Page 45 of Fast Kill

His protective instincts were on full overdrive. Every cell in his body demanded that he plunge his hand into her hair and take her mouth, claim her even in that way, but he wasn’t going to risk embarrassing her that way when they were on Jamie and Charlie’s couch in full view from the kitchen.

He eased back and stroked her face again. “Does your security system have a video camera?”

“No.” She was quiet a moment. “Dillon’s nothing like the person I used to know,” she murmured against his shoulder. “If it was him, I don’t know what I’ll do.”

Finding out someone had tried to kill you was bad enough. Wondering whether it was a trusted friend was a hundred times worse. Logan had so many questions, about Dillon, about her early life and her time in foster care. Now wasn’t the time to bring all that up though. Not when she was this upset and reeling from what had happened.

“We’ll all help you. Me, Jamie, Charlie, the agency. We’ll make sure you’re safe, and that whoever was behind this is caught.”

She let out a deep breath. “I hate relying on anyone.”

“Really? I hadn’t noticed.”

She huffed out a laugh. “Guess I don’t have much choice at this point though.”

“Nope.” He rubbed her back again.

Charlie called out to them from the kitchen. “Taylor, your boss is on his way up.”

“Okay.” She sat up and gave the hem of her T-shirt a tug for good measure, then reached up to fuss with her hair.

A minute later her boss walked in and headed straight over. If he was surprised to see Logan sitting with her, he hid it well. “Hey. How you holding up?”

“Fine.” She crossed her arms over her chest and stayed next to Logan. “Anything to report yet?”

He nodded. “Fire inspector agrees with our forensics team. Initial findings are that someone plugged up all the filters in your furnace, and redirected the exhaust up through the vent that leads to your master bedroom. Definitely a professional. No prints, no signs of forced entry. Given the timeframe you gave us, and because that amount of carbon monoxide would take hours to accumulate in your room, it seems likely that it was done while Wainright was in your house last night.”

Taylor was completely still as she absorbed that. Logan slid an arm around her shoulders and drew her into him. The biggest tell about her level of shock was that she didn’t resist.

Her boss flicked a look at Logan before returning his attention to her. He watched her for a long moment as the silence expanded. “He doesn’t normally work alone. He’s got at least two men with him. And he’d be acting on his lieutenant’s orders.”

Taylor rubbed at her forehead. “God, I don’t know what to think right now.”

Logan rubbed a hand up and down her upper arm, wishing there was something more he could do for her other than give her a shoulder to lean on. From what he’d seen, she sucked at leaning.

“We’ll find out all the details soon enough. For now, your safety is our number one concern. You’ll have to use extreme caution until we have Wainright in custody. I’m working on finding you a safe location right now. Just waiting on a call back from the Deputy Administrator.”

“Okay. Thank you.”

Her boss tipped his head a little. “Is there anything else I can do? Someone I could call, or…”

“No, but thanks.”

“As soon as I hear back, I’ll let you know.” He turned and headed back toward the kitchen.

Taylor leaned into Logan and rested her head on his shoulder. “I just can’t believe this.”

Yeah, it sucked. He kissed the top of her head and squeezed her shoulder. He hated that she had no family to turn to at a time like this. His family wasn’t as close as a lot of others were, but they were there for each other when needed.

He wasn’t sure how long they stayed that way, him lending silent comfort and support while she wrestled with everything that was going on. Footsteps approached from the kitchen and they both looked up as her boss came back in.

“Just got off the phone with the Deputy Administrator. We’ve got a secure place for you to stay for the duration of this case. Agents are heading there now to set everything up, and I can have someone pack a suitcase for you at your place if you tell me what you need.”

“Sure.” Taylor pulled from Logan’s embrace and got up to grab a pen and paper from the kitchen counter. She wrote down a list and handed it to her boss. “Suitcases are in the hall closet. I’ll need the biggest one, plus my briefcase and laptop.”

He made a call and relayed the information. “I can take you over to the new location now, if you’re ready.” He glanced at Logan. “Unless you want to take her?”

“Yeah, I do.”

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