Birds of Prey (16 page)

He slammed his fist into the hallway wall before Ryder could grab him. He shook his hand out while Ryder reached for him.

“You need to calm down,” Ryder soothed.

“I know,” Cody managed through clenched teeth.

Ryder rubbed his shoulders and Cody stilled. He took several deep breaths.

He knew that Adrian was wrong. He had suspected Adrian’s involvement before he’d re-engaged with Aubrey.

Hell, he wasn’t even sure what his relationship with Aubrey was. There had been no time for just the two of them without this case hanging over their heads. After the scene at the Cast house, she might never speak to him again.

“Boss!” Byron entered the hallway. “You have a visitor.”

Cody glanced at his watch. It was late, too late for anyone to be there.

“Why don’t we call the interview for tonight?” Ryder asked. “Start fresh in the morning.”

“Fine.” He waved his hand at Ryder to take care of it. “Tell the lawyer we’ll start again at seven a.m.”

He gave his attention to Byron. “Who is it?”

“I put her in conference room C,” Byron responded.

She. It had to be Aubrey, then. Damn it, he had told her to stay away.

Cody marched down the hall and around the corner until he came to the third conference room. He pushed the door open.

Aubrey leaned against the table with her arms crossed.

“I told you not to come,” he declared, slamming the door closed.

She pushed off the table. “It’s been four hours. Aren’t you done?”

“No, we’re stopping for the night, but we are not done.”

“Cody,” she said his name softly. “He didn’t do it.”

“Why?” he snapped. “Why is it so hard for you to believe? Do you really think I would haul his ass in here if I didn’t have enough evidence to connect him?”

“Then there was a mistake,” she argued. “Maybe someone is setting him up.”

Cody growled and threw his hands up. “You have got to be kidding me!”

“Why are you so angry?” she asked, stalking towards him.

“Angry?” He spat the word. “I’m so far past angry…” He caught her wrists when she was close enough. “What are you doing?”

“What? What do you mean?”

“What are you doing here? Why are you fighting with me?”

“I’m not really the one fighting here.”

He pulled her until their chests were mashed together. “You can’t blame me.”

“I don’t!”

“I think you do,” he told her. He released her wrists. “I have to ask myself if you still love him.”

She jerked away. “That’s not what this is about.”

“Isn’t it?” he wondered. “Why are you here?”

“I… I just… I don’t love him,” she said quietly.

Aubrey pulled out one of the chairs and sat. “He’s all we have left. And I know Adrian.” She looked up at him. “I know him, Cody. He wouldn’t have done this.”

“People change,” he said gently. “If Adrian wanted to be leader bad enough…”

“It’s not him,” she claimed. “I won’t believe it.”

They weren’t getting anywhere. “Go home,” he told her. “Get some sleep.”

She grunted. “Like I could sleep. I didn’t just come to see Adrian.”

“You’re not going to see him at all,” he replied sternly.

She rolled her eyes. “Fine. But I did want to see you too.”

He nodded. “Okay.”

“Not going to make this easy, are you?” she murmured. “Cody… I…”

“What?” He was tired. His nerves were frayed and he needed a drink.

“I’m sorry.”

That, he hadn’t expected.

“I don’t blame you, really, this is just hard for me. I might not love Adrian anymore, but he was a big part of my life. Yes, he cheated. Yes, he lied. He also would not have killed Gregory.”

Cody dropped to his knees in front of her. He gripped her thighs.

“I shouldn’t have acted that way,” she confessed. “I was just so upset. I don’t believe Adrian is involved. Still, I shouldn’t have tried to stop you from doing your job.”

No, she shouldn’t have. But that wasn’t Cody’s only concern. Aubrey said she didn’t blame him. Regardless, he still thought that some part of her did.

“Aubrey.” Cody cupped her face. “If there was any other way to do this I would have done it. I can’t ignore the intel we have.”

“Okay,” she agreed. “Just give him a chance to explain. Adam assured me that if Adrian was innocent, he would be able to prove it.”

Cody’s problem was that Adrian wouldn’t explain. If he did have something to help his case, he wasn’t sharing it. They had enough to hold him for now, but he couldn’t go in front of a grand jury yet.

