Page 12 of Just Now

She nodded and lay down, curling up into a ball as if to protect herself from the world.

Almost reluctantly, he moved away, leaving her alone with her thoughts and her tear-streaked face.

Deep within, he knew something wasn’t right. What he had done was wrong, he knew that in his heart. But it was only what he’d experienced. All he was doing was passing it on. And at least he killed them afterward. After all, it would be so wrong to let them live in the same misery he’d done.

Ending their lives was doing them a favor.

He smiled as he thought about it, knowing that she couldn’t see him from behind the small holes in that wall.

CHAPTER SIX

As Connor lifted his hand to rap on Maxwell Reed’s office door, he paused, his face changing. Cami felt instant tension fill her. Something was wrong. Had Connor picked up a red flag, or was this something even more serious?

Rushing up to stand beside him, Cami looked anxiously at the red brick building, with the window blinds and the planters outside, and the brass notice board next to the door advertising “Health & Diet Services.”

Then she heard it, from inside.

A breathless, plaintive moaning noise that made her stomach tighten and sent adrenaline pumping through her.

“The hell?” Connor muttered.

Connor raised his hand and brought it down loudly, hammering on the door with a deafening bang. And then, without waiting for an answer, he turned the handle and shoved it hard.

The door wasn’t locked. It burst open and Connor barged his way inside, into a small reception area with a tidy front desk that was unoccupied. A blue office chair was placed behind it, there was a vase of flowers on the desk, and there were a few framed posters on the wall of weight charts, nutrition profiles of fruits and vegetables, and the calorie-burning properties of various exercises.

But the moaning was coming from the door at the back, and it was here that Connor now headed purposefully. Cami could hear thuds and scuffling coming from beyond.

Connor flung his weight against this door. It was locked. He rattled the handle.

“FBI. Open up. Now!”

More scuffling, and then silence. Cami waited, her heart pounding.

Then the door flew open, and they were face to face with the man that she recognized from her research earlier.

Maxwell Reed’s blue shirt collar was askew and the shirt itself was hanging out of his pants. His face, which had looked round in the photo but was slimmer in real life, was flushed and misted with perspiration. His brown hair, cut in a trendy style with shorter sides and length on top, was mussed.

Cami was starting to realize what was going on here. The picture was made even clearer when she saw the woman behind him, on the long, navy couch, frantically tugging at her skirt and looking for her shoes.

Irregular activities had been taking place here, undoubtedly. Just not the ones they’d been hoping to find. But maybe those were still happening elsewhere.

Cami realized they might not be finding this out as easily as they’d hoped to. Because, at that moment, Maxwell himself made a leap for the window.

Cami gasped as he shoved it open and got his leg over the sill. Connor, showing a sudden turn of speed, dashed across the office and made a determined grab for the fleeing man.

He managed to get hold of Maxwell’s arm at the last possible moment. Maxwell yelled, sounding angry and panicked. “Let go of me!”

“Get back in here!” Connor commanded.

A fist thudded against the window frame.

Cami stood, feeling conflicted. She should run to help, but she didn’t know how effective she could be in this close-quarters fight. And then she realized there was something even more important she could do.

The woman had her shoes on and was eyeing the door.

Cami quickly moved to lock it. She slammed it, turned the latch, and stood in front of it, trying to look as authoritative as possible. No way was she going to let a witness leave.

“Get out of my way,” the woman threatened breathlessly.

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