Page 80 of Fatal Intent

“You think something is off,” Elias said. “Do you have any reason to be suspicious?”

“Just my gut and the suspicious timing.”

“I need more before you sell me on that.”

Seth sighed. “I don’t want to think that of either Rex or Eileen.”

Teagan scowled, looking from her husband to Grant and back. “I’m obviously missing something here. Give me a hint at least.”

He motioned for Grant to explain.

“I always thought Beau and Eileen were the perfect couple. They seemed to be so deeply in love that I can’t imagine Eileen falling in love with Rex and getting married days after Beau’s death. The timing makes me wonder if something was going on before Beau died.”

“How?” Rayne shook her head. “From what you and your teammates have said about your time in the military, Echo unit deployed frequently. How would Rex have built a relationship with Eileen if the men had deployed together?”

“Didn’t say it wouldn’t have been hard, but it is possible.”

“I don’t know,” Elias said. “Sounds unlikely to me.”

“I hope you’re wrong,” Seth murmured. “Beau was a good man. He deserved better from his wife and his friend.”

“I hope I’m wrong, too.”

“Even if your suspicions are correct, I don’t see how the other deaths are connected to Rex and Eileen’s relationship.”

Grant held up his hands. “Might be no connection at all. We noted the difference in the mode of deaths from Beau’s. What if his death wasn’t a practice run? Is it possible Beau was a specifically chosen target?”

Elias stared. “You’re talking about a second perp for the rest of the deaths?”

“We have to at least consider it.”

“I don’t want to,” his friend muttered. “That would mean we have two potential rats to flush out among our friends.”

“Or among the crowd of their friends and families.” Seth dragged a hand down his face. “All right. Suppose we don’t find potential suspects in the crowd of friends and families of the survivors. If we determine they’re innocent, we need to warn them of danger.”

“Could tip off the killer that we’re onto him,” Elias said.

“What choice do we have?” Teagan glared at him. “We can’t let them be sitting ducks while a killer is stalking them and their loved ones.”

He held up his hands as though in surrender. “I agree. I’m just saying the killer must be watching these soldiers. He’ll notice if we visit more than one of them, especially since we’re not known for dropping in to chat with old friends.”

“So what? At least they’ll be forewarned.”

“If the killer realizes we know, he may go underground and come back to finish the job after we let down our guard.”

Grant kissed Rayne’s temple. “Teagan is right. We’ll have to take the chance that the killer will realize what we’re doing. We have enough deaths on our conscience. Let’s not add innocents to the list.”

Seth drew Teagan to her feet. “Time to get back to work. We have a suite around the corner from this one. Teagan and I plus Elias and Iona will work from there. We’ll meet here at 5:30 p.m. to drive to the Bowen home. If you find anything significant in the meantime, send a message. We’ll do the same. The mission clock is ticking.”

Grant followed the four operatives to the door to see them out.

From the hallway, Seth turned back and lowered his voice. “Is Rayne ready to meet your family?”

He stilled. Did his team leader really think he’d let her go into that situation unprepared? “Not yet. She will be,” he murmured.

Seth rested a hand on Grant’s shoulder and squeezed. After a curt nod, he followed his wife and the other operatives around the corner.

Grant shut the door and turned, stopping when he saw Rayne watching him from across the room, concern filling her gaze.