Page 162 of The Darkest Chase

“No idea who you’re talking about,” I grumble, stuffing Lucas’ folder into my desk as I stand. “But I think your 2D boyfriends are getting lonely. Those moans sound pretty impatient.”

Mallory doesn’t fluster easily.

She just gives me a flat look before turning her nose up and swiveling back to her desk.

No time to waste.

I straighten my uniform, resisting the urge to check my hair and my buttons in the station bathroom, and head out to meet Talia.

Ho.

Lee.

Shit.

I stare at the camera sitting in the middle of the kitchen table in Talia’s loft.

It’s a Nikon D3500. The black nylon camera strap with its woven green and yellow inner padding has the name BRIAN NEWCOMB stitched into it, plain as day.

In the silence, Talia fidgets with her hands, watching me nervously.

She looks like a doll today, wearing a knee-length off-the-shoulder dress in some sort of pale-lavender gauze with a flared skirt. Her red hair hangs down around her shoulders in a curtain of fire.

She must’ve changed and prettied up before I came over. I know damn well she wouldn’t let Xavier see her with those bite marks blooming on her shoulders.

She’s pale with uncertainty, too, moving back and forth from foot to foot, biting at her strawberry mouth until it’s swollen.

“Don’t worry. I used tissues to pick it up,” she says uncertainly. “And gloves when I got home. So I wouldn’t leave my prints on your evidence.”

“We don’t know if this is evidence just yet,” I say, but my heart beats faster. “How did you get this?”

“Xavier—” Her voice cracks. She coughs anxiously, then tries again. “Xavier’s office. I, um… I might have screwed things up with Joseph Peters. I was pretty direct, but he knew what I meant. He got all defensive and shut me down. But he left me alone in the office while his boss was on a call, so I did some sleuthing. Found that in his desk drawer. I also took photos of his phone records. He didn’t even notice anything was messed with. He seemed really mad about some shipping issue, though, and he barely talked to me before sending me home.”

Fuck.

I don’t even know how to feel right now.

On one hand, this could be everything.

On the other, it could be bad goddamned news.

If Xavier realizes Talia took this, who knows what he’ll do.

In my stunned silence, Talia’s face falls.

“…I screwed up, didn’t I? I thought just, y’know, with Xavier having the camera, that’s incriminating, right?”

“No.” I shake my head. “It’s circumstantial. There are a million reasons why he could have a dead hiker’s camera that have nothing to do with him being connected to Mr. Newcomb’s death. A judge would toss out any accusations in a heartbeat.” While that crestfallen look on her face deepens, I pull the nitrile gloves I always carry around on duty out of my pocket and snap them on. “Now, what’s on this camera might be evidence. You did good. But you also took one hell of a risk, Talia. I don’t want you going up to that house again and digging around. Not until this is sorted.”

She’d started to brighten halfway through my speech, but then she frowns.

“But I have to. Won’t it seem suspicious if I start avoiding him?”

“I don’t care,” I snap with a ferocity that surprises me. She recoils. I stop, sighing. “Sorry. Look, I just don’t want him hurting you if he suspects you’re snooping.”

“I know how to run,” she points out weakly, trying to smile.

I give her a hard look and pick up the camera, turning it over to look at the digital screen on the back and activating the interface.

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