Chapter 34

chapter

thirty-four

Gage watched the man walking toward them.

Was this guy the reason Nia was so shaken? What sense would that make? It wasn’t as if Nia had ever been on the wrong side of the law. But that detective they’d run into earlier had also seemed to make her off-balance.

There was clearly a story here.

The man didn’t bother to introduce himself. Instead, he went straight to Nia and paused in front of her—standing a little too close. At least from Gage’s perspective.

The guy dismissed the cop taking their statement.

His eyes remained on Nia, an almost possessive look to them. “Long time no see.”

Nia raised her chin, her body still tense. “It’s been a while.”

“This isn’t the type of establishment I thought you would frequent.” His gaze quickly scanned the place .

Nia shrugged, almost unnaturally calm. “Trying something different.”

The man’s gaze flickered to Gage, and he lifted his chin in a stiff nod. “Police Chief Mario Cruz.”

“Gage Pearson,” he responded with an equal amount of standoffishness.

Gage didn’t know why, but he didn’t like this guy or the vibes he gave off.

“Did you see anything that might help us identify the shooter?” the chief asked.

“I heard the gunshot, and then it was chaos as everybody started to run,” Nia said. “I glanced around, trying to figure out what exactly had happened, but I didn’t see anything.”

Cruz turned to Gage. “And you?”

“The same,” Gage said. “It was chaos in here. But I didn’t see the shooter.”

Cruz studied Gage another uncomfortable moment. “You from around here?”

Gage shook his head. “Wichita.”

“And what brings you to Miami?”

“A friend asked me to come and visit, and so I did.”

The chief’s eyes seemed to be calculating something, and then he let out a grunt. “You’re Rob Lesner’s friend, aren’t you?”

“I am.”

“So you come to town, and Rob dies, and now you’re here, and Darius is shot?”

Gage bristled. “Are you trying to imply something? ”

“Just an observation.” Lasers seemed to shoot from the chief’s eyes.

“It sounded a little bit like an accusation,” Gage shot back.

The chief’s eyes narrowed as if he didn’t like that response. Then he looked back at Nia. “And how do the two of you know each other?”

Gage wanted to tell the man it was none of his business. But he’d already gotten on the chief’s bad side, and he knew he should back off. For Nia’s sake.

“We met because of Rob,” Nia answered, her voice light but distant. “We were both shocked to learn what had happened to him.”

“So shocked that the two of you decided to hang out and come to a nightclub together?”

Gage could see where their presence here could look suspicious. But he didn’t want the chief to know they were looking into Rob’s death. There was no need to put that information out there. It wouldn’t help the situation any.

“I guess you don’t know who did this?” Nia expertly maneuvered around the chief’s question.

“We’re trying to figure it out. But we think it may have been this guy.” Cruz pulled out his phone and held up a picture.

Gage’s eyes widened when he saw a photo of . . . Cormac.

Before Nia realized her reaction, she sucked in her breath.

She couldn’t believe Cormac’s face was there.

She thought the man might be up to something. But shooting Darius and running?

That hadn’t been on her radar.

The man had seemed nice enough when she’d talked to him in the past.

“I guess you know him?” Mario stared at Nia as if trying to catch her in a lie.

She hated that condescending tone in his voice. Hated the way he looked down on her. Hated the way he lied.

But right now, she needed to remain composed. The last thing she wanted to do was to show any weakness around him. Mario would only exploit it if she did.

“Cormac worked with Rob,” she said. “I didn’t know the man personally, but I’ve heard Rob talk about him. I did meet him briefly once.”

Mario grunted. “What exactly did Rob say about him?”

“Not much, like I said.” Nia shrugged. “They seemed to like hanging out with each other. And Cormac was more the business side of things whereas Rob was the creative side. I did hear . . .”

She paused and wondered how much she should say.

“What did you hear?” Mario asked.

Nia licked her lips before saying, “I did hear Cormac was out of town. As you can imagine, I’m surprised to hear you think he did this.”

“Who told you he was out of town? ”

“I believe Rob may have mentioned it in one of our conversations. Either way, I haven’t seen him around since Rob died so I just assumed that was accurate.” Nia narrowed her gaze with confusion. “But why would Cormac do this?”

“Knowing Darius?” Mario gave a pointed look. “Probably drugs.”

Nia was surprised Mario had admitted that much. But it sounded like Darius might have a pretty regular relationship with the police.

It wouldn’t surprise her if someone like Darius was into drugs either. He gave off those vibes.

Mario looked at them both again before stepping back. “I’ll be in touch if I have more questions.”

“Are we free to go?” Gage touched Nia’s elbow as if ready to direct her out of here.

Mario narrowed his eyes at them before nodding. “Yes, you’re free to go. But watch yourself.”

Watch yourself? Was that a friendly warning?

Or was it a threat?