Adverse Possession (The Anna Albertini Files #3) - Rebecca Zanetti Page 0,74

from the back of his waist. I hadn’t even seen it. My body went on full alert, and I pulled my smaller weapon from my purse. What was happening? I held my breath and listened, but there was no noise. No hint that anybody else was in the office. All of the lights were off.

Zena ran by me toward my office before I could stop her. At the entrance, she lay down, facing inside.

Bud’s shoulders went rock hard. “She’s a search and rescue dog, right?”

“Yes,” I whispered, chilly fingers ticking along my shoulders. I reached blindly for the wall switch and illuminated the hallway.

Bud walked silently down the hallway, turning and pointing his gun into each room until reaching my office. Then he leaned in and flicked on my light. “Shit.”

I followed him to see a woman face up on my carpet, the side of her head smashed. Her blue eyes were lifeless as she stared at the ceiling, and her blonde hair was matted with blood.

“Do you know her?” Bud asked.

My stomach lurched. “Yeah. We were in a bar fight, food fight, and car wreck together.” It was the blonde woman whose name I’d never learned. “She’s also a Lorde’s old lady. You’re going to want to call Aiden.”

Bud took his phone out of his back pocket. “I need to call this in first.”

The coppery scent of blood and death engulfed my once peaceful office.

Chapter 28

I sat at the picnic table in our conference room with Clark and Bud flanking me and Detective Grant Pierce across from me. We’d been there nearly two hours as the crime techs had done their job and then finally gotten the body out of the office. Clark had called both Oliver and Pauley and told them to take the day off.

Pierce finished taking notes.

Bud and I had answered all of his questions about our morning and what we’d seen, heard, or noticed. Zena’s head was in my lap, and I stroked her absently, her presence calming me. “What was the woman’s name?” I asked, my voice hoarse.

Pierce flipped a piece of paper over. “Bev Martin. We have her prints on file from a DUI three years ago in Idaho.”

Bev. It was a pretty name. “I didn’t even know her name,” I murmured.

Clark pressed both hands on the checked tablecloth. “Do you think this is related to Agent Duponte’s murder?”

Pierce shrugged. “Chances are good, considering both women were seen together before the murders. We’re bringing in Aiden Devlin and Bev Martin’s boyfriend for questioning this afternoon. I’ll see what I can dig up.”

“Was Bev killed here?” I asked, my voice trembling now. The sight of her dead body on my wooden floor wouldn’t leave my mind.

“Doubtful,” Pierce said. “It looks like she was dumped here, which raises the question as to why. She fought with you and injured you in a vehicle accident, and she’s connected through the Lordes. If I didn’t know who Aiden really was, I’d think he killed her and dumped her as a present.”

I wanted to bury my face in Zena’s coat but remained upright like a grownup. “You do know who Aiden is, so you know he didn’t do this.”

“Do I?” Pierce asked.

I kept back a sigh. Pierce had never trusted Aiden, and ATF or not, that hadn’t changed.

“I need to know where you were last night,” Pierce said.

“I didn’t kill her,” I burst out.

Pierce’s eyes glittered. “I know. If you did, it’d be pretty stupid to dump her body in your office. But if the FBI agents manage to connect this homicide to Agent Sasha Duponte’s murder, you’re going to be questioned about both anyway. Let’s get it over with now, and I’ll see if I can provide some cover for you.”

I relaxed. Pierce really didn’t think I’d done it. He was a friend, albeit a grumpy one. “Thanks, Grant,” I murmured.

He nodded. “Get to it. Where were you?”

“I, ah, left work with Kurt, my bodyguard, maybe a little after six and went to my cottage.” I scrambled to think what all I could say.

Pierce looked up. “What’s Kurt’s last name?’

I shrugged. “I don’t know. He’s an ATF agent who Aiden assigned to bodyguard me.”

“Then why did Devlin call me way too late last night to have an officer assigned to you?” Pierce’s brow furled.

“Yeah,” Bud added.

I rubbed my eyes. “I think Aiden fired Kurt from the job last night. In fact, I know he did.”

“Why?” Pierce growled.

Not many men could make a noise that actually sounded like