Page 70 of Imperfect Saint
“I came home to find my girlfriend bloody and bruised, holding a gun on a man that tried to kill her, and you think thatnowis a good time to make me feel guilty for not bringing her to Vaughn’s for Sunday dinner yet?”
“Hey, if you’re feeling guilty then maybe you should’ve brought her to family dinner and then we wouldn’t all have to be meeting like this.”
Hunter groaned at the broad smile his pain in the ass little brother gave him. He wanted to strangle him almost as much as he wanted to hug him. Because as Vaughn started their way with a suited cop at his side, Hunter realized what Tyler was really up to.
Distraction.
If there was one skill his younger brother excelled at, it was certainly that. He was pretending none of this phased him. Giving Hunter hell about his girlfriend being pretty. Making him feel guilty by mentioning all of the Sunday dinners he could and should have brought her to. Tyler had been trying to distract him from the fact that Vaughn was standing across the room with the detective while the guy in the wrinkled suit questioned Millie.
“Ty?”
“Yeah?” His younger brother perked up, probably hoping for some sort of duty that would give him something to do other than fetch water and implement diversionary tactics.
“You’re an asshole.”
Tyler chuckled low and squeezed his shoulder as he pushed back to his feet, “You’re not even the first person to call me that today.”
“Mr. St. James.” The detective stopped in front of them, glancing nervously from one of them to the next to the next and back again as Hunter pulled himself up and stood as well. The young-looking detective wiped his hand on his slacks and then offered it, “Hunter St. James?”
“Yes, sir.”
“I’m Detective Keaton Brian. I’m told Sergeant Bellamy already took your statement?”
“Yes, when he first arrived but I can go through it again if you need me to.”
“That’s okay. We’ve taken Ms. Turner’s statement and it matches with what you gave Shawn. You arrived after she’d fought off Mr. Bell who broke into her apartment armed with a weapon and intent on inflicting bodily harm on her.”
“Bodily harm?” Hunter narrowed his eyes. “He came here to kill her.”
“Yes. Of course, that’s what I…” Detective Brian cleared his throat and then lowered his voice, “Have you been informed of what the first officers on the scene discovered downstairs?”
Hunter jerked his eyes from the detective to his brothers. Vaughn held his gaze but as per usual, his stony face gave nothing away. Tyler glanced away, looking over his shoulder towards Millie and then down at the ground, anywhere but at Hunter.
He frowned, “Apparently not.”
“It wasn’t in your statement but I didn’t want to assume you didn’t see it…”
“What are you talking about?” He pressed when the detective hedged.
“The first officers on the scene swept the lobby and found the body of a Ms…” Detective Brian looked at his notepad and sighed, “Ms. Kendra Elm behind the check-in counter. She’d been shot in the head at close range. Her body left where it fell. You didn’t notice anything strange when you came in downstairs?”
Hunter gaped at the detective as the words processed. Kendra. Dead. Shot. Downstairs. He shook his head automatically and then forced himself to stop and think.
What had he noticed downstairs? The lobby had been empty. He’d thought it was strange. But he hadn’t gone near the check in counter, because he’d gone straight to the elevator. If he’d gone by the desk first, would he have seen her? Could he have helped her? Maybe she’d…
It was Vaughn’s sudden and tight grip on his arm that jerked him back to the present, “She was gone the instant he pulled the trigger. There’s nothing you could have done.”
Hunter gave a short nod, both of understanding and gratitude. Vaughn slowly pulled his hand away. Hunter forced himself to take a deep breath and accept the truth for what it was.
He’d known that Joshua Bell came here to hurt Millie. He’d brought a gun and intended to kill her from the looks of it. But Hunter hadn’t thought for a second that the man was capable of killing someone just for getting in the way of his plan. By the time Joshua Bell reached this apartment, he’d already been a murderer. Adding Millie to his list would have been easy for him because she was the reason he’d come here in the first place.
“I…” Hunter struggled for words and finally shook his head, “No. I didn’t see her. I didn’t know. I…” He huffed out a rough breath, frustrated with himself for not trusting his gut downstairs when he’d realized something was off. “When I got here the doorman wasn’t at his spot and nobody seemed to be in the lobby. I thought it was weird but I chalked it up to them taking a break or catching them between shifts. I never thought… No. I didn’t know she was there.”
“The doorman, he was already gone when you arrived?” Detective Brian moved on with relative ease while Hunter still struggled for words.
“Yes. Is he dead too?”
“We can’t be sure yet. We haven’t tracked him down. He’s missing at the moment.”
