Page 43 of Locked In Ice

Benedict peered at him.“You a former Fed, too?”

This guy knew about Ophelia’s past?They were clearly closer than Lane realized.

“No,” Ophelia answered before he could.“Lane’s background is in medicine, so while we both appreciated your talk about the blood vessels, Lane already knew all of that.”

Lane slanted her a quick, surprised glance.

“You’re a doctor?”Benedict questioned.“I don’t think I caught your name when you came in.”

“You didn’t catch it.”Lane hadn’t given it.Neither had Ophelia.“You were too busy hugging her and taking the cash.”

Benedict released Thomas’s eyelid.He straightened quickly.“I was beingfriendly—”

“Save it, guys,” Ophelia still peered at the body.“I want to see his arms.”

Benedict huffed but pulled down more of the zipper to reveal Bass’s upper body and arms.“Bruising can take some time to occur, as I’m sure yourdoctorpartner is well aware.”

“I’m well aware of it, too,” Ophelia tossed back.“Don’t be so grumpy, Benny.We appreciate you letting us in.And you can totally consider your debt to me as paid in full now.”

Debt?Butshe’dgiven the guy a hundred—

“Someone took some compromising pics of Benny once,” Ophelia explained to Lane.“He didn’t want anyone in town knowing about them, so he paid a visit to me in Savannah.”

“Client confidentiality.”Benedict’s face turned blood red.

“Partner.”Ophelia tapped Lane’s chest.“The PI office is keeping your confidentiality.Relax.Besides, not like I told him what was in the photos, though if you don’t hurry and show me what I need, I just might—”

He yanked the zipper all the way down.

“Was that so hard?”Ophelia wanted to know.“It didn’t look hard.In fact, it looked as if it required minimal effort to me.”

Lane thought it looked as if Benny—Benedict—might pass out at any moment.

“Let me see his hands,” Ophelia said.

“Do not touch—”Benedict began.

“You lift them up.You’re the one wearing the gloves.Come on, Benny.Be a team player.”

“I have to scrape his nails for fibers.Dig out any potential evidence that could be there.You are not going to mess up my exam, Ophelia.”But he lifted Bass’s right hand.“This is what you get.Look at it from where you are.Don’t you even think about—”

Ophelia surged backward.A fast, hard step in retreat.She stumbled and would have fallen, but Lane grabbed her.His hands locked around her waist as he steadied her.“You okay?”

Her head swung toward him.

Benedict’s face had been too red.

Ophelia’s had gone sheet white.Her eyes were wide and stark and…scared?

He’d been quite convinced that nothing scared her.Until this moment.“Ophelia?”His grip tightened on her waist.

“Ring finger,” she said, the two words barely more than a breath.

Both Lane and Benedict turned to look at Bass’s ring finger.

“It’s a string.”Benedict poked the one finger up in the air.“Probably came off the pillow during the struggle and got lodged there.See, this is why you shouldn’t be looking at the body.You’re going to mess with my evidence.This little scene isover—”

“It’stiedaround his finger.Not lodged.”She pulled from Lane.Stepped back toward the body even as her body tensed.“The killer tied that string around his finger.”

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