Page 75 of Phoenix Rising

Ugh, no.She did not want to be within a country mile of the man, but what choice did they have? He opened a door to reveal a king-size bed and a river view. It was nicely arranged, but Talia knew there were cameras everywhere, waiting to capture them on video again. Bastard. He gave them the combination for the locks and then disappeared.

There was so much Talia wanted to say to her husband but couldn’t because she was sure the walls had ears. Once they were away from Elijah’s suite, the comms worked again.

“Is anyone still here?” she asked.

“We are,” Audria responded.

“Me too,” Christian chimed in.

“We are headed to our room to pack and move to Elijah’s quarters.”

“Oh, yuck,” Audria said.

“Yes,” she agreed. “He admitted to killing Nadine Fenton and Cindi Beech. We have not had a chance to question him about Josiah Porter or Paige Stockton.”

“What do you need us to do?” Reese asked.

“Nothing right now,” Hunter responded. “We’ll check in again with you in the morning.”

Chapter Twenty-Four

When patience was being handed out, Audria had been stuck at the back of the line behind a tortoise and a sloth. She wanted things to happen now. Waiting wasn’t her strong suit. Still, she wasn’t upset that she had another night alone with Reese.

Christian had wandered around the area, checking the layout. They now knew there was a secret tunnel that Elijah used. They’d found a corridor leading to rooms for the employees who lived on the premises. From talking to one of them, Audria had learned there were three cooks, four housekeepers, and a maintenance man married to one of the caretakers. Only one spoke English, and she’d translated for the others. Elijah didn’t employ a large security staff, and the cameras weren’t monitored. They knew he’d killed two people. All they needed to do was tie him to Paige’s disappearance, and the case would be over.

Reese’s phone rang, and he looked at the display. “It’s Detective Beaumont.”

“Put her on speaker.”

Reese did. “Detective Beaumont.”

She cut right to the chase. “We found two bodies in the desert.”

Though they knew it would be the most likely outcome, Audria’s heart ached for Reese.

“I’m not positive one of them is Paige Stockton, so I need you to come and identify the body.” She gave them directions.

“We’re on our way.”

Audria clasped Reese’s hand. “I’m sorry.”

He nodded. “Me too. I’ll call Christian.”

Because of the metal detectors, they had to leave their weapons in their room. There were others in the SUV, so the only issue was getting from the building to the vehicle.

Christian was waiting at the end of the hall when they exited their room. Talia and Hunter’s door opened, and they appeared. Talia’s eyes widened at seeing them. Reese motioned with his head, and they followed to the dead spot. He told them about the bodies.

“Text us when you know for sure,” Talia said. “We can use it to grill Elijah for information.”

“Will do.”

The guard was still at the exit, and he straightened when they approached. “We’re going to go for drinks in town,” Christian told him. It wasn’t as if they were prisoners.

The guard stood and grabbed bands from beneath the counter. “I need to put these on so I know you’re registered. The door will be locked at eleven, giving you four hours. If you’re not back by then, you’ll have to wait until the morning to reenter.”

He affixed the plastic cuff on each of them, and they proceeded to the parking lot. Christian drove to the coroner’s office, using directions Detective Beaumont had forwarded to Reese.

Audria hated morgues. At one time, they didn’t bother her too much. She’d learned to harden her heart to bring justice to the victims. But after seeing two small children gunned down by their father, it was all she could do to make her legs work as they neared the entry.

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