Chapter Nine
Bree just wanted to stop feeling as if she were about to jump out of her own skin. She wanted her heart rate to go back to normal. She wanted to stop being afraid for her precious little boy.
But none of that was likely to happen anytime soon.
She was back at the ranch with Luca, Woodrow and her mother. Away from the fire and smoke-filled parking lot. Away from immediate danger. But nothing felt safe right now.
Probably because it wasn’t.
If their attacker could come at them in the parking lot of the sheriff’s office, then he or she could come after them here. Luca obviously understood that was a possibility because the ranch was on high alert with the security system activated and ranch hands patrolling the grounds.
Bree watched the laptop screen as Duncan was finishing up his interview with Tara. Not at the sheriff’s office. That entire area had been evacuated so when they’d seen Tara running from the fire, Duncan had gone after her, caught her and ultimately taken her to an office in city hall. He’d then set up a laptop to do a live feed of the interview so Luca, Woodrow, Joelle and Bree could watch from the ranch.
So far, Tara wasn’t saying anything Bree wanted to hear.
“I didn’t start that fire,” Tara insisted for the umpteenth time. “I told you that I was walking to my car that I’d parked up the street. I saw the fire and ran.”
“We’ve requested the camera feed from the bank,” Luca muttered to Bree while he stood right next to her. Right next to her had been his default position since they’d escaped the fire.
And Bree wasn’t complaining.
As bad as her frayed nerves were right now, she knew they’d be even worse if Luca wasn’t there. Ditto for Gabriel. Even though the baby was asleep, she was holding him because she wanted him as close as possible.
“The angle of the bank camera won’t help with the parking lot,” Luca added, knowing that Tara couldn’t hear him, “but it might be able to confirm or disprove what Tara is saying.”
Bree considered the location of the bank, which was more than a block away from the sheriff’s office. It was the only security camera in the area. Still, they might get lucky and be able to see Tara’s movements. If she had indeed parked up the street, then it wasn’t likely she’d spilled that gasoline and ignited it. Well, not likely unless she’d spilled it before she’d ever parked on Main Street and then come into the sheriff’s office. It was possible she’d done just that, but it might be hard to prove unless Tara had left behind some evidence that pointed to her guilt.
Bree continued to watch as Duncan pressed Tara, trying to trip her up with different versions of the same question. But Tara was staying steady, insisting she was innocent.
Luca’s phone dinged with a text, and when he lifted it, she saw Sonya’s name on the screen. Ronnie’s conscious , the deputy texted. Doctor says no serious injuries but he’ll be admitted for an overnight stay.
Bree latched on to the “no serious injuries” part. They’d gotten lucky. With a fire of that size, all of them could have gotten burned, literally.
Luca texted back to thank Sonya for the update, but his phone dinged again before he could put it away.
“The tech picked up the memory stick and copied it,” Luca explained. “He just emailed me the bar receipts.”
Bree glanced at the laptop screen with the interview, then at Gabriel who was deep into his nap and would no doubt still be asleep for at least two hours. “Let me put him down in his crib, and maybe we can go over the receipts in the guest room.” That way, they’d still be able to watch Gabriel while they worked.
Luca took one of the laptops scattered around the room and told the others what they were doing. Woodrow assured him if anything came up in the remainder of the interview with Tara that he’d let them know. They agreed to do the same if they found anything in the receipts.
Bree and Luca made their way up the stairs to the guest room, which was now empty since Coral had already gone home. Bree welcomed the quiet. For a couple of seconds anyway, and then the flashbacks came.
Mercy, did they.
There was a whirl of images of the attack on the road, the shooting into the barn and the fire, all mixed with the memories of her father. It was a volatile combo, and her hands were already starting to tremble when she crossed the room toward the crib.
Luca set the laptop aside and steadied her by slipping his hands beneath hers, and together, they eased the baby onto the mattress. Gabriel stirred just a little but stayed asleep.
“Thank you,” Bree whispered. And it wasn’t just gratitude for helping her with this but also for what he’d done during the fire. “You put yourself in front of me again. You shielded me.”
