Page 43 of What We May Be

The room instantly went wired. Trevor scraped back his chair to stand, looming over Sean, and Diego and Jaylen bolted up from the couch to form a solid, threatening wall of muscle behind him. Charlie appreciated the show of support for one of their own, but Sean was only giving voice to the troubling connections she’d also made. The connections that had led her to keep Trevor at the station all day. “Guys,” she said, “let him finish.”

Trevor’s betrayed glare stung, but then Sean lifted his hands and drew an even icier one his direction. “Obviously you didn’t do this. You weren’t even in town last night. But the facts can’t be ignored.” He lowered one hand and began ticking off fingers with the other. “You’re a professor at HU, Jeff held out on your tenure, and Julian stole your wife. We might want to think about protective custody for you. Officially.”

“You think he’s a potential victim,” Charlie surmised, at the same time Diego asked, “Guilty of conspiracy? Accessory to murder?”

As soon as the words left Diego’s mouth, Charlie’s eyes shot to Trevor. He knew the truth about her mother’s death. Was that enough to make him guilty of conspiracy? And who else would know that?

It took a half second for Trevor to make the same connection, and he deflated instantly.

Ignoring Sean’s quizzical expression, Charlie addressed the others. “Tell Wallace he’s been upgraded to protective detail on Craig. Put him in a room at The Sand Dollar Inn. Book one for Trevor too. Should be vacancies now that the tourists are gone for the week. And keep digging into Jeff and Julian. Focus on the HU connections and note any other potential victims. Wally can help us there too.”

Jaylen and Diego nodded, then booked it out the door.

“I’m going to go help,” Trevor said. She opened her mouth to protest, but his pleading eyes stopped her. “Let me do something. Kill some time. If I have to spend all evening in a room next to Craig, you’ll have another murder on your hands.”

She circled her desk and clasped his hands. “I need to keep you safe.”

“We both need to,” Sean said from behind them, his voice full of the same alarm and concern as Charlie’s. “As a precaution.”

Trevor leaned forward and kissed her cheek, a bright flare of warmth zinging through her. His warm hands squeezing around hers magnified the effect. Until they were gone and cold rushed back in. He turned for the door and shot Sean a smirk over his shoulder. “You can drive me to the motel when you’re ready to go. Safe and sound.”

“I guess that leaves me to follow up on the Barnetts,” Sean said, once it was just the two of them left in her office.

Charlie rested back on the edge of the desk. “Do you think Marie might know something? About Duncan?”

“Maybe. If she doesn’t, I’ve got no problem confronting that asshole myself.” His voice had an edge to it that made her think he wasn’t just talking about Duncan’s possible connection to the case. “But promise me one thing.”

“What’s that?”

“Have bail money on hand,” he said, grin returning.

“I can do you one better.” She dug in her pocket and withdrew a set of station keys. “I have the keys to the cell.”

“Well, all right then,” he drawled. “I’ll call if there’s trouble.”

“You do that.” She chuckled, turning around to gather the files on her desk. “Oh, Sean.” She waited for him to stop and turn back to her over the threshold. “I didn’t get to ask the other night. Where are they? Saul and Marie? I’d like to send a care package, but Paxton has offices all over. I didn’t know which—”

He locked eyes with hers. “DC is the home office.”

“Are you serious?”

After a moment’s hesitation, he turned his back, took a step, then paused. And dropped a bomb that would’ve taken her legs out if she weren’t still leaning against the desk. “I moved there last week.”

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