Harlequin Intrigue April 2021--Box Set 2 of 2 Carol Ericson (short books to read TXT) 📖

she demanded, suddenly certain he was keeping something from her.

“Yeah, I’m sure. As sure as I can be. I mean, we don’t know who the hell took Juan out. Just because Juan’s case went cold six years ago doesn’t mean we all gave up on it.”

It was only the hurt underneath the anger in Fitz’s voice that kept Keara from snapping at him. When the case had officially gone cold, she’d done the only thing she could do to survive it. She’d tried to shut down that part of her life entirely, remove herself from any reminders that she’d ever been married, that she’d ever faced such a loss. And she’d done it in spectacular fashion, by running as far away as she could.

“Have you found anything?” she demanded, anger seeping into her own voice. Whatever Fitz thought of her decision to leave Houston, she was still Juan’s wife. She still deserved answers.

“No.”

In that single word, she heard all of the defeat she’d felt six years ago, when the chief had officially called off the active investigation, told the detectives on Juan’s case they had to move on.

Closing her eyes, Keara let out a long breath, trying to regain her composure. “Tell me about Celia Harris’s murder, then. Please. You never found any likely suspects, did you?”

“Well...”

Her eyes popped back open. “Who?”

“Your husband went to talk to someone whose car was near the scene of the murder. A hospital orderly with some minor criminal history named Rodney Brown.”

A mix of dread and anger made her pulse speed up. “You remember the name all these years later? Why?”

“Juan talked to the guy on kind of a long-shot lead. I didn’t go with him. He said it didn’t look like anything, but that Rodney kept insisting the whole thing was a mistake. That he hadn’t taken his car out at all. It struck Juan as a little weird, but he thought maybe Rodney was just nervous about being interviewed by a police officer. I wouldn’t have thought anything of it, either, except Rodney disappeared a few weeks later.”

Keara let the timeline sink in and her anger intensified. “A few weeks later. So you’re telling me this guy disappeared right after Juan was killed?”

“We looked into it,” Fitz insisted. “We couldn’t find any evidence that he was involved in Juan’s murder.”

“You couldn’t find any because it didn’t look like he’d done it or because he disappeared and you couldn’t find him?”

When Fitz didn’t immediately respond, Keara jumped to her feet. Through the glass walls of her office, she saw some of her officers staring at her with curiosity and concern.

She turned her back on them, knowing there was no way she could hide the horror she felt. “You think it was him.”

“I did,” Fitz said quietly. “But no one else agreed, Keara. And seven years later I wonder if I was just reaching for anything. For anyone I could blame. He was my partner. It eats me up every day that we couldn’t solve his murder.”

“Why the hell didn’t you tell me?”

“What would you have done?”

Investigated on her own. She would have done whatever it took to find Rodney Brown and figure out if he’d killed her husband.

“That’s why I didn’t tell you,” Fitz said, without her saying a word. “Because we chased that lead as far as we could. It was a dead end. And...” He let out a heavy sigh. “You deserved to move on. Juan would have wanted that.”

Keara grit her teeth, trying to hold back the tears suddenly threatening. “Just send me the file, Fitz.”

She hung up before he could say anything else, then planted her hands on her credenza for stability. Seven years. Someone who might have killed Juan had had seven long years to run. Seven long years for the trail to go cold.

Was it possible he’d shown up here, stepped up the volume of his kills by becoming a bomber?

CHAPTER FIVE

“Does this symbol look familiar to you?” Jax held up the digitally enhanced image that had been found on a bomb fragment.

Gabi Sinclair winced as she hauled herself up higher against the headboard of the hospital bed. Her sheet slid downward and she immediately hiked it up, avoiding looking at the leg that had been amputated below the knee yesterday. Her light brown skin was tinged with an ashy gray, her eyes bloodshot.

When Jax had met her last night, she hadn’t been able to stop crying about the fiancé who’d died in the blast. Today she was all gritted teeth and desperate determination, wanting any information she could get about the investigation. A mix of numbness and anger that would only last so long before the grief bled through again.

Hopefully, when that happened, he’d be able to help her.

She stared at the symbol intently for a long minute, her free hand dropping down beside the bed to pet Patches, who’d been patiently waiting. Finally, she shook her head. “I don’t know it. What is it?”

From slightly behind him, Jax sensed Ben and Anderson’s disappointment, heard their suit coats slumping against the rough hospital wall. They’d taken the lead today, but asked him along to make the victims and their families feel more comfortable. The more rooms they visited, the more questions Jax asked. Technically, it was the agents’ job to ask about the symbol, but for some of the victims, he suspected it would be easier to talk to him.

Gabi was their final hospital visit. None of the victims they’d spoken to had recognized the symbol.

“This was drawn on one of the bomb fragments,” Anderson spoke up, stepping forward in the tight space. “We don’t know what it means. It might be nothing. But we’re checking everything.”

Gabi frowned slightly, directing her gaze at Patches, who scooted closer to the bed and made the tiniest smile quiver at the corner of Gabi’s lips.

“When we have some answers, we’ll tell you what we can,” Jax said, not wanting to overpromise what he might not be able to