Strictly Confidential. Terri Reed

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      She clicked out of her e-mail and brought up her desktop screen saver: an ocean beach with tranquil water and warm-looking sand. One of these days she was going on a vacation.

      She left her office and went downstairs to open the front door. Becca Hilliard and Sam Vance stood on the stoop.

      “Hey, guys, come in.” Colleen stepped back to let them enter. It wasn’t unusual for the pair of detectives to appear at her front door. Often they’d come with leads or in hopes of gaining information on a story she was working on.

      Becca’s light-brown hair was pulled back into her usual long ponytail hanging almost to her waist. She was dressed in navy slacks and matching jacket over a white blouse. She smiled slightly as she stepped into the foyer. “Hello, Colleen.”

      Sam passed Colleen without comment. His tall, muscular build could be overwhelming at times, especially when he was working. His dark wavy hair looked clean and his face freshly shaved, but Colleen noticed the grim expression tightening his strong jaw.

      “Where were you last night?” Sam asked as he looked around.

      Colleen arched one eyebrow. “You saw me last night at the museum. What’s up?”

      Becca walked into the living room. “Are you alone?”

      Wary, Colleen followed her in. “Yes.”

      “Where did you go after you left the museum last night?” Becca asked.

      Colleen slid her gaze to Sam, who watched her with hooded eyes. She frowned. “I came here.”

      “Was anyone here?” Sam asked, his voice low.

      “No. I heard my parents come home later.”

      “Where are they now?” Becca asked.

      “They’re at their Bible study. Every Thursday morning for the past ten years.” Colleen put her hands on her hips. “What is going on?”

      “Did you see Neil O’Brien after you left last night?”

      Becca’s softly asked question sent a ripple of concern down Colleen’s spine. “No. He stormed out and that was that.” She shook her head. “He was really drunk. I hope he didn’t get in a car and drive like that.”

      “No. He didn’t get into a car.” Sam moved restlessly around the room.

      Colleen tracked his progress. “Sam. Talk to me.”

      He stopped his pacing and turned to look directly in her eyes. “Do you own a gun?”

      “What?” She dropped her chin. “Do I need one?”

      He moved to stand right in front of her. “Colleen. Neil O’Brien was murdered last night.”

      Colleen staggered back a step. He was about to be a father. “Oh, poor Mary. How…What happened?”

      “Someone shot him in the back,” came Becca’s reply.

      “In the back?” Colleen’s journalistic nose twitched. “I’ve got to get my notebook.”

      “Actually, Colleen, we need you to come down to the station with us.”

      Colleen stopped and stared at Sam as realization came at her like one of Jake’s baseballs, effectively knocking the wind from her lungs. “The question about the gun…you think I…how could you…?”

      Contrition showed bright in Sam’s warm brown eyes. “It’s just routine. You had an altercation with the man prior to his murder.”

      “So that makes me guilty of killing him?” she asked, her voice rising. “Sam, you’ve known me my whole life.”

      Becca stepped forward. “There’s more, Colleen. We really need your cooperation.”

      “I’m not going anywhere,” she stated.

      Her mind whirled with story angles and possible suspects in Chief O’Brien’s murder. She had to get out on the street and find out who had killed Neil.

      “Then we’ll need to read you your rights and then take you to the station,” Becca said softly.

      “Read me my rights?” Panic slithered up her spine. She felt as if she’d somehow walked into a B movie and wasn’t able to follow the plot line. “What are you saying?”

      “Colleen Montgomery, you’re under arrest for the murder of Neil O’Brien….”

      “What are you doing here?”

      Alessandro halted at his cousin Sam’s harshly asked question. He’d come to the police station as soon as he heard they’d arrested Colleen.

      Not for the first time, Alessandro wished he could confide in his cousin that they were on the same side.

      But he couldn’t.

      The fewer people privy to such information, the better. For their sakes as well as for his own.

      “Colleen Montgomery had nothing to do with Neil O’Brien’s death.”

      Sam raised a brow. “Do you have proof of this?”

      Knowing his words would mean little to nothing to the detective, Alessandro stated, “Your evidence is circumstantial at best.”

      “That’s for her lawyer to prove,” Sam retorted.

      Frustration tightened in Alessandro’s gut. “You can’t believe she did this.”

      Sam ran a hand through his hair. “It doesn’t matter what I believe. I have to follow the law.”

      Not above using their familial connection, Alessandro lowered his voice and said, “Cousin, I know you have no reason to trust me. But trust yourself. You know Colleen wouldn’t hurt anyone. She is being framed. Think for a moment. The articles she has been writing lately on the escalating drug trade…the fires…someone wants her stopped. And I know who it is.”

      Sam grabbed him by the arm and pulled him into an interrogation room and shut the door. “You better tell me what you know, Cousin .”

      “Baltasar Escalante is not dead.”

      Sam gave him a droll look. “Really. And you know this…how?”

      Alessandro ground his teeth together. He couldn’t reveal his source of information without blowing his own cover. “You’ll have to trust me.”

      Sam snorted. “As you said, I have no reason to trust you.”

      Regret for the image he’d been forced to cultivate in order to work his way closer to Escalante’s people stabbed him in the chest. “I can’t explain how I know. He is back.”

      Sam shook his head. “We’d have spotted him.”

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