“I’m a cop,” he said as if that explained everything. Maybe in his mind it did. Maybe he would have done that for anyone. After all, he’d run out into the parking lot to rescue Ronnie.
It was a bad time for her to make direct eye contact with him, but Bree found herself doing it anyway. As usual, things passed between them. Unspoken but still intense. Things always seemed intense between Luca and her.
Yes, the eye contact was a mistake, but she made it much worse when she stepped toward him. And into his arms. Luca pulled her to him, brushing a kiss on the top of her head. A kiss of comfort. So was the hug when he tightened his embrace. It was wrong to take this from him, but Bree couldn’t make herself back away.
She stayed there where it felt so safe. So right. The first part was the truth. The second, wasn’t. Luca and she weren’t together, and this was not only playing with fire, it was wrong. As if she were leading him on.
That gave her the steel to move back, and he eased his grip to let her do that. But it was another mistake. Because now they had the intense eye contact and the body-to-body touching. Definitely not good.
Bree felt the heat slide right through her. Of course, it did. There was always heat whenever she was around Luca. Heat and need. Another bad combo. Still, she stayed put, looking at him. Holding her breath.
Waiting.
Luca didn’t stay put though. He lowered his head and brushed his mouth over hers. This was not a gesture of comfort. No. This was about the fiery attraction. And she felt it. Felt it not only on her mouth but in every inch of her.
He pulled back, looked at her, no doubt gauging her reaction, and he muttered some profanity. She didn’t think his reaction was because he saw any objection on her face but because he probably saw the invitation she could feel her body sending out to him. An invitation that could complicate an already complicated situation.
Did that stop her?
No.
Bree moved in and kissed him. Really kissed him. Hard pressure of her mouth on his. Then, more. She was the one who deepened the kiss, the one who slid her hand around the back of his neck to pull him down to her.
Luca certainly didn’t resist. Just the opposite. He made a sound that came from deep within his throat, and he snapped her to him. Not that she could get much closer, but instead of merely touching, they were now pressed against each other. Like lovers.
Her body knew just how to react to the feel of his chest against her breasts. Everything inside her went warm and soft. Then, hot. Everything inside her pushed her to take more, more, more. She had no doubts, none, that Luca would give her that more, but there was another sound.
Gabriel whimpering.
That sent Luca and her flying apart, and both of them whipped their attention to their son. Gabriel stirred, stretching and making a face before he sucked at a nonexistent bottle and went back to sleep.
Luca and she stood there. Breaths racing. Heartbeats, too. She knew that because she could see Luca’s pulse on his neck. A neck she wished she could kiss. Heck, she wished she could do a lot of thing with Luca, but the timing was all off. Might always be off if she couldn’t set aside the horrible flashbacks.
“Saved by a whimper,” he muttered. Luca shook his head. Then, he surprised Bree by smiling. “I’m not sure I want to thank Gabriel for the interruption.”
He seemed to be waiting for her to agree. Which she did. That whole not being sure was front and center in her mind. But so was the heat. Since she didn’t want to give in to that heat, which might lead them straight to the bed, Bree motioned toward the laptop instead.
“The receipts,” she reminded him, keeping her voice at a whisper.
Luca nodded, sighed and picked up the computer. He took it to the small seating area in the corner, booted it up and set it on the table that was between the two chairs. The email was indeed there with the large attachment of the receipts. Bree’s heart dropped a little when she realized it was well over a hundred pages, and each page had at least two dozen transactions.
“These are for the three weeks before Brighton’s death,” Luca pointed out.
So, Manny had been thorough. Or it appeared he had been on the surface anyway. If he was the person who’d murdered Brighton and was now responsible for the attacks, then he might have turned over the receipts only because he knew they wouldn’t incriminate him.
“Neither Tara nor Manny have alibis for the attacks,” Bree said, “but we didn’t ask them where they were when Brighton was murdered.”
Luca nodded. “I’m sure Duncan will do that. If anything pops in their background checks, he’ll have cause to bring them back in for interviews. The same could happen if we get that warrant for their financials. If one of them held your mother captive for all these months, there could be a money trail.”
