Page 19 of Fatal Intent

Grant laughed. “Deal.” He kissed her lightly, then left to shower and change clothes himself.

Ten minutes later, he made two protein shakes and poured them into travel tumblers with straws, then filled the water reservoir of his coffeemaker. His lips curved. Guess he’d better not tamper with the coffee beans. His woman wouldn’t appreciate his helpfulness.

Rayne walked into the kitchen a minute later. “What’s in the tumblers?”

“Protein shakes.” He held up his hands as though surrendering. “I didn’t touch the coffee beans, just filled the water for coffee. Work your magic.”

“Choose the coffee beans you want and grind them.”

Once the coffee finished brewing minutes later, Grant poured the steaming liquid into to-go cups. “Ready?”

“Let’s do it. I don’t want Iona or Seth to assign more laps than they already will.”

An hour later, they parked their vehicles behind the training facility, grabbed their Go bags and hurried toward the entrance. When they walked into the cavernous room filled with every kind of exercise equipment imaginable, Seth and Iona eyed them.

“Better be a good explanation for why you’re three hours late for training,” Seth snapped.

“Does getting hauled into the police station for murder count?” Grant countered.

Their teammates stopped all training and joined him and Rayne in the middle of the floor. “What happened?” Andre asked.

“Went for a run and found a woman shot just off the roadway.”

“Why did the police take you in for questioning?”

Grant sighed. Yeah, this was where things were going to get sticky. “Because the victim was Selena Baker.”

Rayne’s teammates exchanged puzzled looks. Grant’s teammates, however, knew the story about his and Selena’s breakup. Their expressions were various shades of grim.

“Care to enlighten us?” Iona asked.

“Former girlfriend. Bad breakup ten months ago.”

“How bad?” Riley, one of Rayne’s teammates, demanded.

“Came back from an undercover assignment early and caught her and my former best friend in bed together.”

The women grimaced. “Cold,” Iona said.

“No kidding,” Elias Knight muttered. “Threw our division into an uproar with cops taking sides.”

Riley frowned. “The friend was a cop?”

He nodded, an invisible band tightening around Grant’s chest again at the memory of Dante’s betrayal. “Homicide detective.”

“How many people die every year in Ardmore? Your old department has an abundance of homicide detectives for a small town.”

“City,” he corrected. “And you’d be surprised.”

“So Selena was killed near your home.” Seth rubbed his jaw. “How did she know where you live? You didn’t send out a mass announcement when we moved to Hartman.”

“If I had to guess, I’d say she contacted my sister. They were best friends while Selena and I were dating, and my sister is a romantic. If Selena hinted that she’d made a huge mistake by getting involved with Dante and wanted to get back together with me, Isabella would do anything to help us reunite.”

Iona folded her arms. “Just out of curiosity, would you have resumed a relationship with her if she’d asked you to take her back?”

“Never. First, I could never trust her again. With our schedule the way it is, how would I know if she was faithful during the month we’re on deployment rotation? Second, and more important, I met Rayne. No one compares to her.”

Silence filled the training room. “What does that mean?” Riley demanded. “You met the rest of Artemis at the same time.”