As I ease away from her, she encircles my wrist to keep me from leaving. Our eyes lock. She isn’t crying, but all traces of her earlier bravado have faded. No nervous humor to conceal her fears. She wears no plastic sunshine veneer. There are no walls for me to climb to get to her. No nonsense phrases to distract me.
All I can see isher. Unfiltered. Beautiful, sincere, and strong.
How did I ever doubt this woman? Not only with this casino shit, but five years ago too.
“Reed,” she starts, my name just a breath on her lips.
“Yeah?”
“Thank you for helping me. For protecting me. And for believing me.”
“You don’t need to thank me for that.” I squeeze her hand before releasing it. “I know who you are, Lila. I just forgot for a little while.”
Her smile starts at the corner of her mouth, gradually overtaking her face until it makes her eyes sparkle with an understated resonance. “Little bit of that going around.”
Unspoken words have been languishing in the back of my mind since last night when I saw that picture of Kenzie. Unbidden, they force their way out. “Thank you for saving my sister.”
With her eyelashes batting away her brewing tears, she throws my earlier words back at me. “You don’t need to thank me for that.”
Enough with the heavy shit. I go for a joke to lighten the mood. “Maybe I don’t. But Kenzie sure as fuck does.”
An hour later,SSA Chase motions for me to follow her out of the conference room. Lila remains seated with a box of tissues on her lap. Andrews hangs back to keep her company.
Lila only teared up twice during the entire questioning. The first time was when she talked about Silas showing her the picture of Kenzie. And the second was when she recounted the night she got her back. Battered, but alive. And just when Lila thought the game was over, it was only halftime.
SSA Chase hits me with a rare smile. “I gotta admit, I had my doubts about this. Especially after our last talk about her. But I’m glad you proved me wrong. She’sverycredible. I believed every word. With her cooperation, our odds of closing this case just improved dramatically. Good job, Hayes.”
Brushing off the unnecessary praise, I focus on what matters. “We can get her full immunity, right? She was clearly coerced.”
Chase glowers at me. “You know that isn’t my call to make.” The harshness of her warning is softened when she adds, “I will say this—if anyone deserves to walk after this, it’s her. I’ll call the ASAC and the assistant US attorney now to grease the skids. I want to move on this today. Fortunately, Lila’s willing and ready to help, which betters her chances of avoiding serious charges. If I can get a verbal approval from the powers that be, I’d like her back in that casinotonightfor phase one.”
Chase is going to bat for Lila. That’s a huge win.
I fill my lungs, letting the SSA’s words reassure me. “Got it.”
“Go see the team to get on the same page. Then have Lila call Silas with Carson recording and tracking it.” She turns to go, then pauses. “We should also play the air vent recording for Lila to see if she recognizes the second voice at the murder. Don’t wait for me to do that. I don’t know how long these calls are going to take.”
Without waiting for my confirmation, she thunders toward her office. I head to the shared workspace in the corner of the office to get up to speed with the team. Not only do I need to brief them on what’s gone down with Lila, but they can tell me what I missed this morning.
I breeze into the room, noticing my steps seem lighter. McBride and Hemsley are staring at the wall where we’ve got an assortment of clues pinned up or written on the grease board.
When they notice me, I offer an amiable greeting, complete with individual smiles. “Good morning, Luke. Grant.” I lean back on my heels and swoop my gaze between them. “What does today have in store for us?”
They trade glances. Hemsley’s brows arch to his hairline.
He crosses his arms across his chest and stares me down. “Excuse me. How did you get back here? This is a secure area.”
Huh?
Luke tosses his head back and guffaws, then smacks me on the upper back. And I mean smacks the shit out of it. Hard enough to thrust half the air out of my lungs. “Don’t worry ‘bout him, rook. He ain’t used to you making nice with us.”
Hilarious.
“It won’t happen again.” I catch the rest of the breath he whacked out of me. “The SSA wants us on the same page. What did I miss this morning?”
The cowboy defers to Hemsley. “You can take this.”
After a nod of agreement, Grant cricks his head, flickering his gaze toward the conference room. “Did you finally get her to fold? Your girl?”
