"Because you came in from France. If they do figure out he"s from there and know you were, too, they"ll a.s.sume a connection and look more closely at you than we want them to."
"Good point. I"m an American, by the way."
"Okay. Use your fake ID if that"s what you used locally for things?"
"Let me think what"s best to use. I"m so used to hiding my real name that using it to stay out of trouble didn"t even occur to me."
Riley smirked. "Welcome to honest living."
"Funny."
"Before I call my cousin, I want to get Quinn back here. At the least, I need someone to take your ruined clothes out of this house."
"The cop?"
He shot her a look. "Know his name, too?"
"Ryan Kendall. It was in your file."
"We really need to talk."
"Later."
"Yeah." Riley stepped over the body and pa.s.sed her to go upstairs for a radio. He was gone for a minute before returning to sit beside her. "Remember, the last time Quinn and Kris saw you, you were an a.s.sa.s.sin, so they"re not going to like you being free and helping me."
She digested that and asked, "How do we deal with that?"
"Honestly, I have no idea, but I just gave them a heads up not to harm you."
"Thanks," she said wryly, not looking forward to what would undoubtedly be an uncomfortable conversation. She moved to a seat in a nearby recliner, trying to look unthreatening for when his family arrived. Not knowing how to handle this, she decided to follow Riley"s lead and not say much, though the aggressive part of her wanted to control the flow of information and present her case proactively, as was her style. Pa.s.sivity had never been her thing. Still, silence was the better part of valor. She and Riley didn"t speak much in the few minutes that preceded the arrival of his siblings. Both sat contemplating the situation, new alliance, and options.
Looking wary, Quinn and Kris soon appeared in the exterior light blaring from above the back door, which the big guy opened. They stepped inside to see the body of Jake and pool of blood just feet away. Riley now stood near the corpse, stern but calm. No one said anything for a moment, but Kris arched an unimpressed eyebrow at the dead man and Quinn looked aghast and nervous.
With a hard look at Jordan, Kris asked Riley, "You"re sure about her?"
"Yes," the Marine replied emphatically.
"I think you need to tell us what"s going on." Quinn folded his arms, looking like he wanted something else to look at beside the body at his feet.
Riley began, "We don"t have a lot of time before I have to call Ryan, so here are the big points. Someone put a hit out on me for one of my kills during the Marines. A guy hired Jordan for it. You know what happened next. After that, this guy tried to kill her with a rifle, but I saved her. She owes me one. That"s part of why she"s not tied to the bed."
"I liked her better that way," said Kris.
Riley smirked. "So did I, actually."
"Be nice," said Jordan, suppressing a smirk.
"At that point, we worked together to capture this guy, but we tumbled down the stairs here and his own knife got him."
"Who is he?" Quinn asked.
Riley opened his mouth but Jordan spoke first. "Jake, or Jacques. He trained me and works for the same man I do."
Quinn"s eyebrows shot up. "So the guy you work for sent another guy to kill you? Why?"
"I need to find out."
"And I intend to find out who put the hit on me," added Riley, "and Thomas, her employer, knows both answers, so we"re going after him. Together."
Kris snorted. "Oh, so you"re together now?"
"That"s not what I meant."
"With her making moon eyes at you?"
Jordan frowned. "I"m hardly making moon eyes at anyone. Jesus."
Riley laughed. "You two can fight it out later."
"Good." Kris looked eager and not the least bit intimidated, making Jordan wonder if Kris had training in weapons or hand-to-hand combat.
"But for now," Riley continued, "we need your help."
"Name it," said Quinn, as Kris put her hands on her hips.
"First of all, I need you to hide the clothing I cut off of Jordan earlier. The barn is better, I think. Shove it under some straw in an empty stall."
"Done." Quinn flashed a look at Kris that suggested she was to comply with that without complaint. The barn was her domain.
"The only other thing I need from you now," said Riley, "is to say nothing of Jordan"s attempt on me when the police come. Your story is that the first thing you knew was me asking you to get in here and you seeing this body just now. You don"t know who Jordan is. Never met her. You don"t know s.h.i.t."
Kris said, "Easy enough. What"s your story with her though?"
"Met recently and she came here to shoot with me at my range. That"s it. She"s staying here, no hotel room. That"s her car out front."
Jordan squinted at him. "Am I staying here?"
"That was the plan, we"ll say. You don"t have to look cozy with me. Pretend you"re too rattled for mushy thoughts."
"I can fake what I have to," she replied.
"That"s what worries me," Kris remarked, turning to Riley. "How do you know she"s not faking being civil now and that she"s not still gonna kill you and collect her reward?"
He said, "She"s already had chances and didn"t take them. She stopped this guy from killing Coby."
"No offense," began Kris, clearly unimpressed, "but he"s a dog and doesn"t get her... How much did you say your corpse is worth?"
"Million."
"That"s a lot of f.u.c.king money."
Jordan chimed in. "Not really, and do you think if I kill Riley that Thomas is going to give me the rest of the money instead of a bullet in the head? The deal is dead. He has no honor."
"Neither do you," snapped Kris.
"Look, I know you"re protective of your brother-"
"d.a.m.n right."
"But without me," Jordan continued, "he doesn"t get to Thomas, and Thomas isn"t the one behind the hit any more than I am. We have to find out who hired him, or someone else comes to collect."
