Page 40 of Red Queen (Red Thorns Crew 3)

“You do?”

“Miss Hall told me.”

“Who’s Miss Hall?”

I nodded toward her. “My lawyer.”

Dani looked over at the woman in the pantsuit before the two of them exchanged greetings. Then her worried eyes came back to me.

“Max, what do we do now?”

Even though her voice was strong, she still looked frazzled. I wanted nothing more than to scoop her into my arms and let her know everything was going to be all right. She already knew too much. She already had information at her fingertips that would get any of my men killed. And I didn’t like that.

“I need you not to worry, gorgeous. Can you do that for me?”

She sniffled. “And I need you to remember that I love you after I say what I’m about to say. Okay?”

I felt my heart still in my chest. “Always.”

She slapped my upper arms. “Don’t fucking treat me like I’m some goddamn child, Max.”

My eyes widened. “What?”

“I know what happened. I was there, remember? Stop shushing me and treating me with kid gloves. I’m in this, Max. I’m neck deep in this, literally and metaphorically. So I need you to listen to me. Okay?”

My lawyer started giggling to herself, but I blocked out the sound.

“Okay, Dani. I’m listening.”

She nodded. “After I left my dorm, I went by your house, and it was crawling with police. The pub, too. I don’t think the guys are available, even if you do get a phone call. I’ve got a really bad feeling about this, Max. Something more is going on. I can’t explain how I know. I just--”

Miss Hall stepped forward. “What aren’t you telling us?”

Dani looked at me before I nodded.

“She’s okay. You have my word. But she’s right. There’s something that has you spooked.”

She swallowed hard. “It might be nothing. But that cop at the front desk? The one I was yelling at before Captain Riley intervened?”

“You were yelling at a cop?”

“Will you focus? Damn.”

“Okay.”

“Did you tell anyone else other than your lawyer that I was pushed into that pool? That I’d, like, you know, practically drowned?”

Miss Hall spoke up. “I haven’t filed any sort of formal testimony with the police yet, no.”

Dani shook her head. “I fucking knew it.”

I held her hands tightly. “What the hell are you talking about?”

Dani licked her lips. “When I was yelling at that police officer at the front desk, he literally told me to ‘take a dip and cool off.’ Take a dip, Max. Somehow, he knew I was pushed into the pool last night. He knew it without anyone knowing anything.”

I paused. “That’s a bit hairy to go on.”

Miss Hall started scrambling around in her purse. “Not for me it isn’t. Can you write that down on a piece of paper and sign it for me? I want to add it to the file I’ve got on this case.”

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