Page 97 of Deep Tide

He stared down at her, not reassured at all.

“Sean, it’s fine. Anyway, everyone there was either drunk or high. No one saw me step into that room for, like, one-point-five seconds. And if they had, I would have just said I was looking for the bathroom.” She pulled her hands free and picked up the phone. “Now, aren’t you going to look at this?”

Sean stared down at the photo. The lighting was terrible, and it took him a second to orient himself. It was a schematic diagram of a factory. The notations in the margins appeared to be in Chinese. He zoomed out. The photo showed the diagram spread out over a large glass desk. Sean studied the other items on the desk, and his blood ran cold.

“Sean?”

He looked up.

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing.”

She crossed her arms. “You know, for a cop, you’re pretty bad at lying.”

“Can you text me that picture?”

“Sure.” She plucked the phone from his hand and started tapping. “Okay, it’s sent.”

Sean’s phone buzzed, and he pulled it from his pocket. He’d received the photo. He put his phone away and then he took hers from her hand.

“Did you get it?” she asked.

“Yeah.”

“So, why are you sending it again?”

“I’m not. I’m deleting it.”

CHAPTER

EIGHTEEN

The Island Beanery was packed when Nicole walked in. She peeled off her sunglasses and tucked them into the collar of her shirt. Scanning the café, she saw Leyla Breda standing at a table talking to a customer. She waved Nicole over.

“Hey,” Leyla said with a smile. “Did you meet Miranda’s sister Bailey at the wedding? She’s visiting from Austin.”

The woman looked up at her with a smile. She had wavy dark hair and gray eyes, and the bridge of her nose was sunburned.

“Hi, I’m Nicole Lawson.”

“Nice to meet you,” she said, glancing at the gun on Nicole’s hip.

“Nicole is a detective with Joel,” Leyla said.

Nicole turned to Bailey. “Looks like you decided to stay in town awhile?”

“My fiancé and I are house-sitting and taking care of Miranda and Joel’s pup. And making use of their boat, too, since they were kind enough to offer.”

“Good for you. They get back tonight, right?” Nicole asked, just to be friendly. She knew exactly when they were getting back, and she was counting the minutes. With two people out, the department was feeling the pinch.

“That’s the plan,” Bailey said. “Unless they decided to extend the honeymoon. I don’t see that happening, though. My sister’s a workaholic.”

“Joel, too. I’m surprised they’ve managed to stay gone this long.” Leyla turned to Nicole. “Are you picking up lunch, or—”

“Just coffee.”

Leyla glanced over Nicole’s shoulder, and her expression changed. Nicole turned to see Sean Moran walking into the shop. His attention settled on Leyla.

---