ve got our sights on Riddick, and he’s affiliated with Silas, so that puts him in our crosshairs too. While I’m unsure who is calling the shots, we’re certain those two are in deep.”
“Why haven’t you arrested them?”
Although it’s ideal for the greater good, I don’t know whether having Silas behind bars would help or hurt me. He might pin it on me, making good on his threat. But at least he’d be unable to hurt anyone else.
“Silas is missing. As for Riddick, we didn’t have enough evidence until now. We’ve had someone watching him while we've been building our case. He must have known we were tailing him. Last night, he?—”
Vibrations wrack my chest as my pulse ratchets up. “He what?”
“Let me rewind a bit.” He takes a deep breath. “Throughout the day, my team has been investigating a crime that happened last night. And it was...?it was a bad one, cookie.”
My heart might as well jump all the way into my mouth at this point. “Bad like how?”
When he drags his eyes off the road, the pain I see in them nearly knocks the wind out of me. “Bad,bad, Lila. One of the bloodiest murder scenes I’ve ever worked. The stuff of nightmares.”
Chills run through my entire body, driven by fear and guilt in equal measures.
“As soon as I left the scene this morning, I called you for this date. I needed to get to you as soon as possible. That’s why I was so insistent we do this today. And if you would’ve had to work, I’d have been at your table all damn night to protect you.”
I cover my gasp with my cupped hand. “That creepy guy who was hanging around my table killed someone?”
“Yeah, he did. And he wasn’t alone.”
I wrap my arms around myself. “But you just said he was being watched.”
“Riddick wassupposed to beunder twenty-four-hour surveillance. At some point last night, he shook his tail. The rookie we had watching him didn’t fess up to losing him until an hour ago.”
“He ditched surveillance so he could go murder someone? You know this for sure?”
No clue why I want confirmation, but I do. Probably because I’m desperate to remove myself from something so heinous.
“Yes. And losing his tail isn’t the only evidence. It just made everything we had in black and white possible. My partner was the one who called me a few minutes ago. A warrant has been issued for Riddick’s arrest. But we don’t know who his accomplice was yet.”
This mess is so far beyond trashing houses and cheating at card games. They’ve committed murder. Apparently, in a horrifically violent way.
That’s it.
I need to come clean and help Reed fill in the blanks. To heck with my freedom.
In fact, I should’ve done it already. My selfishness cost a life.
Another one.
Once I find my voice, I sputter out a fraction of the questions sprinting through my mind. “Why do you think he might come after me? Because he was watching me that night, or is there something else? And why did you ask about Silas? Did you find evidence on him too? Is he the accomplice? Are you going to arrest him?”