“I’ll give him the opportunity,” he promised. He was an honest cop. He didn’t want an innocent man to go away. He just knew that Adrian wasn’t as guiltless as Aubrey believed.

“That’s all I want,” she whispered, leaning into him.

Her lips brushed his. He shouldn’t let her kiss him, not there where anyone could walk in. But the relief of having her there was so strong he couldn’t resist.

Aubrey ran her tongue over his bottom lip and he opened for her. Her taste exploded on his tongue as he deepened their lip-lock.

She gripped his shoulders as he pulled her forward in her chair. She gasped into his mouth and he took the opportunity to plunder her. He needed this. The connection he had with Aubrey had to be reinforced.

He would have loved nothing more than to be able to bend her over the desk and bury himself deep inside her.

It took a lot of effort, but he finally managed to raise his mouth from hers.

She blinked up at him. “Umm, I forgot what I was saying.”

He chuckled. She was such a sight flushed, bright-eyed and panting. “You were going home,” he told her.

“You’re not coming with me, are you?” she asked softly.

“Not tonight. I still have work to do.”

He made himself release her and stand. She followed suit, straightening her shirt.

She strolled to the door and glanced over her shoulder. “Just give him a chance. He’s really not a bad guy.”

He couldn’t agree with her. “Do me a favour?”

She nodded.

“Please stay out of trouble.”

She snorted. “Yeah, sure.”

Cody watched her leave. He didn’t believe for a minute that Aubrey would listen. If he didn’t nail Adrian down quickly, he had no doubt that Aubrey would be out trying to get the evidence to clear him.

Ryder tapped on the open door then walked in. “Adrian’s been taken down to the holding cell. His lawyer will be back in the morning.”

“Okay.” Cody nodded. “I knew he wouldn’t break easily, but I thought he would give us something.”

“Me too,” Ryder agreed.

“We’ve got enough for the arrest, although it won’t stick if we don’t get more.”

Ryder grunted. “Byron went back to the motel. He showed Adrian’s picture like you wanted. No one claims to recognise him.”

“Damn.”

“Chloe is still working the financials. She says other than withdrawals, we found everything else normal.”

“We’re missing something,” Cody insisted. “If Adrian hired this guy they had to meet. The plan was too well formed.”

“We haven’t found the connection to Kevin either,” Ryder reminded.

“Yeah, I’m going to stop by and talk to Anton before heading home.”

Ryder glanced at his watch. “Pretty late.”

“He’ll be awake,” Cody said knowingly.

“Right.”

“You guys go ahead and head home, get some sleep. Tomorrow will be another long one.”

Ryder clamped his hand on his shoulder and squeezed.

Cody appreciated the support. He made his way out of the room and they walked down the hall together. He was tired, but his night was far from over.

Chapter Thirteen

Aubrey was jerked awake by pounding on the front door. She groaned as she rolled over and saw that it was only six in the morning. She stumbled to answer it. After she had yanked the door open, she squinted at Adam, who stood on her front steps holding two cups.

“What?” she grumbled.

“Good morning!” Adam was way too cheerful for the early hour.

“I hate you,” she told him, turning on her heel. She left Adam to enter on his own.

She stomped through her bedroom and into the adjoining bathroom. She washed her face, brushed her teeth and ran a brush through her hair.

She hadn’t slept well the night before and the strain showed on her face. Dark circles lurked under her eyes, heightening her too-pale complexion. She should probably put on some makeup, but that might be asking a little too much before having her coffee. Instead, she headed into her room to change clothes. She dressed in jeans and a black tank top before joining her brother in the kitchen.

Slouched in one of the chairs, he sat at the table with a cup in his hand. He pushed the other mug in her direction.

Aubrey picked up the coffee and took a long drink. The strong brew woke her up and she sighed.

“Rough night?” Adam questioned.

The last time they’d spoken, Adam hadn’t been happy with her. Not only did he think she was in over her head getting involved with the investigation, but she had also left out her relationship with Cody.

Her past and now current relationship.

She’d tried to explain that she wasn’t exactly sure what her relationship was with Cody, but Adam hadn’t cared.

