Page 85 of Deep Tide

He gritted his teeth, and the knot in his chest was back again.

She reached up and stroked her fingertip over his jaw. “Don’t clench. It’s bad for you.”

“I’m not.”

She went up on tiptoes and kissed him, and he slid his arm around her waist before he could stop himself.

She eased back, smiling. “Thanks for the lemonade. Let me know about Monday night.”

•••

Nicole hurried past the reception desk, where Denise was filing her nails.

“They started yet?”

Denise buzzed the door open. “Five minutes ago.”

“Crap,” Nicole muttered, rushing through the bullpen. Brady’s office was empty, and so were most of the desks, including the ones for Emmet, McDeere, and Lopez, who was the rookie they’d pulled in to help with some of the legwork.

Nicole was thirsty from being in the sun all afternoon, plus she was hungover from her little bourbon binge last night. She swung into the break room and grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge before hurrying into the conference room.

All heads turned her way as she walked in.

“Hi. Sorry I’m late.”

No one responded, and she took the closest empty seat. It was next to Lopez, and he eyed her curiously as she set her stuff down and slowly lowered herself into the chair.

“I was just filling them in on Luc Gagnon,” Brady said.

Nicole looked at the chief, surprised. “All right.”

“And the possible connection with the two Saledo hit jobs back in the fall.” Brady leaned back in his chair. “Anything new from the lab?”

The chief had sent her on yet another squeaky-wheel mission, but this one had been more successful. The lab supervisor had given her a preview of several results that had just come in. She’d also had a chance to personally drop off the beer can Sean had asked her to run for him.

She cast a glance at Emmet. His cool gaze told her he’d picked up on the fact that she’d had some inside info that she’d neglected to share with him. How much had Brady revealed to the team? And how much did he even know? Nicole hadn’t discussed Operation Virgil with anyone here. She’d gotten the distinct impression from Sean that she wasn’t supposed to know about it.

“Some interesting updates.” She scooted her chair in, wincing as fire shot up her rib cage. Biting back a curse, she opened her file folder.

“The tox report came in,” she said. “No drugs in her system. Also, the rape kit came back. Nothing there, no foreign DNA or anything.”

Whatever terrors Amelia Albright had been subjected to before her death, they hadn’t included sexual assault.

“They did come up with some interesting DNA evidence, though. This is from the swab the ME took from the site of the knife wound.” She looked at Brady. “The swab shows a second DNA profile that doesn’t match the victim.”

“Like, the killer nicked himself?” Emmet asked.

That’s what Nicole had thought, too. A knife handle could get slippery during a bloody struggle, and it was possible the perpetrator could cut himself and leave blood on the victim.

“Weirder than that,” she said. “The DNA profile matches Jose Rincon.”

Brady’s eyebrows arched. “Rincon?”

“Sorry. Who’s Jose Rincon?” the rookie asked.

“One of the two San Antonio victims,” she said. “The other one is Sandra Massey.”

“Wait. Back up. How would some dead guy’s DNA end up on Amelia Albright?” McDeere asked.

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