Reid - Maddie Wade Page 0,50
of the men in that room, or fact any man at Eidolon, would never lay a finger on a woman who wasn’t coming at them with a weapon. Plus, he knew without even having to hear what Decker thought that she was telling the truth.
Liam stepped back, and Reid moved closer and covered the woman’s head with the cloth with quick efficiency. He cut her wrists and ankles free before firmly but gently pulling her to her feet. He had no desire to hurt an innocent woman. He regretted they’d had to take this approach, but he doubted she’d have answered their questions under different circumstances.
McConnell was known for being a stickler, and she wouldn’t speak to anyone outside of the investigation about the break-in or fire. Now they had some answers at least and a place to start looking for the person who’d stolen her bag and most likely started the fire.
Once McConnell’s head was covered, Liam led her by her elbow to the exit where he and Lopez would load her into a van and drive her back to where they’d snatched her. She would be none the wiser as to where they’d been or who had come for her. It would probably leave her edgy and more aware of her surroundings, but Reid didn’t think that was a bad thing.
The men shed their ski-masks and Reid and Jack looked at Decker.
“Well?” Jack placed his hands on his hips impatiently as he waited for Decker to respond.
“She’s telling the truth.”
Jack nodded and pulled out his phone. “Will, I need CCTV from La Madeleine in Covent Garden. Jolie McConnell had her bag stolen from there the night Tina Pugh died. I want to know who took it and where they went next. Also, run background checks on the women with her, a Kaye Jones and Alison Fredderick.”
Reid waited as Jack went silent on his end, listening to whatever his brother was saying. Jack sighed and looked to the ceiling. “I know we do but until you have Lopez up to speed with your programmes, you have to fucking help me.” Jack paused again. “I don’t give a flying fuck if Aubrey is going to kick your ass for working late again.”
Reid smirked at the thought of a henpecked Will Granger, and then Callie came to mind, and he realised that perhaps it was worth a little nagging if he could go home to her every night as Will did with Aubrey.
“Fine. Next time I come over I’ll bring her some.… Yes, yes, Sunday as usual.” Jack hung up and looked at his men, who were openly grinning.
“Don’t fucking look at me like that. Aubrey is a ball-buster when she starts. I don’t know how Will copes with her.”
But Reid could tell by the grin on Jack’s face he had a lot of affection for his soon to be sister-in-law, not least because she’d healed the seemingly insurmountable rift between the brothers.
Decker chuckled. “Maybe because he loves her.”
“Yeah, well, as long as he finds the fucker who torched that body, he can love whoever the hell he likes.” Jack paused then and seemed to change his mind. “No scrap that, he has to marry Aubrey. That woman makes the best damn Yorkshire puddings I’ve ever tasted.”
Reid shook his head and laughed. “Well, now that’s cleared up, what’s the plan?”
Jack looked at him, his face cleared of anything except the job. “Now we wait and see what Waggs and Blake find and see if Will can find the arsonist. Do you have any news from Mitch on the investigation?”
“Not a lot. At least not that they’re sharing yet.” Decker was in constant contact with Mitch.
“I need to find the stalker so Callie can relax.” Reid ran a hand over his hair and thought of his sunshine and how she’d looked this morning when he’d woken her with his mouth.
“Ah, fuck not another one,” Jack groused.
Reid tilted his head at his boss’s words. “What the fuck are you on about?”
“You,” he accused.
“Me what?”
“You’ve fucking fallen for her.”
“Don’t be ridiculous.”
“I may not know the first fucking thing about love, but I know my men, and you, my friend, are arse over tits for her.”
Reid said nothing because he had nothing to say, so he ignored Jack.
Chapter Eighteen
Waggs pulled the collar of his jacket closer around his neck as he and Blake stepped from the car they had hired. He turned to survey the area and found a brutal beauty in the bleak, cold