Page 8 of The Lost Bones
“It saidYou’re welcome, Mackenzie. I highly doubt this person wants to hurt her.” Jenna rolled her eyes. She and Mackenzie had always clashed.
“Clearly this person is a psychopath and has access to Mack,” Sully said. “I’ll arrange for round-the-clock security.”
“Why is everyone talking about me as if I’m not here?” Mackenzie grumbled. “I’m not consenting to this.”
“Your boss’s orders.” Sully frowned, his unibrow dipping low like he meant business.
Mackenzie opened her mouth to argue, but Rivera spoke up warily. “Perhaps, Detective Price, you should sit this one out.”
“What?”
“You are involved in the case.”
“I have no personal involvement,” Mackenzie argued, not believing what she was hearing. “I don’t understand why I need to stay away from it.”
“We need more information on why you were targeted,” Rivera replied, not budging. “There are plenty other cases for you to work on while we make progress here. I mean, this is Lakemore. You can keep yourself busy.”
Mackenzie fisted her hands next to her thighs. “But I can be helpful, and Nick—”
“Detective Blackwood can work this case without you. He can multitask. We all do.” The steel in Rivera’s voice was unmistakable.
Mackenzie looked around the room helplessly for backup. Jenna was inspecting her nails. Sully had his arms crossed and his eyes shut. She pinned Nick with a hard stare. When he didn’t show any reaction, she felt anger bubble inside her.
“Thanks a lot,” she muttered, and shot out of her chair, leaving the room in a huff.
She marched past Austin, who had been standing outside watching the proceedings intently. He didn’t follow her. She went back to her office and fell onto her chair, her pulse racing. Ned and Dennis, the other detectives in the unit, eyed her curiously, but she ignored them and fiddled with her watch to calm herself.
Minutes later, Nick returned to the office, his tie askew and sleeves rolled to his elbows. “Do you want to go for a walk?”
“Oh, now you want to talk?” she snapped.
He ran a hand through his hair and sighed. “Please?”
Realizing that people around were beginning to take notice of the tension between them, she followed him out to the fire exit. The staircase in the back was rudimentary, with gray steps, off-white walls and high ceilings making sounds echo.
“Where the hell do you get off?” Mackenzie asked sharply. “First getting me a tail and then not saying anything when I’m cast out.”
“I’m trying to protect you. Tell me that message didn’t scare you. You would have done the same for me.”
She hesitated, but clenched her jaw. “I didn’t ask for protection. I’m also a trained officer, just like you. I’m not some damsel in distress who—”
He scowled. “Oh, come on, Mack. Last time you kept things to yourself, you almost got killed in your own home.”
She felt that pressure on her chest again. The hands around her throat. The blood gushing out of her thigh. She blinked and composed herself. “I’m not keeping anything from you. We all know and saw what happened!”
Nick’s coal-black eyes drilled into her brown ones. “You have a habit of being on your own. I get that. I respect your independence. But not when your pursuit of it puts you in harm’s way.”
“And how am I your business?”
Something clouded his face for a brief moment. Like Mackenzie’s question had both surprised and hurt him. But he just scoffed. “There’s a concept known as looking out for each other. We can go over it later.”
She rolled her eyes. Before she could press further, the door to the stairwell opened and Peterson popped his head in. “Here you are. We got a missing woman.”
SIX
Mackenzie watched as the middle-aged man with a receding hairline, saucer-like eyes, and a drum of a belly fidgeted and squirmed in the waiting area. Two young boys ran around in the parking lot. He kept looking over at them, biting his nails.
“Mr. Montenegro?” Mackenzie asked.
