Page 38 of Marked For Revenge

“I will,” Ava assured him.

Caleb nodded, as if pleased with that, and he stood. “I’d better be getting back to Austin, and I’ll stay put. Promise.”

Ava walked to the door with him. “Uh, when this investigation is over, maybe we can have lunch or something?” she suggested.

This time the smile made it to his eyes and he nodded. “Good. I’d like that.”

He muttered a goodbye, but the moment Caleb opened the door, Harley heard a familiar voice. Not Edgar this time. But rather Aaron.

Apparently, this was going to be the day for awkward encounters, and Harley went out into the hall in case things turned bad. Aaron was indeed coming up the hall, and Theo was with him, no doubt taking the man to an interview room.

Aaron froze, his gaze zooming straight to Caleb’s, and Harley could tell that he recognized his bio-son. Of course he did. In this day of social media, Aaron had likely seen many photos of the young man, and Harley recalled Aaron mentioning that Caleb and he had spoken on the phone after Caleb had learned of their DNA connection.

“Caleb,” Aaron said on a rise of breath.

Caleb nodded but certainly didn’t dole out any of the warmth that he had to Ava. Maybe because Caleb had picked up on the clues that Aaron was a suspect in not only the shooting but also the murders.

Aaron continued to look at Caleb for several moments before his gaze fired to Harley’s, then to Ava’s when she also stepped into the hall.

“You’d better not be interrogating Caleb,” Aaron snapped.

“We’re not,” Ava assured him. “Caleb just came by to talk.”

Aaron didn’t seem the least bit convinced of that, but Theo didn’t give him a chance to press for any other info.

“In here,” Theo ordered, opening the door of the interview room across the hall.

Aaron kept his gaze fastened to Caleb. “Will you be around for a while? If so, maybe we can talk when I’m done.”

Caleb shook his head. “I was just leaving.” He paused. “I’ll call you soon.” He repeated his goodbye and started walking toward the front of the building.

“I’ll have the Ranger who drove Caleb here text me when Caleb’s safely back at his apartment,” Harley whispered to Ava, hoping that would ease some of the worry she was no doubt feeling about Caleb being out and about.

“Go in and wait,” Theo told Aaron.

Aaron did, after he watched Caleb until he was out of sight. Then, on a heavy sigh, he turned to Ava. “Don’t you dare try to turn him against me,” Aaron warned her.

Now that was the voice of a man who could kill, but Ava didn’t take the bait and verbally strike back at him. She just waited until Theo had Aaron inside the interview room. Then Theo shut the door and turned toward Ava.

“Are you okay?” Theo asked her.

She nodded. “Someone sent Caleb photos of the murdered women.”

“Yeah. I was looking at the text Harley forwarded to me when Aaron came in for his interview. You’ll send them to the Ranger lab?” Theo directed that question at Harley.

“I will,” Harley verified. “What about the summary of the reports from the PI? Did you get those yet?”

“I did, and I just got an email update about five minutes ago. You were copied on it, so it’ll be in your in-box.”

“They found something?” Ava asked, sounding plenty hopeful.

“Something that doesn’t look good for Aaron,” Theo verified. “The PI was watching Aaron’s place the night Christina died. She wasn’t out partying or visiting friends. She was at the apartment she shared with Aaron. He was the only person who came and went during the hours leading up to her death.”

Oh, yeah. That definitely didn’t look good for Aaron. “Too bad the PI didn’t spot Aaron actually buying drugs,” Harley commented.

Theo made a sound of agreement. “On that particular night, the PI didn’t start surveillance until Aaron arrived home. Still, I’ll be able to use this to put some pressure on Aaron. If he admits to buying Christina the drugs that killed her, then that might cause him to break and admit to other things.”

If so, then Theo might be able to make an arrest today, and even if that arrest wasn’t for the murders, it would put one of their prime suspects behind bars where he wouldn’t be able to come after Ava or anyone else.

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