Page 27 of Shadow Operative

Tension stretchedacross Gage’s chest.

Rob haddefinitelynever mentioned a girlfriend. Gage would have remembered.

In fact, Rob would have sent Gage pictures if he had a girlfriend, especially one as beautiful as Brittany.

Gage saw the confusion on Nia’s face. Saw the lack of outrage and jealousy.

In fact, she almost looked compassionate as she stared at Brittany sobbing against his chest.

Maybe he could rule out the idea that Nia was a jilted lover. That theory hadn’t been at the top of his list anyway.

But something more was going on here.

He needed to figure out what.

Even though he’d seen Nia go into his friend’s apartment building last night and she made the most sense as the murderer, he needed to get a better sense of the situation.

Brittany looked up at him, tears still flooding from her eyes. “You’ve got to figure out who did this.”

“Me?” He tried to keep the tautness out of his voice. But he halfway expected Brittany to blurt what he did for a living.

“He said you were the best.”

More tension imbedded itself in between his shoulders. Exactly how much had Rob told this woman?

Rob was one of the few people who knew what Gage really did for a living.

But his friend knew better than to share that information with other people.

Was that what he’d done? Gage just couldn’t see Rob blabbing anything about Gage’s background to others.

Still, he’d need to be very careful how he responded to this woman.

He cleared his throat. “I’m not sure exactly what I can do for you. I repair computers for a living.”

“Repairing computers or not—I don’t care. Rob always spoke so highly of you.” Brittany ran a manicured nail beneath her eyes. “You have to help. Please.”

Gage remained pensive before asking, “Who do you think may have done this to him? Do you know of any enemies he might have had?”

“Yes,” she stated without even blinking. “Darius Miller.”

“Who is Darius Miller?” The name didn’t sound familiar to Gage.

“My ex-boyfriend. He hated Rob with a vengeance. I think he may have done this.”

Gage stored that name away.

Detective Duncan stepped outside and glanced around before his gaze stopped on the crying woman. “You must be Brittany. Thank you for coming.”

“Of course,” she murmured, her gaze fluttering up to meet the detective’s. “I came as soon as you called.”

If Gage had to guess, the police had found her contact information in Rob’s cell phone, maybe even as one of his frequent calls.

“We need to ask you some questions,” Duncan said.

“You can ask me anything if it means finding who did this.” Brittany cast one more glance at Gage. “Please, stay in touch with me.”

“I don’t have your number.”

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