Page 57 of Tango
Both Dylan and I remain off to the side, so she can’t see us through the peephole.
Tucker knocks.
My heart begins to pound.
Is this the moment where I learn the truth? Or will she call the police and have me arrested before she says anything? Oh, man. Why did I insist on coming? Lord, grant me strength, please. Help me.
“Well, hello, Mr. Hunt. Please come in.” Kara’s flirtatious tone frustrates me further.
“Thank you, Miss Beverly. I have my brother and another member of our team with me. Is it okay if they come in too?”
She leans around the door, but I keep my hands in the pockets of my baggy jeans, my head tilted down to the ground. My guess is she only sees Dylan and is more than happy to invite the third stranger in because of the good looks the other two share.
“Absolutely. Come on in.” She steps inside, and Dylan follows first with me coming right behind him. Tucker manages to block my body somewhat as we move in, so she doesn’t get a clear look at my face. “Can I get you guys anything to drink? Beer? Wine? Something stronger?”
“No, thanks. We don’t drink,” Tucker replies.
“Like, at all?”
“Not a drop,” Dylan answers.
“Ooh, good boys. I like it.”
I roll my eyes, wishing I could face her and watch that flirtatious smile fall right off her face when she realizes who I really am.
“Miss Beverly, we have reason to believe that Alice Sterling is not guilty.” Tucker jumps right in.
Kara snorts. “She’s guilty.”
“You seem so certain—why?” Tucker asks.
“Because I know her. She grew up troubled. Her own grandparents didn’t even want her. Then she was in and out of foster homes—you know how that goes.”
Anger sings in my veins, and I have to clench my hands into fists to keep from giving myself up.
Kara continues, “I warned Ramiro to stay away from her, and had he not been so obsessed with her, he might’ve listened. But she had him wrapped around her finger until the day she put a bullet in him. And now she got Logan too. He was a tall drink of water, that one. Too good for her.” She clicks her tongue. “Yet he trusted her too, and now look where that got him—dead.”
That does it. “You’re lying!” I yell and whirl on her, ripping my baseball cap off as I do. The anger pulsing through my veins is new—even for me. I’ve had a temper before, but this—this feels feral. And the satisfaction I feel when I see the horrified expression on her face brings me more joy than it should.
“You—you brought a murderer into my home!” she yells, lunging for her phone.
Unfortunately for her, Tucker’s faster. He withdraws a black box from his pocket and shows it to her. “Your phone and internet are down,” he tells her. “This is a signal scrambler. You won’t be able to call anyone.”
Kara pales, her eyes widening. “Wh-what are you going to do to me?”
“Nothing,” Tucker replies. “We just have some questions. Can we sit?” He gestures toward her couch, but her gaze flicks between me and him.
“I’m not here to hurt you, Kara,” I growl. “Besides, we both know I’m no murderer.”
“No, we don’t,” she snaps. “You killed Ramiro. I saw the video. We all did.”
“That you helped them make!” I yell, clenching both hands into fists again. Anger gives a foothold to the devil. I repeat Ephesians 4:27 in my head over and over again. But even as I have it memorized, I cannot keep that anger from burning through me. My entire life is on the line here, and she had a part in my downfall. My friends are dead, and she’s helping to cover it up. As far as I’m concerned, she might as well have pulled the trigger.
Anger gives foothold to the devil, I think again, then take a deep, steadying breath.
“I don’t know what she’s told you,” Kara says, “but she’s a killer. And possibly a thief. I know that something was stolen from the server room the night she killed Ramiro. They won’t tell us what, but we’ve had to scour the systems, trying to find any other vulnerabilities.”
“They said something was taken?” I ask.
