Page 68 of Diamonds in the Mud

I reached for the photo and my hand paused halfway through the air when I heard this. Frowning, I took the image of Jameson from her fingers. “Oh?” I asked, trying to sound bored.

Sabrina chuckled and held out another photo. “And I think you know something about it.”

I took this photo and frowned at an image of Jameson and me at the bar that first night.

“Who do you think he is?” I asked, holding onto the images. There was no way I was going to give them back to her.

She shrugged. “I’m on the fence there. Whoever he works for has connections.” She leaned back on the sofa. “FBI, DEA.” She chuckled. “IRS. Does it matter? There is no way that man is who he says he is.”

I leaned my elbows on my knees. “What do you know?” I asked.

She mimicked my moves. “Nothing.”

I narrowed my eyes. “Sabrina,” I warned.

She smiled and suddenly leaned back again. “I know you.” She pointed at me. “I know there is no way in hell you’d be caught dead with a Reaper” She pulled out another photo, this one of me sneaking up Jameson’s stairs the night before. “Which means you know exactly who he is. And since I know you like men who are bad boys on the outside but you wouldn’t be caught dead messing around with someone who was bad on the inside, that makes Mr. tall, dark, and”—she made a hissing sound with her teeth—“sexy as hell an honest-to-god good guy on the inside.” She tucked the last photo back into her bag.

“You’re treading on thin ice,” I warned. Sabrina smiled back at me, waiting. “Your five minutes is up,” I said, standing up.

“Tell me, off the record,” she said. “Rayne.” Her voice changed as she motioned around. “I’m worried about you. We used to be friends.”

“Used to be,” I added, motioning towards the door.

“There is no way I’d run with the story,” she said, and I walked over and yanked her arm until she stood up. “Like I’d want his or your death on my hands.” She scoffed. “Seriously, I’m smarter than that.”

“What’s your angle?” I asked when she wouldn’t budge.

“My angle…” She turned suddenly and looked at me. “Seriously?” She motioned towards my house again. “Someone shot at you.” She frowned at the sofa. “Wasn’t that in your parents’ den?”

I rolled my eyes and took several deep breaths. “Sabrina.”

“Rayne,” she retorted. “Just… assure me he’s a good guy and I’ll drop it. But when the story does break, I get the scoop.”

I stared into her eyes for a moment. I’d known her my entire life. At one point, we had been a trio—me, Aria, and Sabrina. I had trusted her with my early teenage secrets and she’d trusted me with hers.

But this wasn’t some teenage crush I had on Jameson. If I spilled his secrets and she dropped her guard to the wrong person, it was the life of the man that I was growing to love on the line.

“I can’t.” I shook my head. “If you trust me, then that should be enough.”

Sabrina reached up, took my shoulders, and surprised me by pulling me into a hug. “That’s enough for me,” she said easily. “Be safe. Please.”

I stood there in total shock as she let herself out of my house.

When that wore off, I headed down to the BBB and watched Felix as I waited for Jameson and Ben to return.

When Nadia purposely bumped into me, I was ready for a fight. I wanted nothing more than to knock the woman’s teeth in. It was obvious the entire Reaper gang was out in full force that night except Declan. Which meant they were all hiding a murder.

Did Evelyn mean so little to them? She’d been part of their gang. Part of their family.

Did Izzy and the other women realize how little their lives mattered to them?

After that run-in with Nadia, all of my energy seemed to drain. Besides, watching Izzy paw the man I wanted to be with more than anything sucked the life right out of me.

After heading home and clocking out for a handful of hours, I headed into the office first thing after sunup. I was eager to find out all I could about Evelyn’s death.

“Isn’t it your day off?” Sam Davis, a younger cop, asked. Sam was one of the men in town who was a constant flirt. He used his charms on both women and men and usually walked away with whatever he wanted. I liked the guy but knew better than to work side by side with him, lest I fall prey to those charms.

Instead of answering, I glared at him.