Page 72 of Locked In Ice

She shivered, then hurried to tail Beau.Lane wasn’t about to be left behind.When he entered the office, he saw Beau opening a safe that was hidden in a small closet.Ophelia crowded in as Beau flipped the combination.

I think she’s memorizing the code.

The longer he was around her, the more Lane began to pick up on just what she was thinking and scheming.

The lock opened with a soft click.Stacks of money waited inside the safe.A gun.No, two guns.A cell phone.Some sealed envelopes and—

“See?”Beau pulled out the key.“And it hurts, Ophelia.Really hurts that you doubted me.”Beau waved the key.“I keep it safe.I wouldn’t sell you out.”

“How many people know the combination to that safe?”Lane asked.

“Just me.No one else.”

Um, no.Lane and Ophelia both knew, too.

“Happy now?”Beau tossed the key back into the safe.

“Not particularly,” Ophelia announced with a sigh.“And I think it’s probably only fair to warn you that a serial killer could be hunting here.”

Beau cut a glance Lane’s way.“A serial killer, huh?You don’t say.”

“Nothim.But someone who might not…particularly understand your past.”

“What the hell does that mean?”

“It means, my friend,” and her voice gentled, “I would really appreciate it if you got out of town for a bit.I’d hate for you to get caught in the crossfire.”

Chapter Fifteen

“He’s not leaving town.”Lane paced inside the lobby of her office.

Ophelia glanced at her watch, then back at him.“Nope.”

“Why’d you warn him?”

“Because Beau actually is a decent guy.”She considered Beau’s past.“Now,he is.People change.And I’d truly hate for him to get caught in the middle of a fight that isn’t his.”Speaking of… “Same goes for you.”

He stopped pacing.Spun toward her.“You are shitting me.”

“Nope.I am not.”Where were the crime scene guys?The Feds were supposed to be coming with them.She was staying out of her main office so she wouldn’t contaminate anything.And, granted, this was clearly not an emergency, not like she was bleeding out on the floor, but she had places to go.Profiles to create.

Copycat killers to catch.

It has to be a copycat.Her conclusion.She’d gone over things in her head again and again.Sam was dead.Not like he could have crawled out of his grave.And Sam had worked alone.Duo killers were extremely rare, and when she’d been creating her profile before on the Forget-Me-Not perp, there had been no sign that he was working with anyone else.

Unless she’d missed something.

Did I miss something?Doubt teased at her mind.

Lane stalked toward her.

She kept reclining on the couch, but Ophelia did tip back her head to stare up at him.When he was mad, he was extra hot.She almost told him that very thing.

“You’re trying to kick me out?”Lane demanded as a muscle flexed along his hard jaw.

“No.I’m trying to give you the option to leave.”Something else that she’d concluded had to be done.“When you signed on to be my partner, you didn’t know what would be waiting.I didn’t know.”

“I’m not leaving you on your own, Ophelia.”

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