True, and that was a trail they’d have to find since neither Tara nor Manny would likely confess to something like that. Kidnapping and imprisonment were serious crimes that would carry long jail sentences. Ditto for the attacks. Added to that, if the kidnapping and the attacks could be linked to Brighton’s murder, then life with no parole could be doled out. Heck, even the death penalty.
First, they had to find evidence to prove their guilt or eliminate them as suspects. They probably weren’t going to be able to do that based solely on the receipts, but it was something that needed to be investigated.
“Email me a copy of the list,” she said, standing so she could get her laptop she’d had brought over from her house. “I’ll start at the bottom. You can start at the top.”
Luca pulled his computer onto his lap to send her the email. “Flag anything that seems suspicious,” he muttered.
Bree made a sound of agreement and settled back in the chair to get busy. Since she had no idea what the usual daily revenue was for the bar, she flagged large charges, those over a thousand dollars, just in case Manny or Tara was using the Hush, Hush to launder money. Still, she supposed charges that high wouldn’t necessarily be anything sinister but rather a single payment for large group.
“Your mom’s on here,” Luca said, snagging her attention.
She leaned over and looked at the charge. Less than five dollars, which meant it was likely water or club soda. The date matched Sandra’s account of being at the Hush, Hush the night of the fight.
“And here’s Brighton,” Luca added a moment later.
“Clearly, you got the good end of the list,” she muttered. “So far, I haven’t recognized a single name on mine.” And she leaned toward Luca’s laptop for another look. “Twenty-three dollars, and this would have been the same night Mom was there.”
“Does the bar serve food?” he asked.
“A few items. When I was researching it, I looked at the menu on the website. Typical bar stuff. Sliders, nachos, that sort of thing.”
Of course, they had no way of knowing if Brighton’s bill had been for food or drink. And maybe it didn’t matter unless twenty-three dollars was to pay for her drink and that of a companion.
“Funny that Manny didn’t give her the drinks or food on the house,” Luca pointed out.
“Manny will probably say he’d broken things off with her by then. Tara might be able to say otherwise though.” Unfortunately, Bree wasn’t anywhere near certain they could believe what Tara would tell them.
“I’m going to flag the bar tabs paid around the same time Brighton paid hers,” Luca said. “Then, we can maybe contact these people and see if they remember her.”
“Good idea,” she said and continued with her list. Finally, she got a hit. Maybe a huge one. “Another charge from Brighton, for eighteen dollars. And this was the night she was murdered.”
That got Luca’s attention, and he leaned over to take a look. “Definitely flag the other receipts within an hour of that.”
Bree started doing that, using a highlighter function on the laptop, but her fingers froze when one name practically popped off the screen at her.
“What?” Luca questioned.
He’d obviously heard the sharp sound of surprise she’d made, and he leaned in again. Then he cursed. Because the customer’s name was one they both recognized.
Nathan.
L UCA STOOD AT the window, waiting and watching. It definitely wasn’t standard procedure to interview a suspect at the ranch, but with the CSIs and fire department clogging up the parking lot of the sheriff’s office, Duncan had decided to hold the interview here. Luca didn’t especially care where they questioned Nathan. He just wanted it to happen.
They needed answers. And this just might be the break they’d been looking for.
“Even if Nathan’s guilty of murdering Brighton, he won’t confess,” Bree said. She was right next to Luca, keeping watch as well while Sandra was upstairs with Gabriel.
Luca agreed. But sometimes confessions weren’t intentional. And it was possible that Nathan being at the bar had nothing to do with Brighton. The timing was suspicious though, and the receipts could put Brighton and Nathan together at the bar at the same time. Since they were from the same small town, they would have likely recognized each other. Yet, Nathan hadn’t said a word about seeing Brighton mere hours before she’d been murdered.
And that gave Luca an idea.
He took out his phone. “I’m going to text Nathan’s picture to Manny and Tara to see if they recognize him. I won’t mention Brighton, but it’s possible one of them remembers seeing him with her. If so, Nathan won’t be able to deny knowing that Brighton was at the bar the same time he was.”
