He nodded.
“Watch your ass,” Lynn directed curtly.
“I always do.” His head angled to the left. “Dylan is still in custody, that’s what you told me?”
“I’m letting him cool his heels for a while, yes.”
“Can you ask him a question for me?”
She winced. “He lawyered up again. But we’ll see what I can do.” A pause. “What’s the question?”
“Ask him if—when he was in Tampa at that conference—he spent the night drinking with a PI named Gary Strom.”
Lynn groaned. “Not Sex Pic Strom. Tell me that jerk isn’t involved in this mess.”
“According to Gary, he’s Dylan’s alibi for the Tampa murder.”
Lynn’s hands went to her hips. The movement had her holster shifting a little on her side. “Dylan didn’t mention an alibi for that crime. Hell, he wouldn’t tell me anything about his whereabouts. His lawyer shut things down, fast.”
“I would think his lawyer would want you to know if Dylan had an alibi that would clear him.” Keeping an alibi secret didn’t make sense to Rose.
“You would think that, wouldn’t you?” Lynn returned. “Unless the alibi is bullshit.” One of the uniforms called her name. “Got to go. You hear anything else from this freak, you call me, got it?”
“You are at the top of our phone contact list,” Rose assured her.
Lynn hurried toward the waiting cops.
The wind caught Rose’s hair and tossed locks against her cheek. Shivering, she pushed them back. When she turned her head, she found War staring at her. He was in shadows so it was hard for her to see his expression but… “What is it?”
He took her hand. Led her to the car. He made sure she was settled first, and she noticed him sweeping quick stares around the scene before he climbed in behind the driver’s seat.
“War.” She touched his arm. “I can practically feel your thoughts spinning. What is going on?”
“The alibi…it protected Dylan and Gary.”
It was like he’d read her mind. “I was thinking the same thing. I was also thinking that—if the alibi was real, Dylan definitely would have mentioned it. But he didn’t. Gary did, and that sure seemed convenient.” Something else that was convenient… “He was ready to throw Billy under the bus. And the PI obviously has no trouble with lies, so it’s not like I believe he and the truth are closely affiliated.”
His head turned toward her. “You in the mood for a pitstop on the way home?”
She grabbed the seatbelt. “If that pitstop means we are going to do some B&E at Gary’s office, then absolutely I am.”
“We have to talk about your criminal tendencies…”
Nerves had her practically twitching. “Let’s talk about them after we search his place and see if Sex Pic Strom has other secrets he’s been keeping.” Like the kind of secrets a person would kill to hide.
***
“Are you going to pick the lock?” Rose asked eagerly as she crowded in behind War.
He hated to disappoint her but… “Nah. I’m going to use the key.”
“What?”
He flashed her a quick grin, despite the grim situation. “I might have snuck the key while we were fighting earlier. I snagged the key to this place and the key to the big-ass filing cabinet he has inside.”
“The cabinet that collided with your knuckles?”
“Same one,” he assured her. “I also scoped out the office for security cameras and discovered that unless he likes very, very small surveillance tech, then we’re clear.” Having small tech was a possibility. Cameras could be practically invisible these days. But his instincts told him Gary didn’t want footage of his own office. Probably because he worked too many shady deals that might bite him in the ass. And if Gary’s clients were to ever discover that they’d been filmed…
That wouldn’t go so well for you, would it, Gary?
They slipped inside. War went straight for the filing cabinet. Rose headed for the desk. She turned on the lamp. Eased open some desk drawers. They were both wearing gloves. Starting to make a habit of their B&Es. “Maybe we should try a date,” he said as the filing cabinet’s top drawer screeched open. “Instead of just joint criminal activity.”
She turned toward him. She held what looked like a small datebook in her hands. “He had an appointment with Michael Post several months ago.”
He flipped through the files in the drawer.
“Michael is Janet Post’s ex-husband,” Rose said. “I met him twice. Once was the day after I found Janet’s body. He seemed torn up. Gutted by her death.”
He found a file labeled Post. War pulled it out. Thumbed through the continents. “Torn up? Interesting. Because the guy hired Gary to find proof that his wife had been cheating on him during their marriage. He was convinced she’d fooled the judge. That she’d fooled him.”
Rose put down the datebook and hurried closer. “Gary was watching Janet?”
Yes, and that was a huge red flag.
“What about Barbara Briggs?” Rose asked. She reached into the filing cabinet.
Briggs.
There was a file there for her, too.
Rose pulled it out. Studied the photos. “He was tailing her.” She thumbed through them. Found a note. “Her fiancé hired him. He thought Barbara was hiding something from him.” Rose shook her head. “But she’s not with anyone else in these pictures. She’s just going to work. Shopping. She’s not cheating or doing anything wrong at all.”
No, she wasn’t. Those pictures… “They’re like the ones that Dylan had in his drawer of you.”
She put down the file. “Give me the file that Gary has on me.”
Ah, about that… “So, Rose—”
She snagged the file labeled Shadow. Rose yanked it open. “Oh. My. God.”
He winced.
“That’s me.”
“Not exactly.”
She yanked one of the photos up high and peered at it. “That is an excellent photoshopping job.”
“Barely mediocre.”
Her fingers balled up the photo. Only there were plenty more waiting. “You’ve seen these.”
A roll of one shoulder. He’d mentioned the photos back at his place. Told her they were BS.
“That’s what led to the whole incident with your fist hitting the filing cabinet? You saw these photos?” She eyed the dent in the side of the filing cabinet.
“I knew they were fake.”
“They are exceedingly good fakes. Who knew Gary had those skills?”
“Personally, I thought the man had zero skills. I’m also still not impressed.”
Rose exhaled on a rough sigh. “How did you know they weren’t real?”
“Because you told me that you hadn’t been with anyone since me.” She’d told him. He believed her. “Gary wanted me to think those had been taken since we broke up.” A shrug. “He was lying.”
“Yes. He was.”
“I told you before, baby, it’s you. I believe you. I choose you. I will always stand with you.” Another roll of his shoulder. “He started being a dick after that point.” Started? Ha. The man was always a dick. “If you want the truth, I called him on his bullshit, and in response, he pulled a gun on me.”