Page 105 of Locked In Ice

Lane had gone to Benedict’s office first, but no one had been there.So he’d headed straight for the lab, thinking that maybe they were looking at Thomas’s body again.But while Benedict was there, Ophelia wasn’t.

And tension knotted Lane’s shoulders.

Benedict put a hand to his chest as he sucked in a deep breath.“You startled me.”

Lane stalked forward.“Where the hell is she?”

Benedict grimaced.“Didn’t she tell you?”

If she’d told him, would he be searching for her?Lane glared.

“She received a text.”Benedict waved in the air—a rolling, vague gesture with his hand.“From Detective O’Brien.Shay got a report that Royce Nicholson was seen at the Pyro club.Ophelia went rushing out.”His brows shot low.“I was sure your paths would cross.”

“I was out back.”He hadn’t seen her.

A shrug.“She must have gone out the front.You just missed her.”He made a shooing motion toward the door.“Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have work to do.I’ve got a John Doe waiting for me who is not just going to identify himself.”A sniff.“I have to get busy.I can’t afford to piss off any other detectives.”

Lane didn’t move.“She would have texted me.”

“O’Brien?Why would she text you?”

“Ophelia.”

“Oh, well, maybe she’s waiting outside for you?”A helpless shrug.“I have no idea.Go look and see.Like I keep repeating, I have work to do.”He gripped a scalpel in his hand and padded across the room to drop the instrument back on a waiting surgical tray.

Lane spun away and marched for the door.His hand flew out and slammed into it as he shoved it open.A few moments later, he was in the parking lot.Her red Jeep waited in its spot.

No Ophelia.

He yanked out his phone to call her—

His phone dinged and buzzed with her text.

O’Brien contacted me.Going to Pyro.

How the hell was she going to Pyro when her vehicle was right there?

Another buzz.Getting ride with a uniform.Don’t need your help.

What?Bullshit,he typed back.Lesson nine.

She couldn’t go forgetting her own lessons.And lesson nine clearly stated that you did not leave your damn partner.

The phone vibrated again.We are done.Partnership is over.

What.The.Fuck?

Then he slowly exhaled.He turned around and he stalked back toward the building he’d just exited.He shoved the phone into his pocket.He didn’t have a gun on him because it was locked in the glove box of Ophelia’s Jeep.

She had the key to the Jeep.

He entered the hallway.Was far too aware of the antiseptic scents and the bright lights from overhead.He didn’t go to Benedict’s office.Lane went directly back to the lab.His hand slapped into the door as he heaved it open.

Benedict had been whistling.He whirled at Lane’s approach and stared with wide eyes.

“Where is she?”Lane asked.But he already knew.Oh, fuck, he knew.

His gaze slid toward the body storage cabinets.Benedict had been in front of those cold storage drawers when Lane arrived the first time.And the bastard had been gripping a scalpel.

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