Page 8
I pocket the phone and push to my feet to find my brother and Enrique standing in the room behind me, staring at me. “Is the door unlocked?”
Enrique goes all thin-lipped on me while Andrew offers what he thinks is a salutation. “I told him our guys can handle it.”
If I could remember the Spanish curse Kane favors, I’d mutter it now, but I can’t. Because I don’t want to. Because it’s usually used in relation to me. Since Enrique needs to have Little Bitch written across his forehead right now, I motion to my brother and then walk through the doors where Ghost disappeared, which delivers me to a fancy chef’s kitchen. The island is huge. The pans dangling above it shiny and fancy. The granite on the counter is an impressive smoke shade with black lines streaked throughout it. Does Mark have a wife who cooks or a housekeeper? Or does he blow things up and then whip up fancy veggies no one will ever eat? And why am I here and don’t know any of this?
I whirl around as Andrew joins me. “We have a situation, big brother. Ghost was here.”
“As in the assassin? Do I need to lock down?”
“Not us.”
He squints at me. For a relatively decent-looking guy, he squints a lot—ugly squints, like the sun is in his eyes. “What does that mean?”
“It means that as I sat down to share pie with Ghost—”
“What the fuck do you mean, as you sat down to share pie with Ghost?”
“Irrelevant outside of the fact that he took my pie and I somehow made him want to kill Dad. He vowed to kill him as soon as he’s the number one assassin again, which is tricky since I’m fairly certain he’s that now. And always. He was always number one.”
Andrew slashes his hands through the air. “Backup. Why does he want to kill Dad, aside from him being a piece of shit? Dad. Not Ghost. Or maybe both.”
“He thought I wouldn’t kill him because I’m an FBI agent, and—”
“Which would be a normal assumption, if you weren’t you. He has no idea what it’s like to have a sister who’s basically Dexter in high heels.”
“Okay, smartass. I’m not Dexter. I’m an FBI agent bad at arresting people.”
“Because you kill them.”
“Which is what I told Ghost.”
“How did Dad come into the picture?”
“I wanted him to understand how easily I could kill him, so I described Kane pulling the guy Dad sent after me off of me and what ensued.”
“Meaning what?”
“I stabbed him over and over and over until Kane pulled me off of him.”
“Why would you tell him that? Now he has that over your head.”
“Because neither of us thought the other was going to leave alive. And I fully believe he meant to kill me, as I did him, but then something about Dad sending that man after me hit a nerve with him.”
“Does he know Dad?”
“I’m not sure if it’s about Dad or something personal to Ghost that makes him relate.”
“Okay. I wouldn’t have seen this coming. He could be on his way to kill Dad now.”
“Yes, but I think he’s far more likely to kill the sister first. Elsa. Unless his wording was meant to trick me.”
“Why warn us if that’s the case? We have time to protect Dad.”
“I doubt he thinks we want to protect him.”
He breathes out long and hard. “Do we?”
I almost laugh, but the drama that would cause with Andrew would not be worth it, at least not in our present circumstances. “Where’s my choir boy brother?”
“Dead,” he says. “He’s dead. What are we going to do?”
Enrique pokes his head into the room. “I got the door open.”
I glance at Andrew. “We’ll talk later.”
He eyes Enrique. “We’re not done.”
“Okay,” Enrique says, but he doesn’t move.
I have to admire his stubbornness under my ire, even if it is the end of him. “He’s fine,” I say to Andrew, “and too stupid to be a problem.”
“Fuck you, Lilah,” Enrique snaps.
“Fuck you, too, Enrique.” I whirl on him and place myself between him and Andrew. “Fuck you, all the way to the damn grave where I’m going to put you if you ever pull that shit again.”
“I was being loyal.”
“To yourself. If you were loyal to Kane, or me for that matter, you’d have risked Kane’s wrath to protect him. And he would have understood. Go start searching the room you just opened.”
He stares at me several beats, not a waiver to his gaze, and then turns and walks out of the room. I rotate to face my brother. “What was that all about?”
“Focus on the case.”
He looks like he wants to push, but seems to get the priorities. Small miracles do happen, like me allowing Enrique to keep breathing. I’m angrier with him than either of us realized, or I’d be past it now. I am not. “Did Ghost kill Mark Walker?” Andrew asks.
“Yes,” I say, certainty filling me that I’d lacked earlier. “His presence was him taking credit for the kill. He doesn’t want what he doesn’t earn, but you won’t find proof.”
“Why was he here?”
“He wanted to taste my strawberry pie.” I motion to the door. “Let’s go work the scene.” I start walking.
He catches my arm. “Lilah. Why was Ghost here?”
“I already told you. To kill me.”
“You told me neither of you thought both of you were leaving, but I assumed that was because you surprised each other.”
“My relationship with Ghost is complicated, Andrew. I’ve got it handled.”
“Does Kane know just how complicated?”
“Are you serious right now? Does Kane know? This from the brother who wanted to throw him in jail only six months ago?” I’m out of patience for my fickle brother and his likes and dislikes. I jerk away from him and exit the kitchen.
A new ME I don’t know is already examining the body, and I really don’t care at this point. Nothing worth knowing is going to be discovered. The only juicy bit I’ve seen on this crime scene thus far is Ghost and the phone he left behind for me to locate. I wonder if he was testing me to see if I’d find it before the team got here. I wonder if he thinks I’m stupid enough to carry it around with me and allow him to track me.
I walk past the ME without a word and find Enrique waiting for me beside the door he’s opened. There’s a smug look on his face as I pass the door and stare at an empty room. No one locks an empty room unless the room has a secret.
Table of Contents
- Page 1
- Page 2
- Page 3
- Page 4
- Page 5
- Page 6
- Page 7
- Page 8 (Reading here)
- Page 9
- Page 10
- Page 11
- Page 12
- Page 13
- Page 14
- Page 15
- Page 16
- Page 17
- Page 18
- Page 19
- Page 20
- Page 21
- Page 22
- Page 23
- Page 24
- Page 25
- Page 26
- Page 27
- Page 28
- Page 29
- Page 30
- Page 31
- Page 32
- Page 33
- Page 34
- Page 35
- Page 36
- Page 37
- Page 38
- Page 39
- Page 40
- Page 41