Page 17 of Echo, the Sniper (Men of PSI #2)

“It was right here.” My voice was a thin thread of sound as I stared at the patterned concrete, the remembered horror of that day churning through me until I half-feared I’d throw up. “This spot, right here. This is where the sniper got Dane.”

Though I wasn’t looking at him, I sensed Echo slowly taking in the area. “Where were you?”

“No more than five feet behind him.”

“Of course that’s where you were. Such a good little wifey, dutifully putting herself three paces behind her man so hubby can pretend he’s important.”

That snapped my head up, heat rushing to burn my cheeks as I glared at him. “ Excuse me ?”

“You’re staring at that patch of ground like you’re trying to wish that asshole back to life, and I’ve gotta say, it pisses me off,” he snapped back with the beginnings of a scowl.

“I’m not going to baby you if you’re going to indulge in a fit of grief over a man who wasn’t good enough to breathe your air.

News flash, Rory, your former husband was a fucking piece of garbage.

He didn’t deserve your love then, or your devotion now. ”

Oh, the nerve . “All I’m doing is trying to stay alive, not mourn a man who turned my life into a nightmare.”

“You sure about that? Because you looked like you were about to cry just now.”

“Guess what, soldier boy? Watching a person get shot dead right in front of you isn’t exactly what I would call a picnic.

You might be immune to that level of violence, but this good little wifey is a mere civilian who’s lived an ordinary, boring life where people don’t get shot right in front of them.

I’m not used to that level of violence, and I hope to God I never will be. ”

“I’m not going to stand here and watch you shed another tear over that bastard,” he bit off as though he hadn’t even heard me. “He’ll never be worth it. He’ll never be worthy of you . Tell me you understand this, not just with your mind, but with your heart and soul. He was never worthy of you.”

I glared at him, the grinding panic that had halted my steps forgotten.

How could he say something so sweet, yet so infuriating all at the same time?

“You know, you’re shockingly unobservant for a bodyguard.

In case you haven’t noticed, I’m not crying over Dane.

See?” I pointed to my icy face. “Not one tear here.”

“Tell me you understand he’s unworthy of you, and you’ll finally let that fucker go.”

“I understand, all right?”

“ And you’re letting him go. Right here, right now. All of it.”

I stared at him, baffled and unreasonably angry.

One quick kiss—a kiss he now seemed intent to not acknowledge—and he thought he could just, what?

Be the boss of me? No man would ever again tell me what to do.

“Again with the lack of observation. I let go of everything I felt for Dane a long time ago. What I’m doing now?

It’s me trying to find the reason why someone is out there trying to kill me.

I’m done being Dane’s victim. It’s time now for me to be a fighter. ”

A muscle jumped in his jaw. “I fucking hate how often that bastard’s name comes out of your mouth. That’s what I mean when I say you need to let him go.”

“Yeah, well, get over it.” I couldn’t believe how brave I sounded, when an embarrassingly large part of me—the broken part that Dane trained, along with my own father before him—wanted to grant Echo whatever he decreed because he was a man and probably knew better than me.

That trash way of thinking had to be ejected, stat.

“You say you want me to let Dane go, when it sounds like what you really want is for me to forget.”

“Exactly. Forget that fucker exists.”

“But,” I plowed on relentlessly, “that’s not letting go .

You’re asking for a convenient amnesia, and I’m not going to do that.

I refuse to forget a huge chunk of my life, because it’s my life , Echo.

It’s a part of me, and if I forget any of it I won’t learn from all the horrible mistakes I made along the way. ”

“Rory—”

“Not to mention I literally can’t put any of this behind me if I don’t delve into Dane’s life. There’s something in it that’s now trying to kill me. Don’t make me feel like I have to apologize for that.”

His jaw seemed to be in permanent knots, and it took him a small eternity to unlock it. “You have nothing to apologize for. Hold on to whatever shit you need to, it doesn’t matter to me.”

Oh, my God . “I’m not—”

“And you’re right, there is something in his life that’s out to get you, so... I get it. Okay? I get it. What can you tell me about his partner, Terwilliger?”

“Edward?” The abrupt change of subject was so epic it took a couple seconds to recover from the mental whiplash.

Then I put a hand to my forehead and tried to get my brain to work.

