Page 38 of Only You and Me

“I think we need to spend some time talking about who this could be. Trying to dig through your memories and make a list. And I’d like to check phone records if you’ll agree to that.”

She simply nods.

We spend the next hour trying to map out what her week typically looks like, where she goes, whether she has had any unusual encounters at her gym or during any of her usual activities. She denies this.

“Okay. Any enemies?”

That gets a laugh out of her, but I’m not amused. “Oh. You’re serious.” She tries to hold back her smile. “I have no enemies.”

Then it strikes me. Christ, how could I forget the kid I arrested who had given her shit a few months ago? He lost his job because of her.

“What about that kid? The one who got fired because of how he talked to you? Have you heard anything from him?”

“Um, no. And I’m pretty sure he probably hates me. This person sounds like he loves me one minute and hates me the next.”

“Still, I’m going to follow up and see what he’s been up to.”

She rolls her eyes like I’m crazy.

“Any recent exes? Or guys you’ve turned down for dates?”

“No.” Mere seconds later, her eyes change, and I can tell she remembers something.

She spends the next five minutes telling me about her encounter at the Valentine’s Day fundraiser with a cop from Meadow Creek—the same one she danced with on New Year’s Eve. After hearing about the interaction with her and her crew from A shift, he quickly tops my list of suspects.

I glance at my notes. Because I pretty much always carry a notepad with me. A detective never knows when something will pop up that is pertinent to a case. “Anyone else? We’ve covered enemies, guys you’ve turned down. You haven’t dated recently and?—”

I sense Trina tense next to me and turn to her, lifting a questioning eyebrow.

“I didn’t say I haven’t gone on dates.”

I’m speechless—and somewhat worried she is seeing someone—for several long seconds. I try to wipe any emotions from my face. “Okay, um, can you tell me about that?”

“I went on a few dates with someone in early March. Before I… before we maybe got married. I figured it wasn’t right to keep seeing him in case we really were married, so I ended it. But it was amicable.”

“Is that the only reason you ended it?” It’s unprofessional as fuck, but everything in me needs to hear whether she’d still be with this guy if it wasn’t for Vegas.

She shrugs but doesn’t break eye contact with me. “Who’s asking? Detective Donley or Ben?” Her voice is soft, but her gaze is intense.

After a few seconds, I open my mouth to answer her, to tell her it’s one hundred percent Ben asking, but before I can, the blaring of an alarm on her phone interrupts the moment.

She jumps up out of her chair. “Shit! I’ve got to get to Emily’s. I’m helping her meet with her realtor today, then we’re having dinner.”

I stand as well. “Trina, we have to finish this. It’s important.”

“Not letting down my sister is more important. So, either we pick this up in a few days when I’m off again or…” She slams her mouth shut and bites on her lower lip as if to stop herself from speaking.

“Or what?” I ask.

Trina huffs, picks up her phone and types away, making me suspect she’s sending a text message. She stares at the phone for a minute after she finishes and when the phone dings to alert her to an incoming message, she reads it and then slips the phone in her pocket.

“Or what?” I repeat.

“Or you come with me, and we talk on the way. But either way, I’m walking out that door in three minutes, so…”

“I’ll come with you.”

Once we’re in the car, Trina spends ten minutes giving me the list of dos and don’ts for the time we’re at Emily’s. When we pull up in front of Emily’s house and I shut off the SUV, I turn to her.

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