Kissing the Key Witness. Jenna Ryan

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СКАЧАТЬ can, but since homicide and fraud are more or less cooperating on the Perine investigation, I want a rep there, too. Tyler was a cop, Tal. He was one of us. I know you’re familiar with the case he was working on, even if you weren’t directly involved. I want that shooter nailed. Tyler was your friend, so I’m thinking you’ll want the same thing.”

      Tal’s sleep-deprived mind resisted the attempt to shove it into line. When had he and Adam talked last? Seven, maybe eight days ago, and only briefly then. Adam had called him in Tampa.

      “He said he had a line on Orlando Perine.”

      “Had a hook in the bastard’s mouth, near as I can tell.” Drake gave a grunt. “Grill McGraw, see what he knows, but don’t count on him giving you straight answers. You know how the fraud boys are. Vultures over a rotting carcass.”

      Standing, Tal bulldozed the last of the grogginess from his brain. His old academy friend was dead. He’d died at Eden Bay Hospital. Adam’s ex-wife worked at Eden Bay. Had she seen him, spoken to him? Hell, had she watched him die?

      With the light off and the phone wedged between his shoulder and ear, he located his jeans. “Adam was working with an informant last week,” he said. “Some guy who wanted out. Didn’t get a name.”

      “He didn’t, or you didn’t?”

      “Both. He called the guy Falcon.”

      Dragging a T-shirt over his head, Tal searched for boots, sneakers, shoes—anything wearable. He found a pair of black hikers on the closet floor and, holding his keys in his mouth, laced them on.

      “You know Tyler’s ex, don’t you?” the captain asked.

      Tal grabbed a jacket. “We’ve met.”

      “Use it. Tyler was a good cop, and homicide’s our business. We call the shots. Fraud’s on the sidelines here. Make sure McGraw understands that.”

      Tal really didn’t care what McGraw understood. Adam had been his friend. Whether officially or unofficially, this was his case now.

      “Heading out,” he said and tossed the handset aside.

      Adam Tyler was dead. And the man responsible was going to pay.

      

      “YOU CAN’T OUTRUN THE TRUTH, Ms. Santino. Someone shot your ex-husband. Someone who works for Orlando Perine, aka the slimiest scumbag in the Sunshine State.”

      Gene McGraw enunciated the last part of his statement as if speaking to a five-year-old child. Not the best approach, in Maya’s opinion, but then if the rumors she’d heard about him had any merit, he wasn’t the most tactful cop in the fraud division. He certainly wasn’t the most incisive.

      Three hours had passed since the first ambulance had pulled in. She’d lost count of how many patients she’d treated—which was just as well, since counting meant thinking, and thinking would lead her straight to Adam. Not that she could avoid that destination indefinitely. Detective McGraw was dragging her there despite the crush of activity around them.

      Bumping him back, Maya palpated the ribs of a man groaning on a gurney outside an overflowing treatment room.

      “Ms. Santino…”

      She turned from the patient. “You don’t seem to be getting it, Detective McGraw. I haven’t got time for a cross-examination right now. Although it continues to escape your notice, we’re a bit busy here.”

      “So the fact that your ex-husband’s been murdered doesn’t mean diddly to you?” He hitched a testy shoulder as a pair of paramedics elbowed past.

      Appearance-wise, McGraw reminded Maya of a shaggy blond Columbo. In terms of attitude, however, the word caveman sprang to mind. Or perhaps more aptly, her cousin Diego, who she swore was a throwback to one of her mother’s nastier Andalusian ancestors.

      “Believe me, Detective, I’d give a great deal to be able to reverse time and bring Adam back, but I can’t do that, and unless you know some secret science, neither can you. What I can do is help the people in the here and now. Once the last patient is treated, I’ll be more than happy to answer any question you want to throw at me. Until then, the machine in the doctor’s lounge has better coffee than the cafeteria. It’s also free.”

      Tipping her lips into a quick smile, she sidestepped his arm and was out of range before he could object.

      “Guess you told him, huh?”

      Maya had her palm on the next treatment-room door when another man’s voice reached her. She turned to meet Stephen Talbot’s cool gray eyes. “I’m kinda busy here, Tal. Questions will have to wait.”

      “What about emotions?”

      “Same answer.” Frustration rose, coupled with something she knew better than to pinpoint. “Don’t push, okay? I might bite, and that’s not how I want to react. Adam’s gone. I’m making myself accept the truth, but I can’t—I won’t—let down someone whose life I might be able to save because of it. Any chance of any cop in Miami grasping that concept tonight?”

      Tal raised his hands. “Message received, Dr. Santino. I’ll wait in the lounge.”

      She tried very hard not to notice how tall he was or how incredibly, well, male, she supposed. How sexy. It felt wrong to be having thoughts like that. It definitely seemed inappropriate.

      “Dr. Santino!”

      With her eyes still on Tal, Maya pushed the door. “I’m here, Jamie. I’ve got a dozen more patients to see, Lieutenant, and that number doesn’t include any new arrivals. You could be waiting for quite some time.”

      He ignored the stream of people rushing past. “Better waiting than lying on one of your tables. Do what you have to, Maya. I’ll handle McGraw.”

      Great, she reflected, pushing through the door. Except that McGraw wasn’t the problem.

      

      THE MAN CALLING HIMSELF Falcon crouched under a palm tree behind a lilac bush and watched time crawl by. He was afraid to leave his hiding place, terrified that Adam Tyler hadn’t blocked the shooter’s view, after all.

      But no, he had to believe he was still a man of mystery in his boss’s eyes. A wanted, hunted man, but still an unknown commodity.

      What would the big man do now? Obvious answer, he’d go for the last person Tyler had spoken to. The doctor who just happened to be his ex-wife. Yeah, that’s what he’d do, all right. And if Tyler had talked, if he’d told her…

      Falcon began to hyperventilate. The woman wasn’t a cop, wasn’t trained. A little pain, and she’d crack, like the fatal egg he’d laid today.

      He had to run, get away. Let Tyler’s ex die. Beautiful she might be, but beauty wouldn’t help her, couldn’t save her.

      Giddy laughter swelled as he regarded the silhouette of the hospital before him. The woman was as dead as her ex-husband.

      She just didn’t know it yet.

      Chapter СКАЧАТЬ