Drained (Edgars Family #6) - Suzanne Ferrell Page 0,81
think about that, what else could he be doing with it?”
“There’s no telling,” Aaron said, staring out the window into the rainy night.
Brianna finished munching on her snack and put the wrapper in the plastic bag from the service station, then took a long drink from the bottle of water they’d gotten there. Then an idea—a horrible, horrible idea—hit her.
“What if…” she started, then stopped, trying to clear the idea out of her mind before saying it.
“What if?” Aaron said, once again focusing on her.
Okay, she was going to have to give the thought voice.
“What if he’s not just collecting their blood, but somehow putting it into the local blood bank system?”
The lack of shocking surprise on Aaron’s face told her he’d already considered this a possibility but hadn’t wanted to say it any more than she had.
“That’s the biggest problem,” he said, rubbing both his cheeks with his hands. “One we’re going to have to tackle in the morning.”
“What if the blood is contaminated somehow?” Another sick feeling hit her. “Mia was an IV drug user. What if she had HIV or AIDS?”
“You knew her better than anyone. When she was at the shelter, was she tested for it?” he asked.
Brianna relaxed a little. “Yes, she was. We always do a workup on our clients. Not to refuse them entrance, because the shelter takes any woman in immediate danger, but so that the staff is aware if they need special medications or trips to the doctor. I would’ve been told if Mia was HIV positive.”
“I’ll have the forensic blood work back on her,” he glanced at his watch, “later today. But for now we’ll assume she was still negative.”
“Did you already have her and Art tested because you were worried about contaminated blood hitting the blood supply?”
“Wish I could take credit for it, but Ramos said that given the lack of blood of the victims, they’d run the tests just in case.”
“Smart woman.”
“She is. Gives Jaylon a lot of grief,” he said with a little grin.
“Are they a couple?”
Aaron gave a short laugh. “He wishes, but like you said, she’s a smart woman. Knows a player when she meets one. I like my partner. Smart. Good at thinking outside the box. Hard worker. But relationship material? He’s got a lot of maturing before he meets that qualification. At least he does if he wants to hook up with someone on Ramos’s level.”
“Oh, he does,” Brianna said. She’d seen it in how the younger detective couldn’t keep his eyes off the coroner’s investigator whenever she was close by. She’d dated enough men to pick up the signs of interest in any male. Even Aaron, who managed to control his better than any man she’d ever met.
Movement across the street caught their attention, as the four uniformed officers they’d sent in to search the abandoned building exited, three headed for their squad cars, one running through the rain towards them. Stanley growled low and jumped into Brianna’s lap as Aaron rolled down his window.
“Find anything?” he asked.
“No, sir. No one fitting your description of the steroid guy.”
Brianna leaned closer. “I hate to ask, but you didn’t find a dead body, did you?”
The officer shook his head. “No, ma’am. And we searched every inch of that place.”
“Good. Thanks for handling that for us,” Aaron said, briefly shaking hands with the other man before letting him run back to his cruiser then rolled up his window.
Aaron waited for both cruisers to leave before he pulled out onto the road. He glanced in his rearview mirror and Brianna swiveled around to look back at the old brick building.
“I don’t see anyone,” she said, straining to look through the rain.
“I don’t either. Just wanted to be sure someone wasn’t watching and would go in after we all left.”
“So now back to the safehouse?” she asked, turning around and snuggling Stanley close.
“No. Home.”
“Home as in?” She left the question hanging.
Aaron glanced at her. “Your place.”
“I thought Stanley was staying at the safehouse under police protection?”
“He will be. I’ll be there.”
24
It was another hour before they pulled into her garage, having stopped by the precinct to switch out the old sedan for her car.
“I’ll take Stanley out back before we lock up for the night,” Aaron said when they entered her condo.
“You know, I’ve got a very good security system here. Luke and Abby made sure of it,” Brianna said, feeling more nervous with him right now than she had with any other man in her life.