After a moment of silence, Riley rubbed his back with a wince and asked, "So everyone knows what to do? I need to call Ryan now. We"ve already waited too long because they"ll figure out time of death and maybe how long we stalled. He"ll be here in a few minutes, so Kris, you need to get started."
"I"ll call him," said Quinn, digging out his phone.
"You hurt?" Kris asked the Marine.
"A little."
Kris looked at Jordan and sighed. "What about you?"
"Sc.r.a.ped elbow. I"ll live."
"I"ll call Tiger on the way to the barn," Kris said. "He"s not on duty at the hospital tonight." She headed upstairs with Riley before returning with the clothes and then leaving. Jordan got the impression there"d been words between the two but couldn"t say why other than a hunch that Kris had more to say to her brother. Jordan suspected his sister would"ve said whatever she wanted whether Jordan was around or not. The directness was admirable. Bulls.h.i.t was for losers.
She admired their protectiveness and trust. She hadn"t been able to trust anyone in years, and the dead body before her affirmed the validity of that. And her aloneness. She"d gone back to working with Thomas for more safety, and the b.a.s.t.a.r.d had tried to kill her. Their next meeting would be interesting, at the least.
Chapter 8 Investigations.
On seeing the red and blue lights flashing across the trees behind the guest house, Riley knew his long day was only getting longer. His cousin Ryan was the Comus sheriff, and judging by the sight, he"d brought both deputies with him. Violent death didn"t come to the rural town often. In fact, before earlier this summer, there hadn"t been one in memory. His brother Connor had fallen for Sophia, a local girl whose old stalker had kidnapped her, the outcome leaving more than one corpse for his cousin to clean up. Thankfully, none of those bodies had been Sofia or a Kendall.
Ryan didn"t seem pleased on stepping through the back door to find Riley and Jordan to one side, Quinn and Kris on the other, and a dead guy at the bottom of the stairs, the dark blood around him beginning to congeal. His deputies peered around Ryan"s tall, lean frame and looked either amazed or sickened. The sheriff took in the scene and fixated on the Marine.
"Your handiwork?"
"Actually, the stairs did it."
Ryan"s gaze rose up the steps, blue eyes darting here and there as if searching for clues. "What happened? No bulls.h.i.t."
With a smirk, Riley told the truth about everything but Jordan, who he claimed was a date who"d come to stay with him, to shoot at the range and have other kinds of fun. She"d accidentally discharged the rifle inside, hitting the picture in the room where they stood. He left off any details about Jordan knowing Jake or any info on him. And Riley claimed he was the lone target.
"Why would a guy try to kill you, Riley?"
"Usually women threaten to do it themselves," he joked.
"You think this is a jealous boyfriend of some girl you, uh-"
"No idea. That"s your job. Get an ID and we"ll go from there."
Ryan wryly said, "Thanks for the tip on how to do my job."
"Welcome."
"Does this have anything to do with your Marine service?"
"Doubt it. I"d need to know who he is."
"What about you two?" Ryan asked his siblings. "You weren"t here?"
"Came when we he called us," replied Quinn. "We only saw what you see now."
"Anyone else know about this?"
"No."
Eyeing the security camera in one corner, Ryan asked, "What about that? You have footage of all of this? It would make corroboration easier."
"You doubt me?" Riley asked, not because he believed that, but just to give Ryan a hard time. His cousin seemed to know it from the way he didn"t bite.
"Answer the question."
"They don"t record. Never set them up for that. Your sister mostly did it." Riley had relied on the Kendall family geek, Isabel, to install the cameras. She was a sweetheart he"d always liked and he"d enjoyed helping her feel useful by letting her set up IP cameras at many of their businesses. She"d been so excited to have someone in the family rely on her. Having a sheriff and doctor for brothers might"ve made her feel underappreciated. Only her younger brother Gil had matched her for not being taken seriously, since he was a pro golfer.
Ryan asked, "What did you set the cameras up for?"
"Watching the dog." Riley glanced at Coby, who"d survived the day"s traumatic events unscathed, at least physically. He didn"t seem out of sorts at all.
"You like watching someone lick their a.s.s?" Ryan asked him.
Riley smiled. So maybe he"d annoyed the sheriff after all. "No. Just you."
Ryan mostly suppressed a grin. "Okay, it"s time for official business."
What followed was Ryan making a series of calls while his deputies secured the scene and made the others move to the kitchen. Before long, detectives arrived to interview Jordan and Riley separately. A CSI unit and ambulance came to process the scene and remove the corpse. Ryan was also recused from the case due to knowing everyone involved. Tiger discovered the b.u.mp on the Marine"s head from Jordan dropping the pot on him, and his back was bruised but otherwise fine. Jordan only needed a minor bandage for her elbow.
Quinn and Kris were excused first, then Jordan and Riley, the latter allowed to go upstairs under the watchful eyes of the deputies and take a few clothes. There was no time to take Jake"s hidden phone or anything else he might"ve wanted. Ryan informed them Riley"s house was off limits until further notice because it was an active crime scene. By the time they arrived at Quinn"s house, all of Riley"s siblings and Sophia had gathered in the large living room used as a home theater and party room. Both Ryan and Tiger went home.
Seeing the bag of clothes in Riley"s hand, Quinn asked, "Did Ryan kick you out overnight?"
"No, the CSIs did. Indefinitely," he replied, sitting on the arm of a recliner and gesturing for Jordan to sit in it, which she did, the leather creaking under her b.u.t.t.
"You can stay here," Quinn suggested, standing near the doorway.