Page 145 of Triggered By Love
“Explain this.” He prodded her lip, and she winced. “Was Larry pissed at you for letting us get away? Or was it the firefighter? Is he upset the two of you were fired from the show?”
“All you need to know is that I don’t suspect you,” she said. “You are chasing the same people I am.”
“Care to share who?”
“You go first.”
Since she’d dropped the gauntlet, he decided to throw the most unlikely culprit and see if he could make it stick.
“Avery’s father.”
Her eyes widened. It looked like she hadn’t considered him. “Case?”
“Your turn.” He wasn’t about to share his thoughts with a person with motives he couldn’t determine.
“Trent Gallagher,” she said.
“Case?” he imitated her. “I think you’re lying. He was too young to be the secret offender Orson Leach was protecting.”
“You think it was the man who molested her, and you believe it could be her father.”
“I’d hate to think that, but the Leaches are close to the Cockburns, and Avery said they socialized a lot.” He bent his head to her level and gave her a menacing stare. “Why do you suspect Trent?”
“I saw him out drinking with your partner, Blade. When I asked Blade, he said Trent was pumping him for information. Like he wanted to know about the murder weapon. Where Ernesto got the gun, stuff like that.”
“Where did Ernesto get his gun?”
She raised an eyebrow. “If you hired him, wouldn’t you know?”
“If I hired him, I’d make sure he knew how to use a real gun.” There, he’d dropped the bomb. If Ernesto was using a toy gun, then someone swapped the gun either at the crime scene or later on in the evidence room.
If the chief was covering up for someone famous, he would have seen to it that the guns were switched. Since Tatiana was connected to the police department, and she was the one who put him on leave of absence, she’d likely run back to the perp and tell him Jason Burnett suspected the gun was switched.
“I don’t know what you’re getting at,” she said. “Let me give you some advice. Don’t poke your nose where it doesn’t belong.”
“Which one of your boyfriends or should I say men you’re either investigating or blackmailing did this to you?”
“Why do you care? It’s part of the job.” She shrugged and put her hand on the doorknob, signaling the conversation was over. “Are you going to get all overprotective on me like you are with Avery Cockburn?”
“Nah, you can take care of yourself,” he said.
“So can she,” Tatiana retorted. “Professional advice. You can’t rescue everyone, and you can’t be responsible for a woman who’s being abused. She has to make her own decision. All you can be is supportive. It’s not your fault if you can’t rescue her.”
“I’m not trying to rescue her, but I’m damn well going to protect her—with my life. You tell whoever it is you’re either spying on or working for that I will find them and make them pay for Brando’s death.”
He grabbed the doorknob from her and walked out of her place. He hated to bother Mrs. Bonet, but he had to ask her a burning question.
Minutes later, he had his answer.
Joan had filled him in, reluctantly, on Brando’s doubts about whether he could help Avery to deal with her past.
He hadn’t shared with his mother the full extent of her issues, but he had said he was going to get help for Avery and that he would see to it that whoever was responsible would be brought to justice.
Mrs. Bonet had guessed that Avery had been abused by someone important, but of course, she did not want to speculate.
She had also urged Brando to propose to Avery so she would know he loved and supported her.
It was time to find out what Brando did before the fashion show. Who did he talk to, and who got spooked?
