Midnight Lies: The Wildefire Series (27 page)

“Maybe I should introduce her to Blaine.”

“You’ve decided he’s in the clear as far as Cruz is concerned?”

“No. Not really. Even though his background checks out, it’s easy enough to create
a fake one these days. And that conversation we had about Florida. I don’t know … it
was kind of weird. Also, some of his questions regarding the agency make me think
he’s digging for information. But other than those things, he’s given no indication
that he’s anything other than what he says. And he’s been a complete gentleman on
our dates.”

“If we decide he’s in the clear, do you think you’ll continue to see him?”

“I don’t think so. I told him I’d like to see him again because I’m hoping he’ll reveal
himself, one way or the other. But if he’s not Cruz’s man, then it’s not fair to lead
him on.” She laughed, wincing at how raw it sounded. “Besides, going out with anyone
after Quinn would be like settling for cold grits instead of filet mignon.”

Even though she wasn’t all that sure of Blaine, she felt guilty. Comparing Quinn to
any other man was unfair. No one could measure up.

“So,” Savvy said casually, “when were you going to tell me that Bri is working undercover
in Cruz’s camp?”

Samantha sat frozen, staring at her sister. Speechlessness for her was a rarity, but
for the life of her, she couldn’t think of anything to say. And though Savvy was smiling,
Samantha saw the hurt.

Finally finding her voice, she hurriedly said, “Savvy, please don’t be upset with
me. I just didn’t want you to worry.”

“I know that, Sammie. But you have to understand, not knowing what’s happening to
the people I love the most in the world hurts much more than the truth.”

Samantha let go of a ragged breath. Hell, she felt like she’d lived a thousand years
today. Breaking up with Quinn and hurting her sister. “I’m so sorry.”

Savvy waved her hand. “Apology accepted. Just remember, when we agreed to this venture,
we said we were all in this together. Okay?”

“I promise I’ll never keep things from you again. So who told you?”

“In a roundabout way, Bri told me herself.”

“How’s that?”

“Zach was in the shower and had left his cellphone on the nightstand. It chimed with
a text message, so I picked it up. It was from Bri. She said you knew about her undercover
job but wanted to make sure that Zach knew about it, too, so he could help you cover
for her.”

“Uh-oh.”

“Yeah. Turns out he already knew about it.” She grinned. “At least
you
didn’t try giving me a lecture before you apologized. I got a three-minute ‘You shouldn’t
read other people’s text messages.’ ”

Laughing, Samantha hugged her sister. “I wish I could have seen your response.”

A slight flush appeared on Savvy’s cheeks. “He apologized in a most satisfactory way.”

Samantha snorted as she got to her feet. “Typical guy. He screws up and gets a treat
for it.”

“I’d say we both got a treat.”

“I’m going to take a shower. You need anything?”

“No.” She held up her cellphone. “Zach’s in the nursery, doing some painting. If I
need anything, I’ve been instructed to call.”

“You have a craving for anything for dinner?”

“Oh yes, I’m glad you asked.” She held up a list she’d apparently been thinking about
a lot. There were at least a dozen items scribbled on it.

Samantha took the list and winced at some of the unappetizing combinations of foods.
“You want all of these?”

“No, maybe just a few today and then tomorrow and so on.”

Samantha laughed as she opened the door. “I get the message.”

“Sammie?”

She turned back to her sister. “Yeah?”

“Quinn Braddock will come to his senses one day. Don’t give up on him.”

She gave her sister the best smile she could muster and closed the door. Giving up
on Quinn wasn’t the problem. It was Quinn who had given up on them.

“So you’re telling me a woman can get murdered in one of the best neighborhoods in
this city and no one, not the police or a private investigator, can find one damn
clue to lead to the murderer?”

“Sorry, Dr. Braddock, but that’s about the size of it. I understand if you don’t want
to keep me on the case.”

Private investigator Paul Haney had come highly recommended. Quinn had researched
the man, too. The PI had successfully handled some high-profile cases in Atlanta.
If anyone could find Charlene’s killer, he had hoped this man could. But so far, Haney,
like the Atlanta homicide detectives, had come up empty.

