Chapter Seven
“THEN LET’S BEGIN ,” Grant said, his hand tightening around Rayne’s.
“We’re holding up team training to talk to you.
” The detectives were dragging their heels on this.
What he wouldn’t give to have access to the police files on these cases.
He felt as though anything he said would condemn him or Rayne. Grant hated working in the dark.
“We appreciate your wholehearted cooperation,” Sanders said, his tone dry.
Maddox snorted. “Get on with it, boys. Just remember, if these questions go sideways, you’ll have to wait for their lawyer to join this meeting.”
Conner grimaced. “Yeah, we met Vince Hargrove this morning.”
Grant’s lips curved. Guess Vince had made an impression during the earlier interview. “What do you want to know?”
“The medical examiner estimated Mr. Rivers’ time of death to be between midnight and four this morning,” Sanders said. “Where were you during those hours?”
“In bed sleeping from midnight to 3:30 a.m. After that, I dressed, did some warm-up exercises, then hit the trail.”
Sanders’s gaze flicked to Rayne before returning to Grant. “Can anyone verify your alibi?”
“No. I was alone. However, I have a high-end security system that Fortress monitors 24 hours a day. I can ask a tech to pull the security footage and send you a copy.”
Conner stared. “You could have tampered with the footage.”
He shrugged. “Maybe. I’m sure your own computer experts can verify the footage isn’t doctored.”
“Fine.” Sanders leaned back in his chair. “We’d appreciate a copy of your security feed from ten last night until six this morning.”
“I’ll take care of it,” Maddox grabbed his cell phone to shoot off a text message.
“Thanks,” the detective said curtly. “Bowen, did you know Mr. Rivers was in town?”
“No, just like I didn’t know Selena was in town.”
“Do you know any reason they would be in Hartman?”
If he knew the answers to those questions, he’d have this case solved.
“I don’t know about Selena, but Dante was a big country music fan, especially of the group calling itself Three Rivers.
The members of the group are his cousins.
Anyway, they’ll be in concert in Nashville tonight.
Ardmore is only a few hours from here. This would have been a perfect opportunity to see his favorite group. ”
“Did Ms. Baker and Mr. Rivers know you moved to Hartman?”
“I didn’t tell them, but it wasn’t a secret. Word would have leaked around the squad room. I guarantee Dante knew.”
“That’s right.” Conner sneered. “You used to be a cop until you bailed to become a mercenary.”
“I bailed because I had a target on my back.”
“You’re a traitor to the badge, Bowen. You turned on a fellow cop.”
“That’s not fair,” Rayne protested. “Grant and his teammates risked their lives to unmask a dirty cop who planned to kill a high-ranking government official. When they returned to Ardmore, they were ostracized for doing their jobs and protecting innocent lives.”
Grant squeezed her hand to shut down her defense.
While he appreciated it, he didn’t want Rayne to make herself a more viable target for the Hartman detectives.
“Think what you want, Conner. I stand by my actions and decisions. I preferred not to take a bullet in the back from my backup when my partner and I were answering a call.”
“Have you talked to anyone from your old unit in recent weeks?” Sanders asked.
He shook his head. Grant and his teammates had discussed whether to keep in touch with their coworkers from the Ardmore PD. They’d opted to drop all contact except with their commanding officer.
Conner snorted. “Probably for the best. I doubt your squadmates would want to keep in touch.”
“Get back on task,” Maddox snapped. “Grant and Rayne are running out of time.”
“We could take this back to the station,” Sanders said evenly.
“You can try. You won’t get far with that tactic. I’ve already spoken to your lieutenant. He’s aware of the time constraint my operatives are under. He assured me of your full understanding and cooperation.”
The detectives stared.
Grant wanted to laugh but held it back. Wouldn’t win him any favors. The last thing you wanted to do was play chicken with Maddox. The boss won every single time.
Sanders turned his attention to Rayne. “What about you, Ms. Weatherly? Were you aware that Dante Rivers was staying at The Jade Hotel?”
“No.”
“Are you sure?”
“Positive.”
“Where were you from midnight to four this morning?”
“In bed asleep. And yes, before you ask, I was alone.”
“Do you also have a security system?”
“Of course. It’s mandatory for all employees of Fortress Security.”
“Does Fortress monitor your system as well?”
“Yes.”
“We want the footage from ten until six.”
“Already requested it,” Maddox said. “The footage should be here soon.”
Conner and Sanders turned back to Rayne. “Are you sure you don’t want to reconsider your answer, Ms. Weatherly?”
She blinked. “I do not. Why?”
“We believe you visited Dante Rivers in his hotel room not long before he died.”
“That’s impossible. I don’t know who visited Dante, but it certainly wasn’t me. My security footage will corroborate my alibi.”
“Security footage can be altered to fit your story.”
“Not by me. I’m not a computer geek. I can barely work my security system, much less manipulate it to cover my absence.”
“We have only your word for that.”
“It’s up to you to prove otherwise.”
Conner rolled his eyes. “You work for Fortress.”
“That’s been established already.”
“You know people who can create a loop so we would never know you left your home before you said you did.”
“I know a few people with those skills,” she admitted. “However, I didn’t ask anyone to help me cover my tracks because I had no reason to do it.”
“Again, we won’t be taking your word for that. We’ll judge the accuracy of the footage for ourselves.”
She inclined her head. “I wouldn’t expect anything less.”
“Clock’s ticking,” Maddox said, voice barely above a growl.
Sanders cast Maddox a sour glance before refocusing on Rayne. “What did you know about Ms. Baker and Mr. Rivers?”
“Nothing.”
