Chapter Fifteen

Angel stepped from the shower, feeling a hell of a lot more relaxed than he had in a long time. Then again, it’d been a long time since he’d had Mia in his bed, and apparently, she was the cure for the tension he’d been carrying.

The sex had been amazing. So had the time afterwards when they’d slept some more, followed by some lounging around in a bed until the sun had come up.

That’d been followed by another round of sex.

It’d been equally amazing, but it had come to an end because they both needed to get up, get dressed, and dive back into the investigation.

Because there was a killer still a loose.

A killer who might hire more thugs like the two that Angel had killed the day before. Those two were definitely out of the picture, but until they learned who’d aimed those assholes at Melanie, RJ, Mia, and him, they were all treading dangerous waters.

Maybe Birdie, too.

Well, unless Roger had been the person who’d hired McBride and Crawford. If Roger had indeed done that, then he would make sure Birdie was safe. It would also point to Birdie having been Kenton’s killer if Roger was indeed going to these lengths to make sure no one could incriminate her.

He toweled off, glancing through the reports that he’d had loaded on the monitor in the bathroom, and he took in the scent of coffee, bacon, and some kind of bread. Obviously, Mia had finished the work she’d needed to do and was making breakfast.

The work was the reason they hadn’t showered together. She’d gotten some paperwork from her boss that she had needed to take care of, and while the heat often made them do stupid things, both of them knew that if they got into the shower together that they’d have more sex. While that very much appealed to his body, Angel had known it was time to focus on work.

There was nothing in the reports that he hadn’t already read. There were still no other links between McBride and Crawford and anyone else connected to Kenton. However, the cops had verified with Melanie’s foster parent friend that Melanie had indeed visited while the then teenagers had been there. And the friend recalled something else.

That Melanie had taken McBride’s cell number because he’d expressed an interest in doing some yard work for him to earn extra money. Melanie had then recalled phoning McBride once but claimed they’d never been able to work out a date and time for him to do the work.

That contact, even though it was just one call, didn’t look good for Melanie. So did the fact that she’d been in a physical altercation with Kenton on the night he’d likely been killed. And then, there was the biggie. She hadn’t volunteered to the cops that she was Kenton’s birth mother.

All of that led to one big assed mess for Melanie, and while it twisted at him to even consider it, Angel figured it was enough for the cops to issue a warrant for her arrest.

Of course, the cops could do the same to Birdie since it’d been her blood on the knife. But Roger was likely calling in favors and doing other outright illegal shit to keep her out of jail.

He dressed and made his way to the kitchen. Yeah, breakfast all right. Bacon, omelet, and toast. All served by the woman that he…

Angel stopped. Because the l-word had nearly flown into his head. Unlike some, he wasn’t opposed to it, but Mia and him simply hadn’t gone there when they’d been teenagers. They’d spent plenty of time together. That had included lots of sex. But there had never been an exchange of them saying I love you .

Best to keep it that way.

Just being with her was distraction enough without adding falling in love to the mix.

Smiling a smile that made him want to do the same, she went to him, and still holding a spatula, she kissed him. She tasted of coffee and smelled far better than anyone should.

“Morning,” she greeted, kissing him again.

Angel was about to forget everything he’d just thought about distractions and deepen the kiss, but his phone rang. He scowled but knew he’d have to take it because the video call was from Ruby. As he’d done the night before, he put in on the monitor.

And he immediately cursed when he got a look at Ruby’s expression. “What’s wrong?” Angel asked.

“Dwight is on the other line and wants to talk to you. Actually, he insisted on meeting with the two of you face to face, but I assured him that wasn’t going to happen.”

Good. Because Angel didn’t intend for that shitbag to be anywhere near Mia.

“Why does he want?” Angel pressed.

Ruby sighed. “Dwight claims he remembered something about the night Kenton disappeared, but he refuses to tell me. He says he’ll only spill to the two of you. Personally, I think this could be a total time waster.”

“Yeah,” Angel agreed. “Or he might want to try to hit us up again for money.” He paused. Then, cursed again. “Still, he might have something useful. Did he say why he didn’t take this revelation to the cops?”

“Said he didn’t trust the cops. That might be true,” Ruby muttered. “Might be. But my bet’s on the money. He could even work it as a blackmail angle, in that he remembered something that he’ll spill, or forget, for the right price.”

Angel could definitely see it playing out that way, and he almost wished he could see the man’s face to try to figure out if anything he said was the truth. But even a video call could be risky since Dwight might use it to determine something about the layout of the house.

Hell, he could use it as a distraction to launch another attack.

