Page 29 of Fatal Intent

“Wait for me with your teams.”

“Yes, sir.” He escorted Rayne from Maddox’s office with the curses and protests of the detectives ringing in his ears. Grant shut the door behind him.

“I’m surprised we’re not in handcuffs right now,” Rayne murmured.

“Same. I wouldn’t rule it out, though. They just didn’t have the evidence to arrest us. That may change.”

“They won’t look for other perps, will they?”

“Doubt it. We’re the perfect patsies for whoever killed Selena and Dante.”

“I’m sorry about the loss of your….” Rayne stopped. “I don’t know what to call them. They were good friends.”

He grunted. “Until they weren’t. Although we parted ways in terrible circumstances, I didn’t wish ill will on either of them.”

“Even though they betrayed and hurt you?”

Grant inclined his head. “I couldn’t have said that two months ago. Now, their loss makes me sad, but I’m not devastated. Someone killed them, Rayne, and I intend to find out who did it and bring them to justice.”

“Will you let me help?”

“You didn’t know them.”

“It’s enough that you cared about them. They were important to you, so that makes them important to me now. Please let me help.” Rayne flinched. “As long as I’m not in jail,” she murmured as they approached the conference room where their teams waited.

“I won’t let that happen.” No way would he lose more time with her because the Hartman cops were taking the easy way out instead of looking for the real culprit. Unfortunately, he understood why Conner and Sanders were looking so hard at them. Most murder victims are killed by people they know. In affairs of the heart, nothing burned hotter than love spurned or betrayed.

“You know that’s not how this works.” She sent Grant a pointed look. “If they cobble together enough probable cause, they’ll take another run at us.”

The detectives would do that anyway. Grant opened the door to the small conference room. Their teammates’ conversation fell silent. “Well?” Iona asked. “How did it go?”

“As you’d expect.” Rayne dropped into the chair Grant pulled out for her. “We’re lucky we’re not in handcuffs.”

“Like that, is it?”

“Did you expect anything less?” Grant settled into the seat next to Rayne. “We’re the logical choice for perps.”

“Except for the slight problem of you not being guilty,” Andre said.

“Except that.”

“So, what’s next?” Elias asked.

“We hunt for the actual killers in between training sessions.” Seth glanced at Riley. “Speaking of the hunt, Riley, why don’t you tell Grant and Rayne what you discovered while they were with the detectives.”

Grant already knew the news was bad. “Talk to me, Riley.”

“While we deployed to Mexico last week, apparently you opened three social media accounts and posted regularly about how unfairly you were treated by Selena and Dante. You also threatened to make them pay for what they did.”

He stared at Artemis’s computer genius. What social media accounts? He didn’t have any. Special Forces soldiers did not spill their guts on the Internet. That was a fast way to end up dead. Even if he had been foolish enough to want social media accounts, Fortress would have shut them down immediately, and he would have been hauled into Maddox’s office to endure a well-deserved lecture on security protocols for operatives. “Anything else I was dumb enough to tell the world?”

“Early this morning, you posted one word. Avenged.”

CHAPTER EIGHT

RAYNE GRIPPED GRANT’Shand. Social media pages, threats, bragging. No way. “That’s ridiculous. Grant would never do something that stupid. He’d be leading the police right to his doorstep, not to mention the terrorists he’s run up against over his careers in the military and with Fortress.”

“We know,” Riley agreed. “Doesn’t mean the cops will believe he’s smart enough to stay off social media’s radar.”