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Kaj faltered. He hadn’t been thinking. She’d needed him and he’d just reacted. “I’m sorry,” he said to Burke. “It won’t happen again.”
“It better not.” Burke paused at the door, his expression softening to concern when he saw Val’s face. “Come in, all of you. It’s time to stop working.”
“I’m okay,” she assured him as she walked through the door. “Just pissed off.”
Kaj wasn’t so sure. She said she was pissed off, but he had the feeling that the detective’s words had cut far deeper than she was willing to admit. Bringing up her assault had undoubtedly brought up a host of bad memories. Kaj hated to think of the images that had to be running through her mind right now.
“Hey.” Val’s tone was casual as she entered the living room, upbeat even. “What’d I miss? Where’s Elijah?”
“He went to bed,” Sylvi said. “Took your dog up with him. He helped me make dinner for everyone while you were gone—well, Elijah did, not the dog. Leftovers are in the fridge. Elijah said to tell you that I’d ‘fed and watered’ both him and Czar.”
“Thank you, Sylvi,” Val told her with a smile that Kaj recognized as forced.
Sylvi must have seen the same thing, because she glanced at Kaj, concerned.
Phin still lay facedown with ice packs on his back. “We’re fine. You okay?”
Val nodded. “Just really tired all of a sudden.”
“It’s been a crazy day,” Jace murmured from a sleeping bag on the floor. He was sitting cross-legged, the tablet Molly had loaned him on his lap. He was cuffed, but only one arm. The other cuff was attached to the bookcase, which weighed a ton, so it wasn’t going anywhere.
Kaj had tried to take the cuff off because they’d decided that he didn’t need to be restrained when Burke’s people were in the room, but Jace had shaken his head. He’d said he’d prefer to stay cuffed if it meant keeping out of jail, and that he didn’t want to have to worry that he’d be sent away, cutting Kaj’s heart to the quick. How could such a sweet kid have come from that toxic environment?
Jace was currently studying Val with a critical eye. “You look different, Val,” he said quietly. “Are you really okay?”
She smiled at the young man but, again, it was forced. “Like you said, crazy day,” she deflected. Jace was clearly unhappy with the lack of answer, but Val changed the subject before he could say anything more. “Antoine? Anything new?”
Antoine glanced up from his laptops with a distracted frown. “I’ve matched a few more of the dates that Corey wasn’t in town to victims who either died in what appeared to be an accident or who disappeared and were never seen again. So far, there are six murders for hire and two arsons. You were absolutely right, Val. He’s been doing this for at least three years. I still don’t how he’s attracting his business, whether he’s actively recruiting or clients come to him through word of mouth or some method of dark web advertising. But I’ll figure it out.”
“Murders for hire?” Jace asked, his voice small. “And arson?”
Antoine turned to Jace. “None of it’s on you, kid. You helped us figure it out. This information will help the cops charge him with more crimes.”
“Which means he’ll never get out of jail to hurt you again,” Burke added.
Jace nodded sadly. “Or hurt anyone else.”
They were quiet for several heartbeats, Jace’s melancholy affecting them all.
Then Antoine pointed at one of his laptops. “I’ve also been viewing the footage from the shooting this afternoon at Sylvi’s shop. From the angle of Sylvi’s outdoor camera, it wasn’t clear where the gunmen were aiming, but one of the businesses across the street has a wider view. I don’t think they were aiming at you, Kaj. I think they were aiming at Val.”
Val didn’t look surprised by this, and Kaj wasn’t, either. Not really.
“And you didn’t think to mention this?” Burke snapped, perturbed.
“Because I just found it,” Antoine snapped back.
“I thought that might be the case,” Kaj said, trying to soothe the tension. The stress was starting to wear on them all. “Taking me out doesn’t make sense. But Corey obviously knows that Bella called Noni. He accurately assumed his mole was Allyson Meyer. Maybe he thinks I know where Bella is hiding, and he was going to force me to tell him.”
“But you don’t know where she is,” Jace said, worry bunching his brow.
“He doesn’t know that,” Kaj told Jace. “For the record, I do not know where she is.” He shot a quick glance up the stairs. “But if he thinks that I do, Elijah could become a target again.”
“We’ve got him covered,” Burke said confidently.
“Right,” Val echoed. “We do.”
But the confidence was gone from her tone.
