Page 83 of Storm Warning

“No offense, Mrs. Whitmore, but you were too rattled to pay attention to details. We might get lucky and find evidence from an examination of the crime scene and your security camera footage.”

Oh, that was ironic. Riley’s lips twitched at the corners. As a field agent, Angie should have caught more details than she had. When she had time to get past the shock, her old friend would be upset with herself. If Angie had been in the field today, herreaction would have led to serious injury or death, and she had more to lose now.

As Officer Reagan talked to Angie and her husband, a different angle occurred to Riley. Was it possible her kidnapping and attempted kidnappings might have been a ploy to bring Angie out in the open? Was some unknown enemy targeting Riley to smoke out Angie?

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

ANDRE WATCHED THEofficers during the interview process. Both men behaved like professionals and treated Angie with sympathy and, to their credit, moved the interviews along faster than he expected.

Reagan said to Angie, “Expect the detectives to visit you at the hospital. It’s just routine, Mrs. Whitmore. All you have to do is tell them the same things you told us. Add in any details that you might have forgotten. You’ll probably be back home before midnight.”

“Will Mom have to go to jail?” Brett asked.

Reagan stared. “Why would you think that? She’s obviously the victim here. Unless she lies to the police, and I can’t imagine that happening, she’ll be fine.”

The teen stared. “But the police take people to jail all the time.”

“If they’re guilty of a crime, sure. We don’t arrest innocent people and put them behind bars.”

“Are you finished questioning my wife?” Whitmore lifted the towel from his wife’s arm and flinched. “I need to take her to the hospital.”

Reagan stepped back. “Go ahead. If you see or hear anything out of the ordinary in the next few days, call us. Since we don’t know what’s going on here, you need to be careful.”

“Will do. Brett, let’s go. We need to help your mom to the car.”

“What about the window? It’s busted. We can’t leave the house open like that.”

“We’ll take care of it.” Reagan motioned toward the front door. “Take your mom to the ER, Brett. We’ll secure the place before we leave, but the crime scene team will be here for a while.”

A minute later, the Whitmore family was on the way to the hospital.

Reagan and his partner turned to the Fortress operatives. “We have your statements, but the detectives will want to talk to you. They should be here soon.”

“We’ll wait outside so we don’t contaminate the crime scene more than we already have.”

“Officer Green will accompany you to keep an eye out in case our shooter returns.”

Andre stared at Reagan. Really? Did he think that excuse would work to hide his real motive, to prevent the operatives from taking off or to come up with the same story to tell the detectives?

Iona’s eyebrows soared. “Do you expect the shooter to return?”

Reagan shrugged. “I wouldn’t return here, but you never know about criminals. They don’t make good decisions.”

Andre signaled Iona and Elias to go to the SUV. He and Riley fell in step behind them, with Green bringing up the rear.

Knowing the young cop would be antsy if they climbed into the SUV and talked outside of his hearing, Andre opened the passenger door and seated Riley. Elias did the same with Iona, seating her in the backseat.

Andre leaned against the frame of the SUV, positioning himself to cover as much of Riley as possible from a shooter’s bullets. His teammate did the same for Iona.

“What are you doing?” Riley’s voice had a bite to it.

“Protecting you from a sniper’s bullet. Deal with it.”

She and Iona exchanged glances. Both of them glared at their Echo partners. Iona folded her arms across her chest. “Since when are we to be treated as less capable of protecting ourselves than you are?”

“You aren’t less capable,” Elias said. “You’re special.” He frowned. “No, that’s not the right word. You’re everything to us, and we protect those who are ours.”

Iona blinked, remaining silent.