“True, but if not, he might agree to it.” Micha rocked back and forth on the balls of his feet. “He would have to pay for it, but if he balks at that, we could reimburse him.”
She thought it sounded like a good plan, but…“All of which takes time.”
Micha nodded. “Time that we don’t have to waste while someone is setting their sights on you.”
“I was thinking.” Colin headed over to the fireplace to hold his hands out.
Dev followed his brother. “Never a good thing.”
Colin put a choke hold on him. “Want to say that again?”
Dev laughed. “Okay. I take it back.”
Ava tried to cheer up at the antics they likely meant for that purpose, but right now she couldn’t find anything to be glad about.
“You always crieduncleway too fast.” Colin knuckled Dev’s head and let go. “Now that the boat is safe and accessible, you really don’t need me here, right?”
“It’s good to have an extra man, but no,” Micha said.
“We can handle this detail with our eyes closed.” Dev puffed up his chest and laughed.
Colin rolled his eyes. “My time would be better spent by continuing to look into the music connections and putting in the LARPing group names you found last night. To do that easily, I need my desktop computer and a strong, fast internet connection.”
“You need to go to your cabin,” Micha said.
“I do, and thankfully our compound isn’t too far from here. If we get wind of the suspect finding this location, I can always come back.”
“Sounds like a good plan to me,” Dev said, backing away. “Evenifyou came up with it.”
Colin shook his head.
“I agree,” Micha said. “But I don’t want you to go until we upload Layne’s DNA.”
Colin looked at his watch. “I can wait. Emory’s calling in fifteen minutes. I’ll get logged in and be ready for her. I’ll also change Layne’s password so he can’t easily get back into his account.”
“Do it. Then once we get the DNA uploaded, if there’s a match you can research it and locate another suspect.”
Colin stood looking blankly at Micha for a few moments. “You sound confident that I will.”
Micha shifted on his feet. “Not sure if confident is the word, but I know we’ve exhausted all other leads. If the DNA doesn’t pan out, it’ll be up to you to ferret out this guy.”
Colin swallowed hard. “And if I don’t?”
Micha didn’t answer at first, but fisted his hands. “Then we’ll have to lay a trap to tempt him to show himself, and that’s the last thing I want to do.”
Ava took a step back. She could read between the lines. They would lay a trap all right.
And the bait? She was the only one who could bring this killer into the open.
Her alone. The bait. Exposed and within her foe’s reach, putting her life on the line.
18
Why didn’t Micha keep his mouth shut? He’d scared Ava. Big time. That was clear by the way she crossed her arms around her middle, then dropped onto a chair and rocked. Did she think he would use her as bait? If so, he had to change that idea right now.
“If you thought I meant we’d dangle you out there for the suspect to come find,” he said, “we would never do that.”
She blinked and watched him carefully. Maybe she thought he was lying now to keep her from worrying. “If not with me, how would you get him to show himself?”
