Twin Targets. Marta Perry

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      “Get anything more from her?” Arthur Phillips, Micah’s immediate superior, blew out a breath on the frosty air, sending up a misty cloud.

      “Not much.” Micah shoved his hands in his pockets. “According to her, Ruby tipped her that she was being sent to Montana right under the noses of the agents who were guarding her. Says she moved out here but never heard from Ruby again.”

      “You believe she actually came here just on the chance she’d run into her sister?”

      Micah considered. He’d been skeptical, too, but…“We might want to push some more on that, but it sounded genuine.”

      “Could be, I guess. They were identical twins, so I suppose the bond runs pretty deep.” Phillips’s cold blue eyes surveyed him. “Or she could be involved herself in the mess Ruby was in. That would account for the shooters coming after her.”

      Micah nodded slowly. “It still doesn’t make much sense. Why did they need to kill both twins? And I told you what I heard the shooter say.”

      “‘What if this isn’t the right one, either?’” Phillips repeated the words that had been echoing in Micah’s head for the past hour or so. “What did he mean? Why was Ruby not the right one? And if she wasn’t…”

      “Like I said, it doesn’t make sense.”

      Phillips’s scowl said he didn’t like things that didn’t make sense. “Whatever it means, the Summers woman needs both investigation and protection. You think you can talk her into moving somewhere safe?”

      “I can try. She doesn’t seem to trust us too much.”

      “Try hard. Convince her we’re the good guys. I want to be sure she’s safe and someplace where we can get our hands on her until we figure out what’s going on.”

      Phillips’s tone dismissed him. Nodding, Micah turned back to the house.

      He’d said Jade didn’t trust them, but as far as he could see, that mistrust was aimed straight at him personally. And he suspected Jade had a fierce stubborn streak behind her prim, soft exterior.

      He pushed into the kitchen. She wasn’t there, but a sound came from the living room beyond. He went through the room in a few quick strides.

      Jade knelt over the remains of a curio shelf the shooters had knocked off the wall. Her shoulders shook and tears rained down her face.

      “Are you all right?” As he neared, he saw that the shelf had contained a collection of crystal bells, shattered now beyond any hope of repair. “Careful. Don’t cut yourself.”

      “I won’t.” She stood, keeping her face averted, probably not wanting him to see her cry.

      “I’m sorry. I’m afraid they’re a total loss. Were they a special memento?” The bells must mean something, to bring her to tears.

      “No.” Her voice turned cool as she swung to face him. “It’s nothing. I’d just like to clean up in here, if you people are finished.”

      She made it sound as if they’d done the damage. Jade Summers must have steel in her backbone, to react as calmly as she had to the events of the morning.

      She had been shaken but dry-eyed at the news of her sister’s death. Now she wept over a few broken bells. He didn’t have a clue to what went on inside her. His chief was letting him play a lone hand with the woman, and he had to do it right.

      “Cleaning up will have to wait. I have a few more questions.”

      Her lips tightened. “I’ve already told you everything I know. Whoever led those men to my sister, it wasn’t me.”

      “Then why did they come after you?” He shot the question at her.

      She raked her fingers through deep red curls, clenching her hands for an instant as if pulling on her shoulder-length mop would clear her brain. “How would I know? You’re the professional. You tell me.”

      “Maybe we should go to my office in Billings to have this discussion.” It was a pretty safe bet that she didn’t want to do that.

      “I can’t do that.” Her voice went up. “I have to get to work.”

      “The library will exist without you for as long as necessary. But if you answer my questions here, it’ll go faster.”

      “I told you I don’t know anything that would help you.”

      “We don’t know ourselves what will help at this point,” he countered. “Humor me.”

      She shot him a look of active dislike, but then she shrugged, giving in. “What do you want to know? I’ve already told you that I haven’t seen Ruby since that day at the library.”

      He wasn’t sure he believed that, but he set it aside for the moment. “Had you been seeing a lot of her before that? Even before her case came up, I mean.”

      “No.” She hesitated for a moment. Sometimes people did that when they were trying to fabricate a lie, but he thought she just didn’t want to talk about it.

      “I hadn’t seen much of Ruby in quite a while.” Her voice was slow, reluctant. “I don’t know how much you know about our backgrounds—”

      She stopped, maybe waiting for him to fill in the blanks.

      “I know enough.” It was all there in the records, and he’d been Ruby’s contact.

      Her lips pressed together for an instant. “Our father was out of the picture. Our mother was an alcoholic and an addict. Our childhood was a nightmare. All I ever wanted was to get out—to make something of myself so I never had to live like that again. Ruby…well, Ruby didn’t agree.”

      “So you parted company, did you?” Truth to tell, he didn’t see much of his half brother, either. Sometimes siblings just didn’t have much to say to each other.

      “Not exactly. I mean, we didn’t have a fight or anything.” Her gaze slid away from his, as if there was more to it than that. “Ruby found СКАЧАТЬ