Both detectives looked at her, skepticism clear in their eyes. “You’re dating Mr. Bowen and you know nothing about his former girlfriend?” Sanders asked.
“Our dating relationship is new.”
Conner frowned. “How new?”
“A few weeks,” Grant said. As far as he was concerned, he and Rayne had started dating during the undercover mission when they first met.
He hadn’t been interested in anyone else since he'd met Rayne. “Talking about former relationships wasn’t at the top of my to-do list. I’m more interested in cementing what we have together. ”
A quick knock on the door interrupted the question-and-answer session. “Come,” Maddox called.
One of the tech geeks stepped into the office with two flash drives. “This is the security footage you requested, sir,” the woman said and handed him the devices.
“Thanks, Bella.”
“Is there anything else I can do, sir?”
He shook his head. “Dismissed.”
“Yes, sir.” Bella exited the room and closed the door behind her.
Into the silence that followed, Grant said, “What was Dante’s cause of death?”
“You tell us,” Sanders snapped.
“Based on how Selena died, I’d say someone shot him.”
The detectives neither confirmed nor denied his statement. Figured. “Did anyone report a shooting?”
Conner and Sanders remained silent.
Again, no surprise, but he and Rayne didn’t have time to waste. Grant glanced at his boss. “We’re done here.” He stood and tugged Rayne to her feet.
“Wait a minute,” Sanders protested. “We haven’t finished asking our questions.”
“Really? Sounded like you had nothing else to ask, gentlemen. If you have a question you’re dying to ask, let’s hear it. Otherwise, Rayne and I have to go. We’re holding up our teams.”
The detective got into Grant’s face. “I don’t have a question, just an observation.”
“This ought to be good,” Maddox muttered.
Ignoring Maddox, Sanders said, “I think you and your girlfriend knew Ms. Baker and her boyfriend were in Hartman. You went to The Jade Hotel and confronted them. Things went bad, and you killed Mr. Rivers.”
Grant rolled his eyes. “Then I suppose I carried off Selena so she wouldn’t talk to the authorities, shot her off the road near my house, then called the Hartman cops to throw suspicion off myself, right?”
“You said it, not me.”
“If you really believe that, you and your partner don’t have a chance of finding the actual murderer.”
Rayne shook her head. “Your scenario makes little sense. Grant and I were both cops. Although I hate to make you more suspicious of us than you already are, we’re smart enough not to dump a body close to either of our homes.”
“Perhaps you’re just arrogant,” Conner drawled.
“Look in the mirror sometime, Detective Conner.”
Grant pressed his hand against Rayne’s lower back to get her moving. “Orders, sir?” he said to Maddox.
“Wait for me with your teams.”
“Yes, sir.” He escorted Rayne from Maddox’s office with the curses and protests of the detectives ringing in his ears. Grant shut the door behind him.
“I’m surprised we’re not in handcuffs right now,” Rayne murmured.
“Same. I wouldn’t rule it out, though. They just didn’t have the evidence to arrest us. That may change.”
“They won’t look for other perps, will they?”
“Doubt it. We’re the perfect patsies for whoever killed Selena and Dante.”
“I’m sorry about the loss of your….” Rayne stopped. “I don’t know what to call them. They were good friends.”
He grunted. “Until they weren’t. Although we parted ways in terrible circumstances, I didn’t wish ill will on either of them.”
“Even though they betrayed and hurt you?”
Grant inclined his head. “I couldn’t have said that two months ago. Now, their loss makes me sad, but I’m not devastated. Someone killed them, Rayne, and I intend to find out who did it and bring them to justice.”
“Will you let me help?”
“You didn’t know them.”
“It’s enough that you cared about them. They were important to you, so that makes them important to me now. Please let me help.” Rayne flinched. “As long as I’m not in jail,” she murmured as they approached the conference room where their teams waited.
“I won’t let that happen.” No way would he lose more time with her because the Hartman cops were taking the easy way out instead of looking for the real culprit.
Unfortunately, he understood why Conner and Sanders were looking so hard at them.
Most murder victims are killed by people they know.
In affairs of the heart, nothing burned hotter than love spurned or betrayed.
“You know that’s not how this works.” She sent Grant a pointed look. “If they cobble together enough probable cause, they’ll take another run at us.”
The detectives would do that anyway. Grant opened the door to the small conference room. Their teammates’ conversation fell silent. “Well?” Iona asked. “How did it go?”
“As you’d expect.” Rayne dropped into the chair Grant pulled out for her. “We’re lucky we’re not in handcuffs.”
“Like that, is it?”
“Did you expect anything less?” Grant settled into the seat next to Rayne. “We’re the logical choice for perps.”
“Except for the slight problem of you not being guilty,” Andre said.
“Except that.”
“So, what’s next?” Elias asked.
“We hunt for the actual killers in between training sessions.” Seth glanced at Riley. “Speaking of the hunt, Riley, why don’t you tell Grant and Rayne what you discovered while they were with the detectives.”
Grant already knew the news was bad. “Talk to me, Riley.”
“While we deployed to Mexico last week, apparently you opened three social media accounts and posted regularly about how unfairly you were treated by Selena and Dante. You also threatened to make them pay for what they did.”
He stared at Artemis’s computer genius. What social media accounts?
He didn’t have any. Special Forces soldiers did not spill their guts on the Internet.
That was a fast way to end up dead. Even if he had been foolish enough to want social media accounts, Fortress would have shut them down immediately, and he would have been hauled into Maddox’s office to endure a well-deserved lecture on security protocols for operatives.
“Anything else I was dumb enough to tell the world?”
“Early this morning, you posted one word. Avenged.”