Page 10 of Exhale
Jordan stood next to him inside Ace’s office, and Owen felt the young man tense. He didn’t need to look over to tell that Jordan didn’t want this case any more than he did.
Or maybe it was that Jordan didn’t want to be on this case withhim.
Things had been tense between them since Jordan got back from Nevada yesterday. Owen had received nothing but one-worded responses to any request he made. Sometimes, it was on a case and other times, he just wanted to ask how he was doing, but Jordan apparently couldn’t be bothered.
“You have one week to get as much information as possible to take this son of a bitch down,” Ace said, tossing the iPad he was holding on the top of his desk. It cracked loudly.
Jacob, who was sitting on the edge of Ace’s desk, gently ran his fingers along the back of Ace’s neck before carding them through the man’s hair at his nape.
Jacob was his brother’s husband, and Owen wanted what his brother had. Someone to love and care for him. He had thought it might be the man at his side, but Jordan had given him the impression that it wasn’t going to happen.
“Now get busy,” Ace said, but the biting growl in the man’s voice had softened, and before he and Jordan even walked out of the office door, Ace was reaching for Jacob.
Jordan’s friend Lucas was still on his mind, and Owen couldn’t shake the feeling that something was off about the guy. First, the guy looked fit beneath his shabby clothes, and second, his hair had been dirty, but it wasn’t shaggy. Whatever the case, he would make damned sure he was with Jordan when he met the guy.
Stepping outside Ace’s office with Jordan, a call came in to Owen’s cell phone, and he frowned at the Arizona area code.
“Hello?”
“Owen Gray?” a man asked.
“Yes.”
“This is Detective Knoll from the Phoenix, Arizona, sheriff’s department.”
“Hello, Detective, how can I help you?” Owen said, and because Pegasus often helped out law enforcement, it wasn’t all that strange to get a request. Whatwasstrange was getting a direct call.
“I’m sorry to bother you, but you are listed as Genevieve Long-Gray’s emergency contact.”
“Ginny?” Owen said.
Apparently, his ex-wife had never updated her emergency contact info. Which was odd because she did have family.
“I’m sorry to inform you that your ex-wife was involved in an accident.”
“Is she hurt?” Owen frowned.
“I’m… sorry for your loss.”
Seven hours later…
Ginny was dead.
She had died in a house fire along with her friend, Louise Barnes.
That was what the Phoenix, Arizona, police department was calling it.
But Owen had questions.
One being…how in the hell did two perfectly healthy women die in a late morning fire without even trying to run for it?
Ginny’s body had been recovered in the dining room, and Louise’s was found in the kitchen.
It didn’t make sense.
“I don’t believe it,” Jordan said, pointing that out to the lead detective on the scene.
“What’s not to believe?” Detective Bixby said.