Bree made a quick sound of agreement, and Luca sent off the first text to Manny. When the man would answer was anyone’s guess. Manny might want everything to go through his lawyer. Ditto for Tara, but Luca sent her an identical message anyway.
The moments crawled by with no response, so Luca put his phone away and continued to keep watch for Nathan. While still standing right next to Bree. With their arms pressed against each other. It wasn’t anywhere near the embrace they’d had upstairs, but any contact with Bree was a mental distraction for him.
So was the memory of that kiss.
Hard to forget that, and that sensation of heat and need. He’d been on the verge of losing control with Bree. Again. Apparently, he hadn’t learned his lesson about that from eleven months ago. He’d surrendered to the kiss knowing full well that it was a bad idea, that there’d be a serious loss of focus. But that hadn’t stopped it, and he had to figure out a way to make sure he kept this heat in check so he could keep Bree safe.
She looked up at him. Their gazes connecting. And he cursed. She muttered some profanity, too, so he knew they were on the same page here. A page that likely would have involved them talking about it if his phone hadn’t sounded with a text.
“Manny,” he said when he saw the screen.
Once again, Luca had to push aside thoughts of Bree and that amazing kiss and nail his attention to this investigation. Well, to this response anyway, which Luca knew could be Manny lashing out to demand to be left the hell alone.
But it wasn’t.
Yeah, I’ve seen him before , Manny texted. He was in the bar with Brighton a couple of times.
Bingo. They now had the verification they needed in case Nathan lied to them. Of course, this was still just hearsay, but it’d be strong hearsay if Tara confirmed seeing Nathan as well.
Do you know if Brighton was dating him? Luca messaged back.
They were together, that’s all I know. They weren’t like having sex on the bar or anything like that, but I did see her kiss the guy. I figured she was doing that to try to make me jealous because I’d recently ended things with her. Why? Are you going to grill him the way you did me?
Luca definitely intended to do some grilling when it came to Nathan. For now though, he reread Manny’s text. Bree was obviously doing the same thing.
“Interesting,” Bree said.
It was indeed, and Luca could see one way this might have played out. “If Brighton was truly using Nathan to make Manny jealous and Nathan found out, Nathan wouldn’t be happy about that. In fact, he could have been so angry that he attacked her.”
Of course, there was no proof of that, not yet anyway. And it was equally possible that Manny was lying. The bar owner might say or do anything to point the finger at someone other than himself.
Thanks , Luca texted to Manny. Please let me know if you remember anything else about the guy in the picture.
He didn’t get an immediate response from Manny, but Luca did see something else he’d been waiting for. Nathan’s car as he pulled into the driveway. Duncan must have heard it because he, too, went to the window to stand behind Bree and Luca.
“I want you to do the interview,” Duncan told Luca. “I figure if the doctor has any hot buttons, you’ll be able to push them better than I could.” He looked at Bree. “And I want you close to Luca while he’s questioning him.”
Bree’s eyebrow lifted. “You want Luca and me to pretend to be together so that it’ll rile Nathan?”
Duncan gave them a flat look. “Just sit close to each other. If Nathan’s not an idiot, he’ll pick up on the vibe between you two, and it could set him off.”
Luca could tell Bree wanted to deny there was any vibe . She couldn’t though because it was indeed there.
“I just got these texts from Manny,” Luca said, passing his phone to Duncan. “I’m waiting to hear from Tara.”
Duncan smiled when he read Manny’s responses. “Definitely use this,” he insisted.
When Nathan parked and got out of his car, the three of them stepped away from the window to go to the front door. Bree must have taken Duncan’s advice to heart because she stood arm to arm with Luca while Duncan ushered in Nathan. Duncan also immediately riled the doctor by checking him for weapons and reciting the Miranda rights.
The annoyance was building on Nathan’s face. Until he turned his attention to Bree. Then Luca saw the quick change. Worry and concern rather than anger.
“Are you all right?” Nathan asked Bree. Completely ignoring Luca, he went to her and laid his hand on her shoulder. “Are the stitches hurting?” He proceeded to examine them.
“I’m okay,” Bree said, stepping back and aligning herself with Luca again.