“What about the sketches of the men Charlene had been seeing?”

“We found all but one of the men. Apparently the unidentified man was someone new.
The neighbors didn’t recognize him as a regular visitor. The neighbor across the street
identified him as the man who came to Charlene’s house just minutes before you. I
believe this man was her killer.

“Both the police and I showed the mystery man’s sketch to everyone we could think
of. No one recognized him.”

Quinn couldn’t fault anyone for that. He had seen the sketch himself. The man could
have been one of thousands of men. There’d been nothing distinguishing about him.
Had that been the killer’s intent all along? Looking like no one in particular was
a great way to not be identified.

Who and why? Hell, he might never know.

“Your ex-wife didn’t have a lot of friends. She went to the gym four days a week,
the grocery once a week, and a beauty shop over on Sinclair Avenue twice a month.
None of those people had ever seen this man, either.”

“And all the other men had alibis?”

“Yeah. I think two marriages broke up over this. Charlene didn’t have a problem sleeping
with married men.”

There was a lot he could say about that, but he wouldn’t. Charlene was dead. There
was no point in discussing her lack of morals.

“What about the video of her memorial service? There were several men there.”

“They were all accounted for, too. I’m sorry … I just don’t know where else to turn.”

Quinn didn’t, either. He had come to Haney’s office on the off chance there was something
encouraging he could hold on to. Something he could take with him to the meeting at
the hospital to show that the dark cloud of suspicion would soon be lifted from him.
Even though he knew the PI would have called him if there had been a break in the
case, he’d had to give it a shot.

Standing, he shook the other man’s hand. “Don’t stop trying to find her killer. My
career may be shot here in Atlanta, but I’ll be damned if I plan to stay a suspect
the rest of my life.”

“Will do. And I’m sorry to hear about your career. People are a fickle bunch. As soon
as you’re cleared,
they’ll come to you in droves and swear they believed you were innocent all along.”

Maybe, but that didn’t help the here and now.

“Call me if you discover anything new.”

Haney nodded, but his grim expression said not to get his hopes up. Quinn closed the
door behind him, thinking that hope was about the last thing he had these days.

His mind on a myriad of issues he had to deal with, he was in his car and headed toward
downtown Atlanta before he even realized it. Good thing he could make this drive with
his eyes closed. Samantha had once told him he noticed everything, that he had an
eye for detail. Not today.

Sam
. He still couldn’t believe it was over. After all they’d gone through. All the distrust
set aside and all the apologies made and accepted, he had believed they were heading
in the right direction. Unfortunately her direction wasn’t the same as his.

He was stupid for not seeing this coming. Even when they’d first started dating and
he’d made that unromantic ultimatum that he wasn’t looking for anything long term
or permanent, he’d seen the doubt in her eyes. And why shouldn’t she doubt him? Sam
was a beautiful, intelligent woman. Any man would be incredibly fortunate to have
her as his wife. That man couldn’t be him.

He hadn’t told her about his earlier plans, before Charlene’s murder, of asking her
to move in with him. What was the point? Would her answer have been different then?
Would they have been living happily together, growing closer, if none of this shit
had happened? Who the hell knew.

He had hurt her again. How he hated that. The drive back to her home had been painfully
silent. After searching for and not finding anything remotely encouraging to fill
the silence, he had kept his mouth shut. Anything he said would have just made it
worse anyway. He couldn’t
give Sam what she wanted and she wouldn’t accept what he could offer.

Quinn pulled into the hospital parking lot and parked in a designated spot for doctors.
No doubt the last time he would park here. He had no illusions what would happen when
he walked through those doors.

He was glad to see Bob Dixon standing outside the front door, waiting for him. Having
his attorney with him was an added precaution. Hell, the way his life had been going
lately, maybe he needed to travel around with one. Another benefit of Bob’s presence
was his support. A friendly face in a sea of doubting Thomases was a welcome relief.

Smiling grimly, he shook Bob’s hand.

His friend looked equally grim. “You sure you want to do this?”

