Page 65 of Duplicity

“Just a hunch.” Jasper stared at him, way too intently.

Simon glanced at Cat’s dad, then at Cat. “When have I ever given the impression I don’t trust cops? Lucas is great. Talia is a fed, and she’s like…my best friend at this point.”

Jasper just stared at him. His phone started to ring. “Hollingsworth.” His expression darkened. “Got it.” He hung up.

At least they’d get a change of subject. But this probably wasn’t good.

“We were too late,” Jasper said. “Hayden was dumped in front of the police department five minutes ago. He’s dead.”

TWENTY-FIVE

“How did he die?” Cat’s stomach sank. She was so far past exhausted at this point that she was starting to get hungry. She’d never even met this Hayden person, but she should have some compassion that he no longer breathed.

Jasper said, “Three shots, center mass. The gun was handed over with his body, so they’ll be able to run ballistics tests on it.”

Cat spoke before she even thought it through. “And if it matches the round that killed my partner?”

“Then you’ll be a step closer.” Simon looked at her, but she didn’t return the gesture.

Her cheeks heated. She was far too aware of their attention on her, so she looked at her father. He would always be her safe place to land. “Arlo didn’t do it.”

His jaw flexed, and she couldn’t read his expression. “So find out whodid.”

She’d been trying to do that for years and gotten nowhere so far. Until a man was killed and turned over to the police. Definitely a statement, leaving a man dead on the doorstep of the police department with the weapon that killed him.

“He thinks he’s doing us a favor.” And she was the one who’d set it up to happen. Not exactly encouraging it, but she’d told him Hayden was a loose end. Evidently, loose ends got cut. “He killed Hayden to drop the low-hanging fruit so we wouldn’t use the guy against him. Now he’s free to do what he wants—or he thinks he is. He probably thinks we’ve been placated into backing off and giving him free rein.”

Simon touched her shoulder. “It isn’t your fault.”

So he’d read what she’d put in the statement. “I offered him up.”

“It’s not on you.”

They had already covered this. But tell that to her heart.

Her father pushed off the desk and stood, steadying his cane under him. “I need to go home to your mother.”

She heard what he didn’t say. That he needed to ensure her mom was all right and to ease her mom’s fears if she was worried. Cat stood and gave him a kiss on his cheek. “Thanks for coming.”

He sort of grunted, which meant “You’re welcome” and “I love you” and also “Solve the case without getting killed so I can rest more easily at night.”

She watched him go, then realized everyone was still looking at her. She turned to Simon, finding solace in the connection that was theirs alone. “We need to find Justice. They could be midparty right now, and we need a shot at saving some of these girls from what they might be going through. At the least, he could answer a whole lot of questions.”

Justice could even be the one who had shot Hayden.

She’d tried to put him in the store when Ellis had been shot, but that was a few years ago. Not only would she end up warping her memory so that her testimony would be suspect, but the kid would’ve also been barely fifteen then. The shooter had been older than that. She thought so, anyway.

Simon turned to his computer. “I can run a trace on his regular cell phone. Find out what tower it’s pinging off and where GPS puts him.”

She moved to stand behind his chair. “Maybe it’s near one of the hotels or the spa.”

Would they get a result that easily?

They might. Perhaps God’s favor would shine on their efforts, and they would bring down a bad guy. Save lives. Prevent awful things from happening.

It was why she’d become a cop in the first place.

I trust You.She couldn’t affect the outcome more than what was in her power to do. Beyond that was up to God, which would prove scary if she sat and contemplated it. But that wasn’t a bad thing. She had to trust Him, or what did her faith accomplish?

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