Page 107 of It Runs in the Family

I moved on to the next book as he pulled out a strip of condoms, giving me a mischievous grin.

“At least she uses protection,” I said, grabbing the book by the edge of the front cover and shaking to see if anything fell out.

If he planned to say anything else, he wisely kept his mouth shut.

I moved onto the next book as he pulled out an iPad in a bright pink case and tried to turn it on. Neither of us were surprised it was dead.

“We’ll take this and see if it turns on after it’s charged,” he said, looking at me as though waiting for objections.

“Yeah,” I said, my mind going back to the flash drive behind me. There could be something on her iPad, but you couldn’t plug a USB drive into that tablet. That convinced me even more that something important was hidden on the flash drive.

The third box was more clothes, mostly bras, panties, socks, and lingerie. I was worried Boone would make a big deal out of the lingerie, but he seemed intent on getting the job done.

“You think this it?” he asked with a frown.

“Yeah,” I said. “It probably is.”

“Guess we struck out, huh?” he said. “Except for your jacket.”

“And the iPad,” I said, trying to take the focus off the jacket. I got to my feet, trying not to jostle the baby, who had fallen asleep on my lap. “I’m gonna take him in and put him down for a nap. Do you want to shove John Jacob’s shit back in and I’ll meet you out front and help if you’re still moving crap?”

“Yeah,” he said, closing up the box and starting to restack the boxes.

I squatted and picked up the jacket.

“Don’t worry about that,” Boone said, giving me a dead-eyed stare. “I’ll put the jacket in the truck for you.”

“That’s okay,” I said, clutching it. I didn’t have a good grip on it, and it hung down to the ground. I prayed the USB drive didn’t fall out.

“You’re gonna trip and drop the baby,” he said, reaching for it and grabbing a handful of a sleeve. “I don’t mind taking care of it for you. Really.” Only he didn’t sound super friendly about it.

Well, shit. My mind raced as I tried to figure out my next move. Should I insist on taking it with me? That would look suspicious, but then again, it was obvious he was already suspicious. I hadn’t exactly acted subtle. If I let him take the jacket, he might drive off with it while I was inside. But if I told him I’d been hiding it, I ran the same risk.

I decided to come clean. “I found something.”

“No shit,” he grumbled. “Let’s just say you’re not gonna win an Academy Award with those acting skills. The real question is why you were keepin’ it from me?”

Did I really want to admit I didn’t trust him? I already had, multiple times, but this was big enough to do some damage to our tentative partnership. So, I played a card as old as time.

“I was trying to protect Selena.”

Confusion washed over his face. “What are you talkin’ about? How?”

“You’re a police officer. What if what I found could get her into trouble?”

His face softened. “She’s in far more danger with Dario Voss than the law, Iris. There’s a good chance Voss had the woman on Frontline Road killed.” He lowered his gaze to mine, dropping his voice. “Selena could be next.”

Tears stung my eyes, because I had a feeling he was right. But if my vision came true, Dario Voss wouldn’t kill her until after he killed me. “If she gets arrested because of me, she’ll never forgive me.”

He let out a long sigh, then placed his hand on my arm. “Iris, if you want, I’ll figure out a way to protect your identity. She won’t know it came from you.”

“But we found it in her stuff.”

“We’ll figure out a solution. We can say I found it while we were searching and didn’t tell you.” His gaze drilled into me. “Like you were about to do with me.”

“But I just told you,” I said. I couldn’t let him leave me out of his investigation. “I’ll show it to you, but I’m taking the jacket inside with me.”

“You don’t trust me?” he asked, but he didn’t sound surprised.