Page 139 of Liar's Point

“I thought you went home,” he said.

“Gimme a break.”

Emmet glanced around the parking lot. “You say she left here around ten? That’s an hour ago.”

“He’s eavesdropping,” Nicole said in a low voice. “This guy lives in one of the first-floor units with his girlfriend. He told me he was out here smoking when Cassandra came out and loaded up her car.”

Emmet frowned. “She loaded it?”

“He says she put a duffel and a couple grocery bags in the trunk, then went back inside for a backpack. Then she left.”

“Damn it.” Emmet raked his hand through his hair and glanced around. “She was supposed to meet Alex at his office at ten o’clock, but she never came.”

“You think she skipped town?”

Emmet shook his head. “No idea.” His gaze settled on her.

Nicole stared up at him.

“You were right,” he said.

“About?”

“She’s key to this whole thing. She thinks her husband has something to do with the murders.”

“Why?”

Emmet’s phone buzzed and he pulled it from his pocket. “Yeah?” He listened a moment. “Yeah, I’m here with Nicole. No luck. A neighbor saw her packing up her car this morning.” He glanced back at the apartment building. “Okay, we’ll head over there next.”

He hung up the phone. “Come on. I’ll drive.”

***

Emmet sped toward the Banyan Tree as Nicole sat beside him, scrolling through text messages. He’d known she wouldn’t go home and sit around waiting for updates—not when everything they’d been working on was finally coming to a head. Even injured, she was physically incapable of staying on the sidelines.

“Owen said he just got there, and the place looks closed,” Nicole reported.

Emmet glanced at her in the passenger seat. With that clumsy boot on her foot, he was worried about her involvement right now. He worried about her all the time anyway, but her injury ratcheted things up to a whole new level.

She glanced at him. “What?”

“Nothing.”

They had some talking to do, but now definitely was not the time.

He thought about her constantly. The situational awareness that had been drilled into him throughout his police training applied to her specifically, almost like she was an extension of himself. There was no one else who commanded so much of his attention, and she’d been dead-on when she’d accused him of treating her differently from Owen and Adam and everyone else. He was always aware of her location, her activities, her level of risk. He knew she saw his protectiveness as an annoyance, like a big brother she didn’t need, but the irony was that his feelings toward her were anything but brotherly.

Emmet whipped into the parking lot, which was only half-full. Most of the cars looked to be people coming and going from the doughnut store.

“Over there,” Nicole said, pointing to the police unit parked beside a white SUV.

Owen and Adam stood on the sidewalk in front of the Banyan Tree talking to a woman with a long blond ponytail.

“Is that Reese?” Nicole asked.

“Looks like.” Emmet pulled into a space and glanced at Nicole. “You need a hand?”

“I’ve got it.”

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