Virginia Vaughan - Killer Insight

“I’ll do it,” Lucy volunteered.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Ross countered. “You’re the victim.”

But she wasn’t backing down. She squared her shoulders as she locked eyes with him. “I’m also an FBI agent trained in interview and interrogation. I want to do this.” She pushed back the blankets and tried to stand. Bryce quickly helped her when her knees threatened to buckle. She clearly wasn’t up for this tonight.

“I’ll go with her,” Bryce suggested. “But the shop will already be closed tonight.” He glanced at Ross, who shrugged.

“Fine. Let me know if anything comes of it. Who would have a reason to threaten you?” Ross asked her.

“Besides the man who abducted and tried to murder me, you mean?”

“Yes, besides him.”

Lucy sighed and settled back down on the bed, giving up the pretense of trying to stand. Good. She didn’t need to push herself. “I don’t know anyone in this town and, to my knowledge, the only people who knew I was coming were you and Bryce. Has this perpetrator reached out to the police or media before?”

Ross shook his head. “No. We’ve never received any form of communication from him.”

“Then either learning the FBI was involved bolstered his ego, or else he meant this threat for me personally.”

“The news has been broadcasting that you’re FBI,” Bryce told her. Her attack and escape from the killer were all anyone in town was talking about tonight. He’d even had to spend several minutes at Meghan’s friend’s house chitchatting about it with her mother before he’d been able to leave.

“Still, it’s an unlikely scenario,” Lucy continued. “If he was interested in taunting the police, he would have established contact before now. He likely sees me as a loose end—the one that got away and can give evidence that might lead police to him—or else as a challenge.”

“Either way, you’re a target,” Bryce stated. He didn’t like that scenario. She was still in danger because of him, because he’d asked her to come here. It was his duty, his responsibility to keep her safe. “I’ll stay with you.”

“I can take care of myself,” she assured him, but he waved off her show of strength. She was in this mess because of him, and he had a duty to keep her safe. He owed it to her and to Danny, but most of all, he’d borne the responsibility of placing others in danger before, with terrible results. He wasn’t sure he could go through that again.

“I’m not leaving.”

She stared up at him, her eyes shining with gratitude and acceptance. “Okay, but only until I fall asleep. Then I insist you go home. The doctor will be releasing me in the morning. We’ll go interview the floral shop employees then.”

Ross nodded. “Great. Let me know what you find out.” The forensics team signaled they were done, and Ross turned to leave. “I’m heading back out to the abduction site. I’ll let you know if we find anything. I’ll also have those files we talked about sent to the B&B.”

“Thank you, Detective.”

Bryce extended his hand and shook Ross’s. “I appreciate all you’re doing,” he said, and he meant it. Ross hadn’t had to go to bat for him with the chief and allow him to bring in the FBI, but he had and he was always fair enough to look at all the leads before making any conclusions. Bryce wished all the officers on the force showed the same restraint.

The nurse arrived and gave her something to help her pain, and Lucy seemed to rest better after that. Once she was sleeping soundly, Bryce slipped from the room and took up guard duty outside her door.

He passed the time by continuing to try to reach his brother and looking up the details of Danny’s death. Something about the expression on Lucy’s face when she’d told him about the car crash had left him wondering. He was sure she’d been hesitating, holding something back, and he feared the worst as he scoured the internet for news about the crash that had killed Danny and a family in a van.

He found articles on the crash from the previous year. A family of four, including two children, were killed when another driver had barreled through a traffic light and crashed into them. The driver of the car was also killed, and found to be under the influence of prescription medication at the time of the crash.

So that was what she hadn’t wanted to tell him. Danny had been abusing prescription meds. Bryce sighed and rubbed a hand over his face as weariness weighed heavily on him. He’d known too many men, good men, who’d succumbed to addiction after suffering injuries in the service. As far as he’d known, Danny’s injuries during his last combat mission hadn’t been severe, certainly nothing that would have prevented him from returning after recovery. But he’d decided it was time to leave military life and focus on a career in law. The last time Bryce had spoken to Danny, he’d been excited about graduating law school and being hired by a criminal defense firm. He’d also been excited about planning a life with Lucy.

How easily it had all faded away.

He clicked on an image on his phone of him and Meghan taken only a few days after he’d returned home from his last mission as an SOA operator. It had been a rescue mission at an embassy and people had died, people he’d sent in to help the embassy workers. In an instant, his decision had cost three families their husbands, fathers, sons and brothers. It was a burden he had to live with, and one he didn’t shoulder lightly.

He would look after Lucy because he owed it to her for the danger he’d placed her in. But he had to be careful too. He recalled how enamored Meghan had been with the lovely brunette FBI agent. She’d already texted him twice since he’d left her at her friend’s house to check on her, and that was only after gushing about Lucy to her friend for several minutes after she’d arrived.

Yes, Lucy was turning out to be a fierce, amazingly strong federal agent, but that was all she could ever be in their lives. The press had called his SOA team heroes for acting to save lives, but his own government had labeled him insubordinate for not obeying their command to stand down and ignore the tragedy unfolding at the embassy. Lucy was a government agent, and Bryce had learned the hard way that his government could not be trusted—therefore Lucy could not be trusted.

No matter how her eyes seemed to twinkle at him.

Bryce arrived at the hospital the next morning carrying a suitcase. “I stopped by the B&B and asked Mrs. Ferguson to pack you some clothes from your room. I hope that’s okay.”

It was more than okay. It was wonderful, and Lucy was grateful he’d thought of it. She slipped from the hospital gown into a pair of jeans and a blouse and was finally starting to feel like a person again. She stared at herself in the mirror and saw a stranger staring back at her. The big ugly bruise took up one side of her face, and a busted lip completed the look.

The beating had been severe, and it was a blessing she hadn’t sustained more than a mild concussion. Thinking about what might have been had been enough to keep her awake all night. Even now it made her stomach roll. She’d come to town to catch a killer, not to become his next victim.

“Thank you for the clothes,” she told Bryce as she emerged from the bathroom where she’d changed. Last night the police had confiscated her running shoes for evidence, but Mrs. Ferguson had remembered to include another pair in the bag. She slipped them on, grimacing at the action. Her entire body ached from her ordeal, and she noticed Bryce didn’t miss her grunts of pain.

“Are you sure you shouldn’t be staying here?” he asked her.

She waved off his concerns. “I’m fine. Just a little sore. Getting out and moving will certainly help.” That and the massive bottle of Tylenol she planned to keep with her at all times. The doctor had prescribed her painkillers, but she was hesitant to use them unless absolutely necessary. She wanted to be as alert as possible, and she’d tried to avoid strong painkillers ever since discovering Danny’s addiction to them.