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She waited for more. There had to be more. Why else would Jonah appear if there wasn’t? Saying the laptop was missing…he could have called and told her that. He had her number. Hers and Hunter’s. They’d given the cop their contact information at the scene. She’d also mentioned to Jonah that she’d be staying at this particular hotel. He’d wanted to know where she’d be in case he had follow-up questions.

Was this his only follow-up? This late?

“Didn’t realize you two would be sharing a room,” Jonah muttered.

She hadn’t realized that herself.

“Bodyguards stay close,” Hunter returned. “It’s the nature of the job. You can’t really guard someone when you’re in a room down the hallway. That would just make things unnecessarily difficult.”

Jonah bit his lower lip, as if holding back a response.

Hunter lifted a brow. “Got something else? Something you want to get off your chest, officer?”

“It’s detective,” Jonah snapped.

“Right. My bad.”

Jonah’s eyes had become slits as he glared at Hunter.

Hunter’s smile was that of a tiger…who enjoyed playing with his prey. A little shiver skated down Shelby’s spine. It was obvious the two men did not like one another. Not at all.

“Yeah…” Jonah finally said. “There is something else.” His gaze swung back to Shelby. He drew in a deep breath. “Did you do it?”

Her jaw nearly hit the floor. “What?” The poor woman’s body flashed in her mind again. The soaking wet hair and clothing. The water pouring from Tiffany as Hunter lifted her up. The slashed throat.

The stillness.

“Did you take her laptop?”

Her laptop? So he wasn’t asking if she’d killed Tiffany Blake?

“Come on, Shelby. I need the truth. If you did it, hand it over. You can’t steal evidence.”

She blinked at him as confusion swam through her. “Why would I take her laptop?”

“From what I gathered during a brief chat that I just had with Ms. Rochelle, Tiffany was our resident Sorority Seven Killer super fan.”

Shelby flinched. She hated to think of anyone as being a super fan when it came to the Sorority Seven Killer. Why would you be a fan of someone who’d killed so many women? So brutally?

“Ms. Rochelle said Tiffany heavily researched the murders. Her research was probably on the laptop. I mean, where else would it be?”

“Where, indeed?” Hunter crossed his arms over his chest. The move just made the muscles of his arms look all the more powerful.

“So…” Jonah’s drawling voice had her zeroing in on him. “I ask again, did you take it?” His blue eyes bored into her.

“And,” her teeth had clenched, “I have to ask again…why would I take it? Why would I steal a dead woman’s laptop?” What would she hope to gain by doing that? Jonah needed to connect the dots for her.

“Come on, Shelby. Don’t insult my intelligence.”

That had not been her intention⁠—

“You’d take it because you’re here with your bodyguard to dig up the past.” A beat. His voice roughened, “Gonna deny it?”

Hunter moved then. A ripple of power. Graceful, but strong. He dropped his arms and positioned his body right beside Shelby’s. “Perhaps you’re not as incompetent as I originally feared.” Hunter’s arm brushed against her. “You looked into me, didn’t you, Detective Campbell? Did a search on my name? My recent…business?”

“Ice Breakers,” Jonah dropped the words as if he’d just revealed a bombshell. “You dig into the past for fun, don’t you, Hunter? Grab other people’s pain, rip it to the surface so that you can get a big splash in the media? Is that what you’re doing with her?” He pointed to a silent Shelby. “You went to her, convinced her that she’d gotten something wrong the night of the murders, that maybe the cops and other investigators had all missed something and that only you could help her. You manipulated your way into her life, convinced her to come back on the seven-year anniversary, and then you⁠—”

“Stop.” Shelby’s voice came out hard, angry. “You have everything wrong.” He was not going to accuse Hunter of being the bad guy, not when Hunter had been the first one to truly help her. Fury pulsed beneath her skin. She’d worked to control her emotions for so very long. Her fear. Her desperation. Her fury. The fury might be the worst part. The rage that would never stop. Rage because her friends had been hurt and killed. Because she’d been hurt. Because she’d lost the ones she cared about and couldn’t ever get them back. “I went to Hunter, not the other way around. I convinced him to come here with me. And, yes, I am digging up the past.” Damn straight she was. “Because I still have questions.” She was tired of not having answers and living with doubt.