Page 31 of Vain

“But you don’t sound sure.”

“Tilly has a theory.”

“Tilly?” He smirks.

I growl, leaning back in my chair so I don’t reach out and strangle him. As much as I know he’d never stray from his wife, I’m too on edge to brush his comments off.

“What? It’s cute. So what’s the theory?”

“She’s not convinced the guy in prison for the first attack is actually the guilty party.”

He leans forward, his face serious now. “She thinks he was wrongfully convicted?”

“He confessed, and from what I can gather, he’s enjoying the notoriety that comes with this kind of shit. Tilly doesn’t think it’s him, though.”

“What are the cops saying?”

“I haven’t spoken to any, but from what the guys found out before I left, they think she’s imagining things. As far as they’re concerned, they have a guy, he confessed, case closed. That’s why she has a security team and me watching out for her.”

He whistles. “Nothing worse than cops with narrow minds. We’re supposed to follow the evidence, not shape the evidence to fit the suspect. How’s she doing with it all?”

I blow out a frustrated breath. “For the most part, she’s doing okay. She ventured out for the first time with me to the studio.”

“She trusts you.”

“Yeah.” I look toward the door as if I can see her.

“Have you thought about how all this will play out after you’ve caught this guy?” he asks quietly.

“I haven’t thought of much else. I know there is something there, something I can’t walk away from, or I’ll regret it for the rest of my life.”

“Did you grow a pussy while you were gone?” a voice chokes out.

I whip my head down and see Kellen holding the mask away from his face.

“You’re awake.”

“Nothing gets past you.” His eyes flicker for a minute before landing on Wade. “What happened? You’re not here to arrest me, right?”

Wade shakes his head. “Guilty conscious, Kellen?”

“Of course not. I’m practically a saint.”

“Patron saint of assholes, maybe,” Wade mutters before assessing Kellen. “What do you remember?”

“Callie’s mom, we were interviewing her…” He hesitates before frowning. “There was an explosion, and then nothing.”

“You took a pretty hard hit to the head.”

“That’s why I feel like I’ve been run over?”

“A bomb went off with you standing at the epicenter of it all. Docs found a small brain bleed. They went in and stopped it,” Wade tells him.

Kellen reaches up and finds his head has been shaved, and he curses.

“It will grow back. I’m just thankful you’re okay, and your head is as hard as it is.”

“What about the others? Is everyone else okay?”