Darren stopped in his tracks, his forehead tightening. “Who are you?”
Gibson strolled up to him, his easygoing gait somehow more intimidating than an open threat would have been. He put his arm around Darren’s shoulders. “I’m your new best friend. And we’re going to have a little chat.”
“What the fuck’s going on here?” Darren asked, his eyes widening.
“Let me see if I can make this easy,” Gibson said, his expression friendly. “You’re going to talk to us and you’re going to tell us the truth. We clear?”
“Are you threatening me?” Darren asked. “I’ll call the police.”
“Go right ahead,” Gibson said. “I’m sure the police would love to see this nice, new car of yours. How did you afford that beauty, Darren? Do lab technicians make that kind of money?”
Darren didn’t answer.
“And does your boss know you’re living it up at this swanky hotel? You seem awfully healthy for a guy on medical leave.”
“Fuck,” Darren muttered.
“Yep, I’d say so,” Gibson said, his voice going low. “Let’s unfuck some of this situation, shall we?”
Darren reluctantly led us back to his hotel room. The king-sized bed had been made—housekeeping had obviously been here already—and a glass door behind a mostly-closed curtain led to a balcony. I peeked into the bathroom. Beige tile, neatly folded white towels, and a large soaking tub. A terrycloth robe hung on a hook.
Gibson’s face was stony as he performed a sweep of the room before he nodded for me to sit at the small desk. He looked at Darren and pointed to the bed. “Sit.”
Darren lowered himself onto the edge, his face tense with fear. “Are you going to hurt me?”
“Depends.” Gibson’s stance was relaxed, his arms crossed loosely over his chest. But anyone with half a brain could see the tension he kept coiled inside.
“Depends on what?”
Gibson absently pressed his thumb against his middle finger, cracking the knuckle with a pop. “On whether you tell me what I want to know. And whether I think you’re lying. See, Darren, I don’t like it when people bullshit me. It’s a waste of my time and that just pisses me the fuck off.”
I watched Darren swallow hard, some of the color draining from his face. His eyes flicked to me a few times, as if he were trying to decide why I was here. I just stared back. I wasn’t going to let Gibson actually hurt the guy, but I could tell it wasn’t going to be necessary. I’d seen too many people on the brink of losing it. I knew what it looked like when someone was about to crack.
“What do you want to know?” Darren asked, his voice shaky.
“You signed off on a forensics report that identified the remains of a young girl recently,” Gibson said. “I want you to tell me about that.”
Another hard swallow from Darren. “My job was to determine the identity of the remains using dental records. I found a match.”
“Did you, though?” Gibson asked.
A sheen of sweat broke out on Darren’s forehead. “Yes.”
Gibson cracked another knuckle. “Stop wasting my time, Darren. It’s starting to piss me off.”
Darren’s eyes darted around wildly. “Look, it was a lot of money, okay. I had student loans up the ass. Who wouldn’t have taken it?”
“Huh,” Gibson said. Another knuckle crack. “Enough money to pay off your loans and buy you an expensive new car? Did they put you up in this hotel, too?”
“I’m supposed to lay low for a while. And come on, man, that’s my dream car. You aren’t going to smash it up or something, are you?”
“I wasn’t, but now I might,” Gibson said. “Who paid you off?”
“I don’t know his name,” Darren said. Gibson’s gaze snapped to him and Darren flinched. “I swear. He never told me who he was. He showed up at my house after work one day and offered me money to fake the report. I said no at first, but it was a lot of money, and those loans were killing me.”
Gibson pulled his phone out of his back pocket. Wordlessly, he tapped on the screen a few times, then held it out to show Darren. “Was it that guy?”
I could see the recognition in Darren’s expression even before he nodded.
“Yeah, that looks like him.”
Gibson pocketed his phone, then crouched in front of Darren, leveling him with a piercing glare. “You caused a big problem when you did that. And the people who paid you won’t hesitate to get rid of you to keep you quiet.”