When the Smoke Clears (Deadly Reunions) (37 page)

“Wouldn’t miss this shindig. Lots of voters in this room.”

“Voters with big money.”

Elliot flashed perfect white teeth and winked. “Those are the kind we like. Let’s make this little party work for us.”

Frank figured there had to be at least two hundred people in attendance. The large number helped him relax. All he had to do was keep out of Alexia’s line of sight and keep his cool. Everything would be fine.

The man next to Alexia leaned over. “Thanks for your help in proving Hunter wrong. You deserve an Oscar.”

She frowned. “What are you talking about?”

“Lee,” Hunter interrupted, brows furrowed, “don’t you have something better to discuss than work?”

Lee froze, his gaze bouncing back and forth between Hunter and Alexia. “Um. Right. Sure.”

“No, wait a minute,” Alexia protested. “I want to know how I helped you prove Hunter wrong. Wrong about what?”

“Lex, I’ll explain later, all right?”

Whatever passed between the two men wasn’t pretty. She narrowed her eyes, ignoring the elegance surrounding her. “Hunter, tell me.”

He shifted, obviously uncomfortable. Then sighed even while he shot Lee a black look. “All right, but not here. Let’s find someplace quiet.”

Worry gnawed at her gut, because he looked worried. What was it? What was he going to tell her?

As they excused themselves from the table, she felt eyes follow her. Refusing to turn around to see who was watching, she allowed Hunter to lead her down a short hall.

He opened the door to an empty conference room and she stepped inside. Shutting the door behind him, he turned and placed his hands on her shoulders. “I wasn’t going to get into all of this tonight, but . . .” He pulled in a deep breath. “Look, I had my suspicions about someone being the person who was after you. I took steps to prove it. Instead, I was proven wrong. That’s pretty much it.”

The door opened and Chad stood there, fury on his face. “Only that’s not all there is to it. The person he suspected was me.”

Hunter could see the confusion on Alexia’s face and his gut twisted. “Chad, I’m sorry. If you saw things from my perspective, you’d understand.”

The fury didn’t lessen, it blazed from his eyes, radiated from every pore. “You set me up?”

“What are you talking about?” Alexia demanded.

“You think you’re so high and mighty.” Chad ignored her, focusing on his brother. “The untouchable Hunter Graham.”

Hunter knew Chad needed to vent, to heap his anger on Hunter’s head. But he didn’t want Alexia to get caught in the crossfire. “Lex, why don’t you go on back to the table and make our excuses? I’ll join you when Chad and I finish this.”

She crossed her arms. “I think I’ll stay.”

“Yeah. Let her stay,” Chad ground out as his nostrils flared. “Let her hear how you used her as bait to catch the bad guy.”

“What?” Alexia let her arms drop to her sides as shock zinged through her. “Explain yourself, Chad Graham.”

Hunter could see her anger rising by the second and knew he was going to be in for a rough patch trying to justify his actions.

Chad sneered. “What Hunter doesn’t seem to realize is that I have friends in the department too. Not everyone is a Hunter worshiper.”

Hunter shot his brother a warning look. “Chad—”

“So when I showed up for the dinner, I got an earful about how you set up this sting to prove I’m a killer. Isn’t that why you asked me to take Alexia home from the hospital? Because you thought I was going to kidnap her or kill her or something?”

Alexia gasped and stared at Hunter.

He winced. “It wasn’t like that. I didn’t believe you were capable of anything like that, but Katie and I were working on the case and some evidence pointed toward you—”

“And you couldn’t just ask me about it? Confront me?”

“No!” Hunter felt his own temper spike and fought to control it. “No, we couldn’t. I needed irrefutable proof that you had nothing to do with any of the incidents against Alexia in case someone else got ahold of the file and started asking the same questions I did.”

“You’re a liar. You just can’t stand the thought that I might actually win the heart of a woman you like.”

“Oh, you two are ridiculous!” Alexia stomped her foot, fists clenched. Hunter winced as her glare landed on him, then Chad. “After tonight, I don’t want to see either one of you ever again.”

“Lex—” Hunter protested. But it did no good. She spun on her heel and exited the room.

Alexia was so mad, she thought she might literally shake apart, shatter into a million pieces. She had to get away from Hunter and Chad, and yet she couldn’t return to the table in this state.

“Alexia, are you all right?”

Alexia whirled to see Katie standing in the hallway. “I’m fine.”

Hunter came after her. “You can’t be alone, Alexia.”

Still mad, Alexia looked at Katie.

Katie frowned, looking from Hunter to Alexia and back, and finally nodded toward Alexia. “I’ll stay with her.”

Chad appeared in the doorway and Alexia looked away from his red face.

“I need a restroom,” she muttered.

