Page 84 of Claim

I cringed. I’d guessed right about them following me.

A second later, Lucian walked into the waiting area. The scowl and utter annoyance on his face told me he’d used considerable restraint to keep from punching the reporter.

It also amused me watching some of the officers in the vicinity shift into alertness as Lucian’s security positioned themselves in different areas of the room.

Subtle never entered Lucian’s vocabulary. Instead, his style landed more on the in-your-face style.

At least the ones he’d foisted upon me had more discretion. They sat in seats among the other occupants waiting on people brought into the station.

Lucian caught sight of me and moved in my direction.

“Give me the details.”

“There isn’t much to tell you. They came into the penthouse in the guise of asking him questions and then said they wanted him to come down here for questioning about Keith’s murder.”

“I’ll handle this. The whole incident is bogus, and they know it. They’re after something else and jerking him around for another reason.”

“How are you planning on handling this? A murder investigation isn’t something you can ‘handle.’” I used air quotes around the last word.

“I have my ways.” His arrogant attitude had me shaking my head.

“I don’t understand any of this. When did he die?”

“Thirty-six hours ago. Give or take a few hours.” A look passed in Lucian’s dark eyes that had me suspicious.

I tucked my arm into his and pulled him to an area where others couldn’t hear us. “How do you know this?”

“Let me repeat. I have my ways.”

“Please tell me, you didn’t have anything to do with this?”

He narrowed his gaze. “Not everything has my hands in it. Besides, Pierce created the mess. Therefore, he is responsible for cleaning it up.”

“You told him this?”

My gaze lifted to the doors leading to the lockup area for a split second.

Could Damon have done something to Keith?

A lump formed in my throat.

“This conversation happened last night. And between all the drama of the evening and this morning, he wouldn’t have had the time. Then, also, there is the fact that murder happened before the gala.”

A sense of relief washed over me, and more worry crept in.

“Then who could have done it?”

“You could figure it out better than anyone else.”

“What gives you that conclusion?”

“You run in the same circles and can generate a list of enemies the fucker racked up.”

“I was his enemy number one.” I rubbed a hand across my face. “Why had I let my anger get the best of me? If I hadn’t gone there with Lizzy that night, then none of this would have happened—”

“Hold up. You took Lizzy with you?” Irritation filled Lucian’s voice. “You left that bit out in the retelling of your adventure. When you said “we,” I thought you meant you took one of your friends with you on this idiot escapade.”

I cringed, trying to rack my memory of what I’d told him. I could have sworn I’d given him all the details. Shit, maybe I had forgotten to tell him about Lizzy.

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