Page 141 of Death Wish

“Take care, both of you. A nurse will be around shortly with your paperwork, then you’ll be free to go.” He left the room.

“The police want another interview with you,” Zane said. “Sorry, but Brent wasn’t able to persuade them to drop the second interview.”

“We’ll deal with it.”

As soon as they were discharged, Sawyer drove them to the local police station where they went through another round of questioning. Four hours later, the interviews were complete and Sawyer drove them away from the police station in Liberty, Kentucky.

“Where’s Trevor?” Simone asked.

“Jail waiting for the FBI to pick him up,” Sawyer said.

“The feds?” Her eyes widened. “Kentucky isn’t prosecuting him?”

“He crossed state lines. It’s the fed’s jurisdiction. You’ll have more interviews but Brent convinced the agents to interview you in Hartman. You can relax, Simone. White will never bother you again.”

Relieved, she sighed and settled back against the seat and snuggled close to Jesse. “What about Griffin Daley? Do we know what happened to him?”

“Dead,” he said, voice flat. “The boss received word earlier this morning. Sophie Westlake and Bastien Boudreax are also out of your life for good. You’ll have to testify against them, Simone.”

“I figured that would be the case.”

“So, you can rest easy. All your enemies are behind bars.”

She grimaced. “Not quite. There’s one more.”

“Who?”

“Ember Atkins. She’s been feeding Trevor information on my whereabouts since I left San Francisco.”

“A good friend of yours?”

“She was. Ember is a computer hacker. I trained her myself.”

He snorted. “Looks like you did an excellent job of it. What do you want to do?”

“I should confront her face to face.”

“But you’d rather not.” Jesse squeezed her hand. “Give yourself time to heal, then you can decide what to do. If you choose to go to California, I’ll go with you. We’ll face her together.”

Although she felt as though she was being a wuss, Simone saw the wisdom in his words. She wasn’t up to a confrontation. Not yet.

When the time came, she’d talk to the woman who used to be one of her best friends and find out why she’d betrayed Simone’s trust.

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

JESSE CIRCLED THE hood of the rented SUV and opened Simone’s door. The bright early morning sunshine promised a beautiful day ahead. Too bad their task was a difficult one for Simone.

He held out his hand and helped her from the vehicle. “Ready to do this?”

Simone looked pale but composed. “No.”

Wrapping his arms around her, Jesse held Simone against him, grateful she was alive and healthy. He still woke in the middle of the night with nightmares about her abduction. He probably would for a long time.

When she went boneless against him, he lifted her face to his and captured her mouth. Long minutes later, he broke the heated connection and stared into her beautiful face. “If you want to leave, I’ll drive us back to the airport. We’ll go back home, watch movies, and eat junk food all afternoon.”

She laughed. “Tempting but we’re already here.”

“No pressure to do this, sweetheart. You can handle it by a simple phone call instead of in person.”

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