Bob had wanted him to fight it. Any other time, Quinn might have agreed, but he was
tired of it all. The suspicious looks, the whispers. The conversations that stopped
the minute he entered a room. He’d fought all of his life not to give a damn about
other people’s opinions. His parents had lived their lives with the opinion of others
as their guiding compass. He had been determined that would never happen to him. But
now when it came down to it, he had caved. Grim pragmaticism was his new reality.

Quinn opened the door. “Let’s get this done.”

She was being stalked. And they weren’t being very discreet about it, either. Everywhere
she went in Midnight, either Brody or Zach was there, too. It was getting damn irritating.

Pushing open the door to the police station, Samantha nodded at the thin, gray-haired
woman sitting behind the desk. Hazel Adkins was the police department’s dispatcher,
receptionist, and secretary.

“Hey there, Samantha. How’re you doing?”

“I’ll be doing just fine as soon as I give my brother-in-law a piece of my mind.”

“That’s going to have to wait, hon. He’s over at Tillie’s Hair Today. Somebody threw
a rock at the window last night.”

Since Tillie’s was her next stop, that worked out well. “Thanks, Hazel.” Turning to
the door, she took one step and ran straight into Brody James.

Glaring up at him, she snapped, “Stop following me.”

He raised a questioning brow. “That’s quite an ego you got there.”

“Oh, don’t even try to pretend with me. This town might be small, but there’s no reason
I should see either you or Zach every time I turn around. Now, tell me why.”

One thing she had always appreciated about Brody, he wasn’t one to beat around the
bush. In that way, he reminded her of Quinn.
No, don’t go there
.

And Brody didn’t disappoint her. Shrugging, he said, “Ever since your so-called accident,
we’ve been tailing you. Doesn’t hurt to be extra careful.”

She said quietly, “While I appreciate the concern, I’m a former cop. Since that happened,
I go nowhere without my gun. And I’m trained in self-defense. I’ve even taken down
men bigger than you. So please, give me some credit. Okay?”

“Bigger than me?” He grinned. “Didn’t know there
was
such a thing.”

Samantha had to laugh. Brody had such a good sense of humor. Why, oh why, couldn’t
she have fallen for him
instead of a commitment-phobic control freak who confused her at every turn and made
her toes curl at just the thought of him?

“I appreciate everyone’s concern, really I do. But I’m not going to go on any long
runs by myself or be caught in situations I can’t handle. We’ve got more than enough
issues on our plate here in Midnight. Babysitting me shouldn’t be one of them.”

“Heard and understood.” Big shoulders lifted in a slight shrug. “Just following orders.”

“Zach’s?”

“No, your sister Savannah.”

Samantha sighed. Of course Savvy would be worried. Her doctor had given her a clean
bill of health, assuring her that she and the baby were fine. And Savvy, being Savvy,
was just back to taking care of those she loved.

“I’ll talk to her.”

“I missed breakfast. Want to head over to Faye’s with me? My treat.”

Samantha recognized the invitation for what it was. Brody had asked her out twice
since Quinn left. She had turned him down both times. This was another invitation,
probably the last one he would make. And as much as she wanted to say yes in hopes
that eventually she would stop hurting, she couldn’t do that to him. Brody was a good
man and deserved a woman who would be totally focused on him and not using him as
a fill-in for another man.

“Can’t. I’m heading over to Tillie’s for a manicure. Gotta pick up my daily quota
of gossip.”

His smile one of regret and understanding, he nodded. “I’ll see you later, then.”

More than aware that Hazel had been eating up the conversation with both eyes and
ears, she hurriedly said goodbye and walked out the door and straight into another
man.

Irritated at her lack of attention, she forced her mouth to smile at Blaine Marshall.
He’d had to go out of town a couple of weeks ago and had canceled their date. Samantha
had been relieved. Now she wondered if she should give him the same kind of message
she’d just given Brody. Dating this man made little sense anymore. Even if he was
one of Cruz’s men, he wasn’t going to give up any information. There was no point
in pursuing an avenue of investigation that was producing no results. Their best bet
was to keep Lauren hidden until either the Miami police or Bri dug up enough information
to bury Cruz.