Katie pointed. “There’s one down this hallway, around the corner. The two near the ballroom are probably packed, with all these women here.” She glanced at Hunter, then back to Alexia. “Come with me.”

Without another look at either man, Alexia allowed Katie to lead her down to the restroom.

“You don’t look fine. What happened?”

“Just a little too much excitement lately.” Why was Katie acting so concerned about her? She stared at the cop, suspicion zinging all through her.

Katie nodded. “I know. And I’ve not been very nice to you. I’m . . . sorry.”

Alexia’s brows rose, but she said, “I understand. I suppose you were doing your job.”

A rueful smile crossed Katie’s lips. “No, not really. I wasn’t very objective about it. I had a grudge against you and I let that affect my work.”

Alexia turned on the water and washed her hands, then pressed them against her eyes. She’d have to redo her makeup, but right now, she didn’t care. The coolness felt wonderful. Drying her face and hands, she asked, “And you don’t have a grudge now?”

“No. All the evidence says you had nothing to do with Devin’s death or the fire at my house. Hunter was right. Someone was trying to set you up.”

Alexia felt some of the tension in her shoulders relax. A fraction. She was still spitting mad at Hunter and Chad, but Katie’s words felt good. “Thank you for that anyway.”

Katie shrugged and her eyes turned sad. “I saw Dominic in the crowd out there.”

“Really?” Alexia hadn’t spotted him. “I’ll have to find him.” She paused, then asked, “Are you okay?”

Katie shook her head. “Not really. I hadn’t realized just how much I cared about him until . . .” She gulped. “Never mind.”

Alexia bit her lip. “I’m sorry.” And in spite of the way the woman had treated her, Alexia
was
sorry.

Katie waved a hand. “Are you ready to get back to the dinner?”

She blew out a breath just as the door opened again. Lori Tabor stepped inside, her face streaked with tears. “Oh,” she started. “I didn’t realize anyone was in here.”

She dabbed at her cheeks.

Alexia stepped forward. “Are you all right?”

“Oh, I’m fine. Someone just said something that hurt my feelings.” She waved a hand. “I’ll get over it.” She began digging in her purse.

Alexia said, “I’m going to use the facilities. I’ll be out in a minute. You want to meet me at the table?”

Katie shook her head. “No, I’ll just wait here for you.”

Alexia entered the stall and shut the door. She didn’t need to use the bathroom, she needed a moment to herself. Leaning her head against the door, she closed her eyes. She’d been gone a long time from the dinner and knew Hunter’s parents were probably wondering where they were.

A scrape above her startled her. Looking up, she frowned at the white-tiled ceiling. Mice?

A muffled thud outside the stall made her jump.

Opening the door, she came face-to-face with a gun. A gasp escaped her as her eyes landed on the woman on the floor, the pool of blood spreading beneath her.

She stared into the face that didn’t bother hiding behind a mask this time and asked, “You? But why?”

Another shuffle sounded above her, but she didn’t dare take her eyes off the gun in front of her.

She heard a pop, felt a sharp sting on the back of her neck. As she felt the darkness descend, she wondered if she’d wake up.

Hunter!

41

Saturday, 7:19 p.m.

“Where are they?” Hunter paced in front of the bathroom door. “Women,” he muttered. Glancing at his watch, he frowned. It had been fifteen minutes already.

He and Chad had agreed to put on happy faces for their father and resolve their differences later. Now, Hunter wanted to talk to Alexia to see if he could salvage even a small possibility of a relationship with her.

He rapped his knuckles on the door. “Hey, Katie? Alexia? You guys all right?”

Silence echoed back to him.

His gut tightened. A bad feeling swept over him and he shoved the door open. “Oh no. Katie!” He dropped to his knees next to the woman and felt for a pulse. Slow and weak. Grabbing one of the hand towels from the sink, he pressed it against the wound and held it. With his other hand, he reached for his phone to call for an ambulance and bent low to check the other stalls. Empty.

“Come on, Katie, hang in there. Help’s coming.”

Where was Lori Tabor? He’d seen her crying as she entered. But now both she and Alexia were gone.

How?

How had she and Alexia gotten out of the bathroom without him seeing her?

He looked up. A displaced tile clued him in.

They’d taken her through the ceiling.

As she drove, she thought about how amazingly simple it had been. Of course it had been easier with the experienced help. But at least this time, the plan had worked. That was the problem before. There’d been no clear plan, no organization to how they would grab Alexia. It was just her looking for an opportunity to act.

But not tonight. Tonight the opportunity had been made. Her teary exit shortly after Alexia left the room was meant to play on Alexia’s sympathies to support a distraught friend. Then they would find privacy in the quieter bathroom. But Alexia got there on her own, with just the detective to deal with. Finally, a plan that had worked almost all by itself.