Twisted Bond

Another motive?

“Just once?” I clarify.

“Yeah. It was a drunken mistake.”

“Aren’t they always?” Devin mutters.

I flick my fingers against his hand to shut him up. “When did it happen?”

“Maybe a couple weeks before they got married. I can’t remember exactly.”

“Mhmm.” I glance down at her burgeoning stomach. “And that would be…”

Her silence tells me everything I need to know.

“Thanks, girls. I can see you’re upset, so I’ll leave you to it. But like with Detective Nash, y’all think of anythin’, you call me.” I hand them two cards from the holder in my purse and grab Devin’s arm.

We leave the store to two hushed goodbyes, and I open the cruiser door.

“Did you know that?” I ask my brother.

“Not a clue. And I don’t think Drake does, either.”

“Hm.”

“What are you thinking?”

“I’m thinking they both have motives. And that I need a cupcake to process this.”

Three cupcakes and a measure of Jack Daniel’s later and all I’ve done is make more suspects for myself. Which is a good thing—kind of. Dean and Marshall have been wiped off the board, but Mike and Grecia are still very much up there, now accompanied with Pe

If Ryan knew that Pe

I rub my temples. A continuing relationship would be the strongest reason for a motive. Both of them could have wanted her out of the way.

Mallory has a motive, too, though. Albeit a weak one. Maybe she got mad and came back after she left. But she’s tiny. How would she get Lena to take the poison? The autopsy said that it had been in her di

Or maybe Pe

After all, the husband is always the most suspicious, and I certainly have reason to be suspicious of him.

Baking a bun in another woman’s oven is a big-ass secret to keep from a woman you’re paying several thousand dollars.

Of course, that raises another question.

Why would he pay me if he were the killer?

“Brody. My favorite brother.” I lean against the frame of his front door. My smile is so sweet that I’m in danger of rotting my teeth.

“What do you want?”

“I have two questions.” I hold my fingers up.

“No. I can’t answer them.”

“Oh, come on. They’re yes-or-no questions. I’ll swap you.”

He narrows his eyes. “Trent and Drake already fell for that.”

“Fine. I’ll go first, and if you already know it, I’ll go.”

He sighs. “Shut the door and spit it out.”

I hurriedly close the door and skip into the front room. “Pe

“Oh, really? The rapidly inflatin’ beach ball on her front didn’t clue me into that,” he says dryly.

“With Ryan Perkins’s baby.”

“Fuck off.” Brody turns lightning quick, dropping all traces of sarcasm from his tone. “Where’d you find that out?”

Aha! “From her, yesterday. When I went to Lena’s store. And neither of them has an alibi for the time she was killed. They were alone, supposedly.”

“You’re not saying it to fuck with Drake?”

“No. If I were, I wouldn’t have told you, would I? I get how much this could change the investigation, so I’m being the bigger person.”

“Because you want information.”

“Yes.” I grin.

“Spit it out,” he sighs.

“Do you know where Lena was killed?”

“No, but a salad inside a kebab containing Lena’s DNA and suspected traces of hemlock leaves were retrieved from the store. We’re currently assuming that she was taken to an unknown location, tortured, then kept there until she could be transferred to your Dumpster.”

“Great. So it was one hundred percent premeditated.”

“That’s the theory, sis. Yeah.”

I sigh. “Great. Random killing?”

“Can’t say. It originally appeared that way, but like you say, Ryan and Pe

It just doesn’t sound as sexy when the message comes from my baby brother.

“You’re kidding me,” I hiss, grabbing Brody. “Hide me and get me out of there!”

“You have-a Italian cops?”

“Brody,” I hiss again, hitting him. “You ca

“Why-a not?” No

“No

“Trying to get-a Noella a husband!”

“Kill me,” I groan. “Just do it. Right here.” I point to my forehead. “You have your gun. Please.”

Brody laughs hard and opens the door to the station.

“Noella!” No

“No

“I try to get-a you a husband!”

“No. I don’t believe you,” I reply flatly, sarcasm hitting my words hard. I meet Trent’s eyes. “Please take her home, Trent. No one needs to be subjected to her husband-finding efforts.”

“My granddaughter will be-a no zitella!”

“She’s not thirty yet, No

“No husbands here!” she mutters, trotting past. “I want-a the paper! Lonely hearts section-a!”

“Sure, No

“You just lost all babysitting privileges!” I yell after him.

No, no, no. I ca

She is not serious, coming into the local PD and searching for a husband for me.

God, she is. She damn well is.

I want a new grandmother.

I turn around and bury my head in my arms on the reception. Charlotte pats my shoulder with a, “There, there, hon,” and I take deep breaths. Honestly, the woman knows no bounds. Devin is older than I am and she’s not pressing him to marry Amelia. No, she’s happy he’s found a good Catholic girl. Hell, Brody is single and she’s not getting on his back, and he’s only a year younger than I am.

But God forbid I should be twenty-eight and not married. God forbid I should be twenty-eight without even the prospect of a husband.

“In my office, Bond.” Drake’s voice booms through the ground floor of the station.

I flip the bird over my shoulder. Sometimes, a girl needs a moment. Especially when she has to be in an enclosed room with a sinfully handsome detective right after her no

Hands grab my waist and pull me up. Before I can protest, I’m spun around and propelled into Drake’s office. He lets me go when I’m in the middle of the room. Then he turns to lock the door.