And, yeah, Nathan noticed all right. It’d been a good call on Duncan’s part to go with this ploy since it caused a spark of fresh anger to flare in Nathan’s eyes,
“Good,” Nathan muttered, but his tone indicated her actions were anything but. “I’m betting you’ll be glad when you can get back to your own place,” he said, speaking to Bree. “It can’t be easy being cooped up here in a house that holds so many horrible memories for you.”
Luca silently cursed because the remark had hit pay dirt. Bree flinched, but it was obvious to Luca that she was trying to suppress her reaction. Hard to do though when there were indeed bad memories here of her father’s murder.
“Not all bad,” Bree said. “I grew up here so there are plenty of good memories, too.”
Bree’s remark hit pay dirt as well because she coupled it by brushing her arm against Luca’s. A subtle gesture, but it obviously packed an emotional punch for Nathan. He practically snapped to attention toward Duncan.
“So, where are we doing this interview?” Nathan asked him.
“Actually, Luca will be conducting it in the living room,” Duncan was quick to say. “I’ve asked Bree to stay in the room as well as an observer.” He’d no doubt added that to cover any legal bases. “Hope you don’t have a problem with that,” Duncan added like a challenge.
“No,” Nathan muttered, his response in direct contrast to his expression. It was obvious he did have a problem, but Luca figured it wasn’t because Bree would be there but rather that Luca would be the one doling out the questions.
They went into the living room where Duncan had already turned around the incident board and Slater was working on his laptop at a makeshift desk in the corner. Duncan motioned for Nathan to sit in one of the chairs that he’d obviously positioned like a hot seat directly across from the sofa and chair that Duncan, Bree and he would be using. Duncan revved up the tension some more by turning on the recorder and putting it on the coffee table only a couple of inches from Nathan.
For the record, Luca read in the date, time and those present, and he added, “Dr. Bagley has consented to Attorney Bree McCullough being present as an observer for this interview. Could you state your consent for the recording?” Luca added.
Nathan’s teeth came together. “Bree can be here,” he said.
Good. With that formality out of the way, Luca jumped right to the heart of the matter. “Tell me about your relationship with Brighton Cooper.”
Nathan seemed to do a mental double take. “Brighton?” He shook his head. “I was aware of who she was. She’d come into the hospital a couple of times, but there wasn’t a...” He stopped, studying Bree’s and Luca’s expressions.
The doctor had been about to lie. Luca was certain of it. But Nathan must have sensed this could be a trap.
“Has that bar owner and bartender said something about me?” Nathan asked.
“You mean Manny Vickery and Tara Adler?” Luca prompted when Nathan didn’t add anything.
Nathan nodded.
“How did you know we’d interviewed them?” Luca pressed.
Nathan’s jaw went tight again. “Word about that sort of thing gets around. Did they say something about me?” Luca didn’t respond. He just stared at Nathan until the doctor huffed. “Manny or Tara probably told you I occasionally went to the bar. You might even have proof of that if you looked over old credit card charges. Is that it? Is that why I’m here?”
Luca felt as if some of the wind had been taken out of his sails. He’d been hoping that Nathan would deny even being at the Hush, Hush, but if word had indeed gotten around about Manny and Tara being questioned, then Nathan might have realized it’d be stupid for him to lie.
That didn’t mean the doctor was innocent though.
“And your relationship with Brighton?” Luca repeated.
Nathan huffed. “It was hardly a relationship. We didn’t exactly travel in the same social circles or anything.”
The man’s snobbery was coming through so Luca gave that a nudge. “What do you mean by that?”
Nathan huffed again and looked at Bree. “I swear, I didn’t have anything to do with Brighton when I was seeing you. I didn’t cheat on you.”
Bree shook her head. “We dated, and that wasn’t exclusive, so even if you were with Brighton or anyone else it wouldn’t have been cheating.”
Oh, Nathan didn’t like that, but instead of doling out a verbal blast to Bree, he turned his frosty gaze on Luca. “All of this feels like a witch hunt and a gross violation of my privacy.”
