Ian shook his head. “That would break the evidence chain. I probably shouldn’t even be here. Conflict of interest and all.”
Reed planted his hands on his hips and eyed Ian. “Then why are you?”
Reed was still mad that Ian had arrested Malone. Ian got that. If Ian were Malone’s brother, he’d be upset too, but he wouldn’t question help when it was offered. At least he didn’t think he would.
“I asked Malone to partner with me on the investigation.” Ian held up his hands before Reed could speak. “And before you say anything, I know it’s unorthodox for law enforcement to partner with a civilian, especially one who’s been arrested for the crime you’re investigating. But in this instance, I think Malone is central to the investigation, and the partnership will produce faster results, which will help find out if this murder is related to your parents so you can both move on from the incident.”
“Or did you just want access to the Veritas partners’ expertise?” Reed kept his gaze pinned to Ian and waved his hands to encompass the room.
Ian wanted to tell Reed about Junior assaulting Malone, allowing her brother to see her connection to Junior and to Ian, but on the drive over, Malone had asked him to keep the assault to himself. She believed Reed would feel guilty for not protecting her, and she didn’t want him to have any angst over something he couldn’t change. “I won’t lie and say it’s not appealing to work with all of you, but I honestly think Malone is the key to closing this investigation, and if we’re working together, we’ll resolve it faster.”
“It doesn’t matter, Reed,” Malone said, a pinched expression on her face. “I agreed to work with Ian. End of story. So let’s move on. In addition to looking into our parents’ backgrounds, we should be researching Junior.”
“Erik and I can do an online search,” Nick offered.
“I notified Junior’s parents of his death,” Ian said, “but they were in too much shock to question. I’ll go back to see if they have any idea on who might want him dead.”
Blake jotted the information on the board. “I’ll be glad to look into any friends.”
“I also learned at the autopsy that Junior had stage-three pancreatic cancer,” Ian said. “I have no idea if this is a factor or not, but if he really knew that the Rices’ accident wasn’t one, he might’ve wanted to update Malone before it was too late. Detective Steele, Londyn, is looking for Junior’s doctor, and we’ll see if Junior knew he had cancer.”
Reed dropped back into a chair, and Sierra took his hand. “I don’t get how this guy knew anything about them. He was a kid when they were killed. Makes no sense.”
“Our deep dive might provide that answer,” Nick said.
Ian could only hope and pray that was true.
Blake added the wordcancerto the board and tapped it with his marker. “We have a good start. I suggest we reconvene tomorrow morning to review the results.”
“In the interim”—Reed met and held Malone’s gaze—“You’ll stay with us. You’ll be safe here. When you leave the building, Nighthawk will provide a security detail.”
“Now, come on.” She snapped her chair forward. “There’s no indication that I’m in danger. If the killer wanted to take me out, he could have done so when he killed Junior.”
“I’ll be with her most of the time,” Ian said. “I could bunk on her couch.”
Malone recoiled, and Ian’s heart took a direct hit.
“No offense.” Aiden Byrd eyed Ian, but his gaze lacked criticism. “Your specialty is finding and bringing in the bad guys. We’re experts at protection, and we’ll do more than bunk on her couch. We’ll do threat assessments for every trip and provide transport in an armored vehicle.”
Malone blinked a few times. “I don’t think—”
“Humor me on this one. Please.” Reed ran a jerky hand through his hair and took a deep breath as he stared at his sister.
“Fine.” She lifted her chin. “But I’m still in charge of where I go and who I see.”
Aiden gave an easy nod. “We wouldn’t have it any other way.”
“Unless it’s too dangerous,” Drake Byrd said. “Then we’ll talk, and by talk, I mean veto it.”
Drake laughed and so did the others, even Malone, though Ian knew that when it came down to deciding where she might go, she would still be in charge, no matter what the Byrd brothers decided. And that thought put fear in Ian’s already bruised heart.
Malone rode in the back of a Nighthawk Security vehicle as Aiden drove toward her house. Brendan rode shotgun, and Clay sat in the back seat with her. Ian followed in his own vehicle. Overkill for sure.
She thought the past thirty minutes in the Nighthawk office had been a waste of time as the brothers had done a threat assessment about taking her home, where she would review records and videos with Ian. She doubted anyone was lying in wait to kill her. She’d meant it when she’d told Reed that the shooter could easily have taken her out at the ballroom. But at the pain in her brother’s eyes, she’d known she had to agree to whatever he wanted.
She hadn’t seen that level of anguish from Reed since their parents died, and she’d flashed back to the days when they’d been too frightened to do anything but huddle together. If only they had a living relative. Just one. They could’ve gone to live with them and not faced the uncertainty of foster care. But both their parents had been only children in long lines of onlys and were born to older parents who’d died.
She’d never noticed the lack of cousins or aunts and uncles until she and Reed had nowhere to go. She’d never forget the look on the social worker’s face when she realized the pair of them had no one to take them in. A mixture of pity and sadness.
