the dead. This interview is over. I have a flight to catch.”
Astor stood and exited the conference room, Jack Anders following him out.
“You knew your brother had been murdered before the anthropologist made that discovery,” she shouted after him.
Feeling both bolstered and desperate, Rae followed them out of the room. She caught up to Anders and walked next to him. “You work for Mr. Astor as a personal assistant?”
“Bodyguard.” He gave her a cold, intimidating look and moved beyond her to walk next to his boss.
Rae slowed her pace and watched them go.
Astor had definitely reacted to her question, but not in the way she’d expected. But just what had she expected? She hadn’t really believed that he would tell her that he had something to do with Zoey’s disappearance, but she’d had to try. Any journalist worth their weight would have tried.
Still, he’d reacted to Zoey’s name—the emotional response was evident in his eyes.
Rae headed down the corridor and found a seat near a window, where she wrote furiously on her notepad—her impressions, what she thought she’d learned from the interview. Enzo Astor believed he needed a bodyguard. He also believed he knew who had killed his brother, but he stated he’d learned the news of the murder recently. How recently? He wasn’t specific.
Frustration boiled through her, and she fought back angry tears. She wanted to scream or rail at someone.
Where are you, Zoey? Are you even still alive?
“Rae!” Liam rushed forward. “Rae. Don’t ever do that again. What were you thinking?”
“Doesn’t matter. I failed, and he’s gone. He’s getting on a plane.”
Liam whipped out his cell and moved far enough away that she couldn’t hear him.
Something had happened. What had happened?
Rae found the strength to get up, and she made her way to Liam, who spoke in hushed tones. He ended the call and whirled around, almost stumbling into her. He hadn’t known she’d followed him.
His eyes widened as he dropped his cell into his pocket. “How long were you standing there?”
“What’s going on?”
He gripped her arms gently and guided her to the seats next to the window. “Why don’t you sit down?”
“No. Tell me what’s going on. Is it Zoey? Or my brother? What?”
“They found a woman’s body.”
Rae gasped and held her breath.
“We don’t know if it’s Zoey, Rae. We don’t know.”
CHAPTER FORTY-TWO
As Liam watched her, he felt like his gut would turn inside out.
Rae dropped into the seat and kept her eyes focused straight ahead. No tears. She appeared stunned by the news, though after what they had both been through, it shouldn’t come as a surprise. Still, this was her friend, her sister-in-law, she feared for.
He crouched to eye level. “We can’t know if it’s her. In the meantime, we have work to do.”
Her blue-green eyes had shifted to a dark, stormy blue. “What work? If the woman is Zoey, our work is over.”
“Let’s keep at this, believing that Zoey is still out there, okay? Are you with me?”
She hesitated, then finally nodded. “Yes. Okay . . . so Astor has left. The sheriff didn’t stop him. He was right, we’ve got nothing on the guy. So what if he has a bodyguard?”
“A bodyguard?”
“The guy we always see with him is a bodyguard.”
Liam scratched his jaw. “Interesting to know. Give me his name, and I can let Taggart know. Why does a real estate mogul need a bodyguard? Could be something. Could be nothing.”
Considering the image he’d received from Kelvin—Enzo Astor and Malcom Fox in the same picture—Liam leaned toward his having a bodyguard meaning something. Astor was involved in illegal activities. Somewhere. Somehow.
“His name is Jack Anders.”
Liam texted the information to Sheriff Taggart, who already had his plate full, but at least he would have the information and could forward it to one of his detectives.
“I can get Reggie on it too. But right now I want to go to where they found the body. We’re looking for a missing woman, Liam. We need to be there to see if it’s her.” She rubbed her arms and looked away, tears welling in her eyes but not spilling over. “What am I going to tell Alan?”
“Nothing. Not yet. Let me talk to Taggart first. He’s going to call me as soon as he learns more.” Liam had to keep her away from the recovery scene. He moved to sit by her. He wanted to take her hand, but tension rolled off her. He knew when to keep his distance. “It all takes time. Investigations take