He had gone all big brother on her.

And she hadn’t appreciated it. They’d argued.

“What are you doing here?” she asked, ignoring his question.

“I want you to show me the motel.”

“The motel?” She took another drink. “The motel that you yelled at me for going to in the first place?”

Adam glared at her. “Yes.”

“Why?”

He shrugged. “I want to see it.”

“Bullshit, since the last thing you told me was to butt out.”

Adam sighed. “I figure it wouldn’t hurt to take a look around.”

She finished her coffee and waited. She’d been called stubborn probably a million times for a reason.

Adam watched her calmly.

She found herself starting to squirm then cursed. Of course, since Adam was a master at pig-headedness, she should have known better.

“All right!”

She picked up her brother’s cup and took both mugs to the sink before she went to put on her boots.

Less than ten minutes later, they were in Adam’s Land Rover heading south. She gave him directions, and just as the sun started to come up, they pulled into the motel’s parking lot.

“The old man keeps an eye on his patrons. We can ask him if he has ever seen Adrian,” she suggested.

“You got a picture?”

Aubrey scrolled through her phone’s camera until she found the right picture. It was an older one from when she and Adrian were still together. Adrian was sitting behind his desk, smiling. She showed it to Adam.

“That’ll work.”

He took the device from her hand and opened his door. They exited his SUV and walked to the office.

The old man sat behind the counter with an unlit cigarette in his mouth.

“You here for a room this time?” he asked her. “Pick you up a date?”

Aubrey laughed. “No, no way.”

Adam shook his head and held the cell with the picture out. “We just want to know if you recognise this man.”

The motel owner glanced down and shook his head. “No, never seen him before.”

“That was quick,” Adam said.

“Had a guy from the Coalition come by last night. Asked me the same thing.”

So Cody was really trying to connect Adrian to the murders. She didn’t understand how anyone could think that Adrian was involved. Sure, her ex had some issues, but Adrian would never have had anything to do with hurting Gregory. He’d loved Gregory like a father. Aubrey had no idea how to show that to Cody, though. Cody was hell-bent on pinning Gregory’s murder on her old lover.

As Adam asked a few more questions, she strolled over to the front window and gazed out. She could see almost the entire parking lot from the office.

If the owner didn’t recognise Adrian, would that prove that he hadn’t ever been here? Did it matter? Adrian could have met the killer somewhere else. And when had she started considering that he could be involved at all?

Was it because of Cody? Was she letting her feelings for him cloud her loyalty?

She wished she knew.

Adam tapped her on the shoulder and she turned towards him.

“Let’s go.”

She followed him out of the door. “Now what?”

“Let’s walk around some,” her brother suggested.

She wanted to point out that she’d already done this once before. It was how she’d found the dead body, after all. Instead, she stuck her hands in her pockets and followed him down the sidewalk.

They stopped by the businesses that were open, asking if anyone had seen Adrian. Adam bought her a coffee at the convenience store as they made the rounds.

“This is feeling more and more familiar,” she groused.

He grunted in response.

“I mean, if you had asked me, I could have told you this entire endeavour would be a big waste of time.”

“We’re after a different outcome this time,” Adam responded.

She sighed and trudged along beside him. It was early, and yet the temperature was already in the high eighties. She still wasn’t sure what Adam hoped to accomplish.

They went into one business then another. The answer was always no.

“Where was this bar you went to?”

“Umm…” She shifted her feet. She’d told Adam about the bar, although she hadn’t been completely honest. She might have led him to believe that the bar was better than the rat hole it really had been.

“What?” he asked, fists on hips.

“Okay, don’t get mad,” she started.

He dropped his head back and blew out a breath. “Aubrey, just tell me.”

“It’s on the outskirts,” she confessed.

“Of course it is.” Adam nodded. “Let’s head back.”

They had almost reached the car when she froze in place. She grabbed Adam’s arm.

“It’s him!” she cried.

“Who?”

“The guy… The killer!”

Her gaze locked with the young man driving down the street. He frowned then his eyes widened.

“Come on,” Adam called and started running.

Aubrey sprinted around the Land Rover and jumped inside. The tyres squealed as Adam backed up quickly.