“Not a witch hunt,” Luca said. “But interviews can definitely take pokes at privacy. Especially if the interviewee has something to hide. Did you want to hide your relationship with Brighton?”
“It wasn’t a relationship,” Nathan practically yelled, but the outburst was short-lived, and he made a visible effort to rein in his temper. “Brighton and I hooked up a few times, that was all. She wasn’t my type, and she was six years younger than me.”
“Hooked up?” Luca questioned. “Does that mean sex or just hanging out at the bar together?”
If looks could have killed, Nathan would have finished Luca off then and there. “Both. Briefly,” he quickly tacked on to that. “I was only with her a couple of times and never when I was with Bree.”
That was probably meant to give Luca a dig, to be a reminder that Bree and this jerk had once dated, but Luca didn’t get the jolt of jealousy that Nathan was likely hoping for. Luca felt nothing but disgust over Nathan’s behavior once Bree had ended things with him.
“Did you hook up with Brighton or hang out with her at the bar at the same time she was seeing Manny?” Luca asked.
Nathan did a double take, part flinch, part raised eyebrow. “Maybe. I don’t know when she was involved with Manny. I’d stopped seeing her long before she died. Months,” he provided.
“Yet you were at the Hush, Hush at the same time the night she died,” Luca pointed out.
“That could be true, but if so, she wasn’t there with me,” Nathan insisted.
Maybe. But Luca wished he had security footage of Brighton leaving the bar that night so he could see if she’d left with either Nathan or Manny. The camera footage hadn’t been preserved since they hadn’t known for weeks that Brighton had even been to a bar in Austin. By then, the security system had recorded over the old footage.
“I didn’t have anything to do with Brighton’s death,” Nathan went on, talking to Bree now. “You know me. You know I’m not capable of violence.”
Bree stared at him. “I know you’re capable of stalking.”
Nathan cursed. “That wasn’t what was happening. I simply didn’t understand why you said you didn’t want to see me anymore. I thought maybe it was a misunderstanding and that if we just talked, you’d be able to see that I cared deeply for you. I still do,” he added. “And that’s why I’m so worried about you now.”
Judging from Bree’s stiff body language, she wasn’t buying it. Caring deeply for someone didn’t mesh with stalking.
“Where were you yesterday morning before you treated Bree at the hospital?” Luca asked.
Nathan pulled back his shoulders, obviously thrown off a little by the shift in subject. “I went on shift at seven, so I’d been there for a couple of hours before Bree arrived.”
“Can anyone verify that?” Luca added.
“Plenty of people.” Nathan had to answer that through clenched teeth. “Nurses and other doctors. If you need names, you can ask for the duty roster.”
“I’ll do that,” Slater volunteered, earning his own glare from Nathan.
“And what about after Bree left the hospital?” Luca went on. “Did you stay on duty or did you leave?”
Nathan opened his mouth as if ready to do that blast, but he reined in again. “I had nothing to do with the shooting at Bree’s. I’m not a killer.”
“Did you stay on duty at the hospital or did you leave?” Luca repeated.
“I stayed on duty until I heard about Bree’s son being missing. I left then because I thought I could help look for him.”
“So, you have no alibi for the time of the shooting,” Luca concluded. “What about for earlier today when someone set the parking lot on fire?”
Nathan got up from the chair. “Enough. You clearly have it in for me.”
Duncan stepped closer. “No one here has it in for you,” he stated. “This is an interview with questions that should be relatively easy for you to answer. The fire was only a couple of hours ago so you shouldn’t have any trouble recalling where you were.”
“I was at the hospital,” Nathan snarled. “You can check the duty roster for that, too.”
Luca had no doubt that Nathan’s name would be there, but that didn’t mean he was innocent.
Duncan’s phone rang, the sound slicing through the heavy silence that had fallen over the room. He took the call, moving away from them. Luca was about to continue the interview when he heard Duncan mutter some profanity.
Alarmed that there was more bad news, Luca went to him. So did Bree and Slater, and they ended up huddled together in the corner.
Duncan put the caller on hold and looked at Slater, Luca and Bree. He cursed again before he said, “There’s been a murder.”