Page 95 of Triggered By Love
She had to pull herself together. Ivanna lay in a hospital bed. She’d be an asshole to withhold information. It would come out anyway, and if she got lucky, he wouldn’t get around to spilling her irrelevant secrets.
That was it. Her stuff was old news and not the least bit related to what he’d been up to—posing nude and taking money for performing.
“I can do this.” Avery spoke more to herself than to the detective in the room. Perching on a barstool, she propped her elbows on the counter.
Jason deftly swept up the spilled beans. He bent over to scoop them into the dustbin, treating her to a mouthwatering view of his backside. At least her hormonal response wasn’t dead. It was strangely amplified, the only part of her still able to salivate.
She swallowed and cleared the tightness from her throat. “The man in the painting is Larry’s dropout brother, Harvey Leach.”
Jason emptied the dustbin and jerked upright. “Older or younger?”
“Younger, but not that much. They were mistaken for twins growing up.”
“What does he do?” Jason steered Avery away from the kitchen and seated her on the sofa. He took out his notebook.
“He’s an artist’s model and backup dancer for Broadway shows. He was a disappointment to his father—too lazy to finish college and has no common sense or business mind.”
“You don’t seem worried about him,” Jason remarked. “Do you think he and Ivanna had an argument?”
“He’s not involved with her, and he’s utterly harmless. I can’t picture him swatting a fly. Spends all his time working out his dance routines and exercising.” Her voice was too wooden. Hopefully, she didn’t sound rehearsed or void of emotion.
“Which means he’s physically fit and has stamina.”
“That’s a given,” Avery agreed. “He’s always been athletic."
“Enough to outrun me,” Jason muttered, scribbling fast. “He might be the man who tried to run you down. You still think he’s harmless?”
A shockwave vibrated through Avery and sent her head reeling. “He fits the description. But I can’t picture him doing anything serious. Maybe Matt staged it.”
“Or Alida.” Jason gripped Avery’s upper arm. “Now you see how dangerous this publicity game is?”
She bit her lip and nodded. Her hand reflexively went up to the bruise over her eye. “That was reckless of him, if he did it. I can’t believe Matt or Alida would go this far.”
“Then we’re back to Harvey being the killer.”
“Or someone else.” Avery couldn’t reconcile the Harvey she knew with a man who would mow down pedestrians in cold blood. “There are plenty of men in Manhattan fitting his height and weight. As for the aviator sunglasses, I find it strange he would wear something so unfashionable.”
“Fashionable or not, we should definitely question him,” Jason said in a firm, no-nonsense voice.
“I should go with you,” Avery volunteered. “He’s prone to tall tales and misinformation.”
Jason’s eyebrows narrowed “What are you so eager to hide from me?”
“Nothing.” Her voice had an unfortunate tendency to squeak when anxious. “He’s an unreliable witness.”
“Let me make that determination.” He tapped the sofa’s arm with his pen. “We need to talk about your relationship with the Leach family. All of it.”
Avery’s throat tightened, and her hand formed a fist in front of neck. “None of them would hurt Ivanna. She’s an artist and does sketches for the professor. I mean, she’s not someone who’d threaten them.”
Jason opened his backpack and extracted the evidence bag with Ivanna’s notebook. “This should be a treasure trove for the detectives. If they’re into anything illegal or she’s blackmailing them.”
“Those notes might be the costs of whatever costume or mask she’s making for them.”
Jason leaned back on the sofa and stretched, cracking his shoulder joints. “Make me that coffee, because we’re in for a long night. You’re going to give me an infodump on everyone you know connected with Ivanna.”
“How do we know they had anything to do with it?”
Jason fixed her with his classic pinning stare. “That’s what we aim to find out and eliminate.”