And that had Angel debating if he should just tell Dwight to go straight to hell. Still, there was that slim chance that the man could indeed give them some new information that would help with the investigation. There was an equally slim chance that Dwight might say something to implicate himself in Kenton’s death and the attacks.

Not intentionally.

But sometimes, if the right emotional buttons were pushed, a person could end up saying the wrong thing.

And that was the reason he gave Ruby the nod. “Transfer the call. No video. But I’ll put it on speaker so Danno can record it.”

“Okay,” Ruby said, “and if it’s all right, I’ll be listening in as well. So will one of the techs. I want the call traced in case…well, in case Dwight is somewhere he shouldn’t be.”

Yes, somewhere like near Angel’s house.

He wanted to know that as well.

“Listen in,” Angel assured her. “Do the trace. Danno,” he tacked onto that, “record the call and make sure the house is secure.”

Of course, that last part was overkill since Angel knew the place was already as safe as it could possibly be. Now, he had to hope it would be safe enough to prevent someone from coming after Mia and him again.

After Ruby signed off, the monitor went blank, and a couple of seconds later, Dwight came onto the line.

“Angel,” the man greeted, and just the sound of his voice set Angel’s teeth on edge.

“What did you remember?” Angel demanded. He didn’t want to waste time dealing with this asshole.

“I, uh, wanted to talk to Mia and you about that in person.”

“Not gonna happen. What did you remember?” Angel snarled.

Dwight huffed. “Well, if you’re going to act like that, I’ll just keep it to myself.”

“Fine. Then, this conversation is over,” Angel growled, and he was prepared to hang up. As he’d anticipated though, Dwight stopped that from happening.

“Wait,” Dwight snapped. “It doesn’t cost a damn thing to be civil, and I’m trying to help you out here. I’m trying to save Mia and you from having your asses thrown into jail.”

“From what I understand, your ass has a much higher chance of landing in jail than ours. Spill what you have, or quit wasting my time because I’m hanging up in three.”

Angel started to count, and he’d barely made it to two when Dwight blurted, “I think I know who killed my boy.”

“I’m listening,” Angel assured him, and he saw on the monitor that the tech had managed to trace the call. Dwight was in San Antonio, nowhere near Angel’s house. Of course, that didn’t mean the man’s hired guy wasn’t around.

“It’s about RJ,” Dwight said after a long pause. “A couple of hours after Kenton and I had our…disagreement.”

“The fight that RJ broke up,” Angel supplied.

“Yes,” Dwight confirmed as if the word was profanity. “Anyway, after I told RJ about Kenton being Melanie’s kid, he threw me out. I left but then drove up the block and parked, waiting in case Kenton came out and wanted to patch things up with me.”

“And did he?” Angel asked.

“No. And I fell asleep while I was trying to figure out what to do. When I woke up, it was dark, and I saw RJ. I don’t remember the time, but now that I think about it, this would have been when he said he was at his folks’ house. He wasn’t. Well, not the whole damn night anyway. Because I saw him get off a city bus at the end of the block and walk to his place.”

“And you think what—that RJ went inside and killed Kenton?”

“Well, it makes sense. Earlier that day, RJ had learned his wife had had a kid she hadn’t told him about. He had to have been upset, but he still left and went to his parents.”

Maybe RJ had done that to give himself some thinking time, something that surely would have been needed. But it was possible RJ hadn’t told the truth about when he’d come home. Then again, the more likely scenario was that Dwight was making all of this up.

“What do you want?” Angel repeated.

“That depends,” Dwight answered.

Angel groaned. “On what?”

“On how important this info is if you want to keep it from the cops,” the man finished.

Shit. There it was. The pitch for money.

Mia groaned and shook her head. Her expression mirrored the disgust that Angel felt for this piece of shit.

“Let me remind you that if you’re about to ask to be paid for your silence, that’s blackmail, along with a side order of obstruction of justice. The cops might add other charges when I tell them about this conversation—”

Dwight ended the call.

Angel wasn’t surprised by that. Nor was he surprised when Ruby rang in again on a video call. He answered, and she appeared on the screen.

“I’ll talk to RJ to see if there’s any truth in what Dwight just claimed,” Angel let her know. “And if he did go back to the house earlier than he said, I’ll encourage him to go to the cops.”

Ruby didn’t nod, didn’t give him a confirmation that it was the right approach. That’s when Angel saw there was dread written all over her face.

“Bad news,” Ruby murmured. “While you were on the phone with Dwight, I got word that Melanie was rushed to the hospital.”

Hell. “What happened?” Mia and he asked at the same time.

“Melanie attempted suicide,” Ruby explained after a short pause. “She’s alive, for now, but Angel, it doesn’t look good.”

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