Kissing the Key Witness. Jenna Ryan

Чтение книги онлайн.

      He’d have breathed if he could, but something other than air had gotten into his lungs. Something that punched through the snapping threads of his control.

      Tal had no idea where things might have gone from there. However, drugged or not, he recognized the blast below them in an instant.

      Maya tore her mouth free, whipped her eyes down. “Was that…?”

      “Yeah, it was.” Shoving her behind him, Tal grabbed the backup from his waistband.

      And searched the courtyard for the person who’d fired the gun.

      “IT WAS AN ACCIDENT, I swear. I took the safety off, like so. But there was a pain in my wrist. Then, oh no, the gun, it dropped, and kaboom. It went off.”

      Maya’s neighbor, the man with the drawn shades, appealed primarily to her, although his nervous eyes kept flitting to Tal.

      “Please, Dr. Santino.” Carl Ruiz adopted an attitude of prayer. “Tell the officer I didn’t mean to do it.”

      “It’s all right, Carl.” Maya attempted to calm him. “Lieutenant Talbot knows you work as a security guard.”

      “For six months,” the man put in. “I hit my hand on the counter yesterday and hurt the bone. I’m sorry to have caused so much trouble….”

      Thirty minutes and several reassurances later, Maya and Tal left the man’s apartment and made their way back to the courtyard.

      The people who’d reacted to the gunshot had returned to their tasks and chores, leaving the area empty.

      Maya turned a curious half circle as she walked. “Where are my bodyguards? Please say they’re not skulking around Mr. Ruiz’s place, because I promise you, that man is not on Orlando Perine’s payroll.”