state and especially not Rocky Creek.”
So there was no reason for the guy to have been there. Of course, Dallas had already guessed that since he’d tried to get away when Dallas had spotted him.
“Got back a couple of reports,” Clayton continued. “Technically, I’m not supposed to see them, but they were hard to avoid since the fax machine is right by my desk. The first was Joelle’s lab work.”
That instantly got their attention, and both Joelle and Dallas turned toward Clayton.
“Someone slipped her a couple of prescription sleeping pills. Nothing serious. Not medically, anyway. I’m sure it wasn’t fun for Joelle to be drugged.”
“It wasn’t.” She wearily pushed her hair from her face. “Can we trace the prescription to Owen?”
“The local sheriff’s working on that now,” Clayton assured her.
Good, anything that would give them solid grounds to go after Owen.
“The other report is from the CSI team out at Rocky Creek,” Clayton continued. “The smoke did damage the window frame some, but they’re going to see what they can get. It’s possible the DNA has degraded, though.”
Joelle groaned softly. “Maybe they can at least get something from the spatter pattern.”
“Maybe,” Clayton agreed, but he didn’t sound overly hopeful. “I thought you’d like to know that the Rocky Creek sheriff questioned both Rudy and Sarah. Both are claiming they had nothing to do with the fire.”
That’s exactly what Dallas figured they’d say. “Someone locked us in. And according to what Joelle found out about a half hour ago, neither of them should have had a key.”
“I checked with the governor’s office,” Joelle added, “and the state official responsible for Rocky Creek had those bar locks installed to prevent anyone, including former employees, from going inside. There are only two keys. The state official has one in his possession, and I have the other.”
“So someone had a key made,” Clayton concluded. It wouldn’t have been hard to do, but the person would have needed access. Of course, all their suspects probably had that, but maybe they could find a locksmith who would confirm which one had done it. Unless the lock had simply been manipulated with some kind of pick device.
Which was always a possibility.
“There’s more,” Clayton went on. “The CSIs found a bug in Webb’s office, and I don’t mean of the insect variety. There was a listening device mounted beneath the desk.”
Dallas groaned. He went back through the things Joelle and he had discussed in that office. Like Sarah’s revelation that the knife could be Rudy’s. The blood spatter. Possible suspects. And yeah, even the old attraction.
Someone had overheard all of that.
But had that been the reason for the fire?
“My client is prepared to make a statement,” the lawyer said, and it wasn’t whispered so Dallas heard it loud and clear. It definitely got his attention.
Joelle’s, too. She hurried closer to the observation glass.
“Mr. Avery is a private investigator and had nothing to do with setting the fire at the Rocky Creek facility,” the lawyer insisted.
“Then why did he run?” Saul immediately fired back.
“Because his client hadn’t wanted him to be seen.”
“Client?” Dallas and Saul said in unison.
The lawyer nodded and said something that Dallas didn’t catch. That’s because at the same moment he heard the footsteps in the hall, and someone spoke. It was a voice he recognized.
Lindsey Downing.
Clayton moved inside the observation room so they could see Lindsey. She motioned toward the lawyer, and much to Dallas’s surprise, the man stepped out of the interview and spoke to her in the hall. Again, a whispered conversation.
One that gave Dallas a bad feeling.
Joelle looked at Dallas, silently questioning what was going on, but he had to shake his head.
“I hired Tim Avery,” Lindsey said when the lawyer finally stepped away and returned to where Avery was waiting. She looked directly at Joelle. “I wanted him to follow you.”
Joelle’s mouth dropped open. “Why?”
And while Dallas wanted to ask the woman a whole lot more, that question was a good start. So was turning off the audio on the intercom. He didn’t want to compromise the interview by having Avery’s lawyer claim that his client’s rights had been violated in any way.
“I hired him to get proof that you were sleeping with Dallas,” Lindsey readily admitted.
Dallas was sure that Joelle looked as stunned as he felt. “But I’m not,” Joelle argued.
Lindsey dismissed that with a wave of her hand. “A matter of time. I know all about the history you’ve had with Dallas, and I figured once you two became