in a mess, which may be irritating, but it’s not illegal. I’m not responsible for spoon-feeding every detail of my private life to you, especially when it doesn’t have any relevance to your case.”
“Says you,” Rubio remarked.
She glared at him. “And it’s not my job to speculate about what may or may not be going on. That’s your job.”
Verbally, she was on fire, but Josiah suddenly realized how dark the circles were underneath her eyes, how brittle the damp sheen was in her blue gaze. She had been through hell these past few days.
He needed to take her in his arms again so badly he had to turn away.
He was so close to blowing their subterfuge. For a blinding moment he couldn’t think of any reason to continue with it. Almost he opened his mouth to spill everything and lay claim Molly and the baby. It would feel so damn good to finally say it.
If he did, it would shoot him to the top of Frank and Rubio’s suspect list, but who the hell cared? He had alibis all over the damn city with the emergency responders he’d talked to throughout that endless Saturday night. He might need to go on administrative leave until he was cleared, but the DA position didn’t mean shit to him anymore.
Both he and Molly were already in danger. They should be together. Face whatever came next together.
One thing stopped him. His injuries, and the subsequent healing, had taken every ounce of stamina he had. He was only standing out of anger, fear for her safety, and sheer, bullheaded determination.
And while the danger to him had made its presence known loud and clear, so far only he, Frank, and Rubio knew that Molly had returned to town.
Trust me, she had said, but damn, that was hard to do when her life, along with the life of their baby, was at stake.
“She’s right,” he said to the detectives. “This has gone on long enough. Wrap it up for tonight. Will you give her a ride to wherever she’s staying?”
“Yeah, we can do that,” Frank replied.
Josiah pivoted to confront her angry, exhausted face. “If you can provide us with a copy of the Seychelles bank statements, I’ll consider that enough cause to believe there’s a credible threat to your safety. Can you do that before you go?”
Her mouth tightened, but she replied readily enough, “Absolutely. Like I said, I’ve got copies stored in a zip file in my email account. All I need is a few minutes with internet access.”
Frank said, “We’ll stop at my desk on the way out.”
Josiah reached out telepathically.
Her expression softened, and the damp sheen returned to her eyes.
Josiah held her gaze.
Her mouth worked. She shook her head but didn’t try to argue.
“Are… we done?” Rubio asked, looking cautiously from one to the other.
“We’re done,” Josiah said. “At least for the moment. After you get a copy of the zip file and verify everything, have a squad car stationed outside wherever she stays tonight. I want a police presence on her twenty-four seven. Is that clear?”
“Crystal,” replied Frank.
Josiah leaned back against the table, ostensibly to wait as the others left, but mostly because he wasn’t sure his legs would hold him up any longer. His body ached all over, especially in his hip and neck where he had taken the most damage.
Molly wasn’t fooled. She gave him a grim look as she followed Frank. Rubio was the last to leave and wheeled her luggage out.
When Josiah was alone, he rubbed the back of his neck and let his shoulders sag. He’d broken into a light sweat from the effort to stay upright.
But his night wasn’t over yet. He had to convince his coven that watching over Molly was the right thing to do.
He could hear their arguments already, and they were all valid points. Right now they were stretched too thin. They had other urgent matters to attend to, like following leads from the crash site as quickly as possible before they went cold. And protecting Molly wasn’t in their mission.
But keeping watch for any suspicious activity that might happen around her… that