Dark Taste of Rapture (Alien Huntress 6)
Page 47“So what I’m trying to say is, we should consider using the witness as bait to draw out the Arcadian or whoever hired him.” Dallas’s snapped words stopped her from doing something stupid, like leaping over the table and devouring Hector. Uh, she meant, slapping some sense into Hector. “If the two cases are connected, the Arcadian will try to cover his tracks and tie up all loose ends. Right now, the witness is the only loose end we’ve got.”
“That we know of,” she replied. “But he’ll never agree. He was scared as hell already.”
“Well, we don’t have to use him in the field,” Hector said. “Just his name and someone who kinda looks like him. I don’t want to go that route, though. Not yet. Not until we have a few more answers.”
For a long moment after he’d spoken, he watched her, silent, his intense expression somehow transporting her back to the reception hall, with his arms caging her, his lips pressed into hers. Hot, aching arousal pooled between her legs.
Stop. You have to stop this.
She cleared her throat, breaking the spell.
He looked away. “I’ve got agents scouring Whore’s Corner, searching for other possible witnesses. Especially someone who isn’t a user. They’re texting me updates and so far no luck.”
“They probably won’t find anyone,” she said. “Witness mentioned a foot chase. Our killer would have found anyone else in the vicinity and we would have found a trail of dead bodies.”
“Maybe. Or, if our killer found someone else, he might have taken him to a secondary location, thinking everything was then under control. But there are no footprints anywhere. So either our witness was lying and there was never a chase or they were wiped.”
“Wouldn’t be difficult for a rich man to wipe the prints. With the right equipment, you can wipe anything. You need to have the agents search the field for a small pinlike device. It’s small, thin, and will blend in, but when shoved into the ground and switched on, it disrupts the natural lay of the land, kind of like shaking dirt in a glass.” Of course, if the device was used, the body could have been dragged there without leaving tracks.
“Nope. And you’ve never heard of something like that because it’s black market and new. I certainly don’t know about it because Ava and I trashed a senator’s prized backyard after he threw a tantrum when she wouldn’t sleep with him. I just like to stay up to date on new inventions.”
“Up to date?” Hector said. “That’s the alibi you’re going with?”
A shrug of one shoulder.
“I’ll have the agents look. As for us, we need to notify Mr. Marks’s family about his death before the press learns his identity. I tried to phone the mother, Brenda Marks, on the way over, but there was no answer.” There was a dagger-like sharpness to his tone. Clearly he hated that part of the job. “When she finds out, there will be a public outcry for action and answers, and we’ll have cameras on our every move.”
“Probably. Brenda Marks is as cold and unfeeling as a woman can get. You don’t have to worry about any tears or accusations that you should have done your job and saved Bobby. But she does like the limelight, and she will phone every newspaper in town the moment you leave her.”
A tangle of scents wafted to Noelle a split second before the waitress arrived. Noelle’s mouth watered. Steaming plate after steaming plate was skidded across the table. Her stomach twisted with eagerness.
Her favorite development? The men stared at her food with absolute longing.
“Don’t ask, because I’m not sharing.” Smug, she lifted a piece of extra crispy bacon, bit off the tip, and gave another of those moans, as if the cloned meat was the best thing she’d ever tasted. Maybe it was. The flavors exploded on her tongue as she chewed.
“Not nice,” Hector growled, rubbing his arm more forcefully.
“Ow!”
“The fact that I’m not sharing means I’m not sharing.” She signaled the waitress and said, “My friend would like a bowl of pretzels if you’ve got them. Oh, and a bandage for his hand.”
“I’ll see what I can find.” Off the waitress went again, returning a few minutes later with a bowl of crackers and a clean rag.
Dallas ignored the rag and munched on the saltines, glaring at Noelle the entire time.
Hector waved his fingers at her sausage. “Give me the patties or walk home.”
O-kay. Normally a guy making any kind of demand after semi-rejecting her—more than once—would have pissed her off. But … that husky voice, paired with those glittering eyes, and the stubborn tilt of his chin, was just flat-out sexy. Wouldn’t do to give in gracefully, though.
Forcing a put-on expression, she scooted the plate of patties his way, and said, “Only because I’ve had my hand wrapped around your …” His eyes slitted and she smiled innocently … “tool kit.”
Dallas looked between them.
Hector’s pupils pulsed at that, but he said nothing else, just focused all of his intensity on the food.
“That I didn’t share my toast with you?” Noelle shook her head as she shoveled in a bite of eggs, swallowed. “Try again.”
The worrying paused for a moment. “No, moron, if the media learns Marks’s identity before the family is notified.”
He was lucky Ava wasn’t here. The namecalling would have sent her friend into a red-hazed rage and when Ava raged, people required hospitalization. Or coffins. “But you guys still want his name kept out of the papers?”
“Yes.” Hector bit into the sausage with gusto.
“ME’s report will hit our desks in the morning, and you can wait to notify Marks’s mother until then,” Dallas said, shifting the bowl of crackers back and forth between his hands. “But there’ll be no keeping the details on lockdown after that.”
Noelle noticed that while she called the victim by his first name, Hector and Dallas used his last. Their way of remaining distanced, she thought. Any other case, she probably would have done the same. But then, she’d known Bobby before his murder.