Chapter 3

THREE

POSSIBLY MURDERED ? Steph couldn’t process it. She moved the chair out of the way and motioned for Tate to help himself. Virginia Carson walked over to stand beside her. “What’s going on?” her coworker asked in a low voice.

“They’re investigating Brenda’s death.”

“They don’t think it was an accident?”

Steph shrugged. “Apparently there’s some evidence that warrants an investigation.”

“They’re going to want to talk to us, aren’t they?”

“Yes. Do you know anyone who had it in for Brenda? Because I sure couldn’t think of anyone.”

Virginia shook her head. “No, not really. I know she was acting a little weird over the last couple of days, but when I asked her about it, she just shrugged it off and said, ‘Family stuff.’”

Steph blinked. “What? I didn’t notice—Wait, yes I did. She was on the phone yesterday, and I overheard her say, ‘Not here. I’ll call you when I finish up with work.’ When I looked at her, she gave me a really strained smile and rolled her eyes like it was no big deal. So I didn’t think anything about it ... until now.”

“What makes that stand out to you?”

“It wasn’t so much the words as it was her tone. She sounded angry and resigned all at the same time.”

“Hmm ... guess we’d both better mention this. They’re going to talk to her husband and anyone else she had contact with just before she died.”

“And once we tell them about the phone call, they’re also going to want to subpoena her phone records,” Steph murmured.

Tate stepped back. “We’ll take her laptop and files and see what we can find.”

Cole laid a hand on her arm. “We have boxes in the car for this. I’ll be right back. Tate’s going to stay here with the desk.” He nodded to Tate and headed for the door. Virginia squeezed Steph’s hand and returned to her desk.

“So you’re James Cross’s sister,” Tate said.

“I am. How well do you know him?” she asked.

“I met him a few times while I was working patrol. He’s a stand-up guy and an excellent detective.”

She smiled. “Yeah. He is.” And Tate was going to be a good one too, if her instinct was correct. He had that look about him. Smart, observant, dedicated. Hunky. She cleared her throat.

Cole returned with the boxes, and he and Tate went through the desk. Surprisingly, Brenda didn’t have a ton of stuff in the drawers. Just office supplies that they promised to return. And a couple of books.

“Brenda was a big reader,” Steph said. “Loved all kinds of books. Fiction and nonfiction.” She pointed to Oliver Twist and The Old Man and the Sea . “Her favorites were the classics, but she loved contemporary stuff too.”

Tate smiled. “I actually liked Pride and Prejudice .”

“I’m impressed that you would admit that.”

He grinned and her lungs stuttered a moment. Focus, Steph. She gestured to the computer. “All of her client files will be on the hard drive,” she said. She handed him the paper with the laptop password. “We have backup copies on the server, of course, but I think you’ll need a warrant to access them.” He would know that. Duh. She ducked her head, hoping to hide the heat rising to her cheeks.

“Already gave that to your boss,” Cole said.

“Of course.”

Once they had everything they wanted, Tate nodded to her, his gaze lingering on hers. “Are you okay?”

She raised a brow. “No, not really, but thank you for asking.”

He frowned. “I know you have your brother and Cole, but if you need anything, feel free to reach out. Or if you think of anything else that might be helpful.” She told him about the phone call, and he nodded. “We’ll talk to Virginia and get the phone records from her work line and cell. Thanks.”

A memory floated back to her almost as quickly as it had faded only days earlier. “You know,” she said, “you’ll need to talk to her husband, but someone might have broken into their house a couple of weeks ago.”

Tate’s gaze sharpened. “What?”

“I just thought about it. Brenda told me about it the morning after it happened and brushed it off for the most part. She said it was her son sneaking back in after sneaking out . But she seemed shaken. Her German shepherd, Beau, pitched a fit barking and woke them all up, but if it was her son, he doesn’t bark when Mark comes in. That was the one thing that bothered her even though she caught Mark red-handed.” She bit her lip and shook her head. “She said she thought there might have been someone else outside but chalked it up to one of Mark’s friends.” Steph shrugged. “I don’t know if that’s important or not, but figured it wouldn’t hurt to mention it.”

“Absolutely. Thank you.”

Steph nodded and watched them go, then turned back to her desk, her mind unable to focus on work. Her attention kept straying to Brenda’s desk. She walked over and sat in the chair, her gaze traveling over the empty spaces where pictures of Brenda’s family had hung on the cubicle walls. “Oh, Brenda,” she whispered. Surely they’d left something of her friend. She opened the top drawer and glanced inside, feeling as gutted as the empty nook was. They really had taken everything. She pushed the drawer shut.

Only to have it resist sliding back into place.

She tried again and got the same result. With a sigh, she wiggled the drawer out and looked inside. Something had fallen into the space at the back.

“What in the world?” she whispered. Steph slid her hand into the opening and grabbed the small notebook. She started to slide the drawer back into its home when she noticed tape on the side of it.

Tape that matched the residue left on the notebook she now held. A notebook Brenda obviously hadn’t wanted found.

TATE LEANED BACK in his chair and fought the fatigue that threatened to pull him under. He could have happily put his head on his desk and fallen fast asleep, as it had been a long night and an even longer day. But he still had hours to put in before he could go home and find his bed.

“Go catch an hour nap,” Cole said from the door.

Tate blinked at him. “I’ll be all right.”

“No you won’t. I know you’ve been up way longer than you should, and if I have to trust you with my life, I want you to at least be able to see where to shoot.”

Heat crept into Tate’s cheeks. “Yeah, I guess I didn’t plan the timing of this very well.”

Cole waved his phone. “SWAT got a call to a scene. Take the time to rest while I’m gone. Brenda’s dead. Her case can wait an hour or two.”

Tate nodded. “Be safe.”

“You too.”

Cole disappeared toward the SWAT HQ and Tate smiled. One day that would be him. At least he hoped.

But sleep sounded good. If he didn’t rest, he wasn’t going to be any good to anyone. He hurried out to his Armada. It was an older model, but he loved the spacious vehicle and refused his family’s attempts to get him to upgrade. He aimed the SUV toward his apartment complex.

Fifteen minutes later, when he walked into his first-floor two-bedroom home, he made sure his phone was on ring, dropped into his recliner, and was asleep in almost an instant.