“Well, shortly after Dane was killed, Edward was convicted on various tax fraud and smuggling charges, but he jumped bail about a month ago before they could sentence him.”

“I know all that. Tell me what I might not know.”

“Hm.” Still simmering with anger over his asshole comment of holding on to Dane’s memory, I frowned and searched for every little tidbit I knew about Edward.

“Fifty years old, never married and, um... He was the people-person half of the partnership. He was usually the guy who would shmooze potential clientele into signing long-term contracts with the import-export business. He was infinitely charming, whereas Dane... wasn’t. ”

Echo snorted. “Yeah, kinda hard to hide that level of assholishness with shmooze.”

When the man was right, he was right. “Edward had a penthouse downtown and a beach house in the Bahamas, though the authorities have probably seized those properties by now. I suspect he’s been in a serious relationship with his assistant for the past decade, who seems very much in love with Edward. ”

“That’s new,” Echo said, eyes narrowing. “What’s the PA’s name?”

“Josiah Armstrong.”

He nodded once, as if locking it down in his mind. “You say you suspect Terwilliger and Armstrong were a couple. Were they not open about their relationship?”

“Sadly, no. Edward might be a white-collar criminal, but he’s also a devout Catholic with boatloads of hangups.

I had the impression he was perma-locked in the closet.

He certainly covered well enough to even fool Dane, who scoffed over the possibility that Edward was gay.

Thought I was such a child, seeing hearts and flowers everywhere, when hearts and flowers don’t exist in the real world. His actual words, by the way.”

“This is my shocked face.”

“If I were a betting woman, though, I’d put money on Edward and Josiah being together. I always thought they were star-crossed lovers, so I secretly cheered them on from the sidelines.”

“I doubt you’ll be cheering him on from this point going forward.”

That made my gaze snap to his. “Why do you say that?”

“Terwilliger’s the guy who broke into your garage and trashed your Bentley.”

“ What ?” My gasp was so loud it seemed to echo in the open pedestrian area. But it couldn’t be helped. I couldn’t have been more shocked if he’d told me the blue bear had been the culprit. “How—wait, why? How do you know this? Why would Edward do that? We’re friends.”

“Friendship means nothing to a cornered rat, and make no mistake, Rory—after his multiple convictions, that’s exactly what Edward Terwilliger is.

Your security cams got a good enough look at him to nail down his identification, and while I have no clue why he tore up your car, I’m confident he was looking for something.

His actions were clearly that of a desperate man.

We’ve sent this on to the local PD, who hadn’t even bothered to attain this footage. ”

“Like I said, they’re not tripping over themselves to help out the wife of a convicted criminal.

” The words came out absently while my mind raced ahead, stunned at Edward’s betrayal while still trying to figure out all the angles.

Unfortunately, that was about as easy as trying to put a puzzle together without a picture of what the puzzle was.

“Damn it. With this new information, law enforcement will probably have a renewed fire in their belly to track Edward down. That’s a problem. ”

“Why?”

“Because only Edward knows why he broke into the garage and tore my car to pieces. I need to know what he knows, but I doubt I’ll even be allowed to see him if the authorities pick him up. They’ve got a proven track record of being supremely unhelpful when it comes to me.”

“So we need to get our hands on Terwilliger before the cops do.”

“Exactly. Terwilliger, and Warrington Coates.”

Echo’s black brows slammed down. “Why Coates?”

“I want to ask him why he and Dane chose to meet where they did, since the convention center was as empty then as it is now. There were no events going on at the time. Who set up their meeting, Coates or Dane? Did Coates tell anyone about their meeting? Who knew about it? Someone outside of those two men obviously knew they were going to be here— right here —because this was where the sniper took Dane out. I assume it must take time for a sniper to get into position, yes? The sniper didn’t just magically appear at the right place and time, correct? ”

“How anyone thought you were an intellectual lightweight is fucking beyond me,” he muttered instead of answering, tilting his face up to the impossibly blue sky as if asking the heavens why things were the way they were.

“I get why you want to talk to Terwilliger—I do, too. But I doubt your ex’s shooting has anything to do with whoever is targeting you now. ”

“You can’t know that.”

“I can, if you look at the facts.”

“What facts?”