Stolen Seduction (6 page)

“What’s going on here?” she asked, glancing between the two. Shane still hadn’t uttered a single

word since stepping in the room and it didn’t look like he was about to, either.

Good cop, bad cop. Oh yeah, she knew the drill.

“What’s your relationship with Bryan Roarke?” Chen asked.

Hailey’s spine tingled. “He’s my cousin.”

“He works for Roarke Resorts?”

She nodded. “He’s vice president of operations for the northern region. Did Bryan do something?”

Chen widened his stance. “I’m afraid we have some bad news, Ms. Roarke. Your cousin was found

dead late last night.”

The floor shifted under Hailey’s feet. In her mind she saw Bryan’s aggressive demeanor when she’d

refused to sign those papers just two days prior. She must have wobbled, because one minute she

was spinning and the next Shane’s big hand was wrapped tightly around her upper arm and he was

easing her back to the couch.

Okay, she’d been wrong. Seeing Shane walk in the room this morning wasn’t the biggest shock of

her life. Hearing the news about Bryan beat that by a long shot. “Are…are you sure? Maybe you

have the wrong person.” She looked up at Chen.

“We’re not wrong,” Chen said flatly. “What kind of errands?”

“Um…” She lifted a hand to her forehead. Could she tell them the truth? No, because that would

just raise a bunch of flags about how she’d gotten into the house and what she was doing there. And

she couldn’t risk letting Billy get involved. “Shopping,” she lied. “I don’t get to Chicago very often.”

“Were you alone?”

“Yes.” More lies. Oh, man.

“Then you went to a bar? Whereabouts?”

“Ah…” She looked at her bare feet. “Somewhere near Lincoln Park.”

“You don’t know the name of the establishment?”

“No. I asked the cabby where I could get a good burger and beer, and he took me there. I didn’t pay

much attention to the name.”

Liar. She chanced a look at Shane from the corner of her eye, swallowed and looked back at her

feet.

Chen made notes on a tablet in his hand. “What time was that?”

“I don’t know. Nine, I guess.”

“And what time did you leave?”

“Sometime after ten.” Oh, man, could she sound guiltier? She’d practiced all this in her mind, just

in case Bryan figured out someone had been in the house and caused a ruckus within the company.

But she’d never once anticipated she’d be answering questions about her whereabouts to the police.

And never, ever, because of his death.

Oh, shit. He was really dead. Her stomach rolled.

“Did anyone see you there? Can anyone vouch for your timeline?”

Vouch for her? Hold on a minute. In the midst of all the fuzz in her brain, one thing got through.

Her gaze snapped to Chen. And as she focused on his pale eyes, reality dawned.

These two hadn’t come here simply to relay bad news. They’d come to question her. Which meant

Bryan’s death hadn’t been an accident. It also meant either they knew about the rocky relationship

she’d had with her cousin, or they’d already found evidence she’d been in the house.

Oh, double shit. The cut on her arm. She’d worn gloves to prevent fingerprints, just in case, but her

arm had bled good when she’d been stuck under that bed. She’d cleaned up what she could see, but

blood could be found with a black light. And if he’d been killed between the time she’d left the

house and when she’d run into Shane…

A lump formed in her throat, but she pushed words out and forced herself not to swallow and look

guiltier than she already was. “I’m not certain. The bartender for sure. A waitress.” Shane. She

chanced a glance his way and took in his rigid jaw and tight shoulders. Why wasn’t he saying any-thing? Did he think she was guilty? Was he ashamed of being with her? Did he think she’d run into

him just so she could have an alibi?

That last thought sent her stomach swirling. She looked back at Chen. “How did he die?”

Chen glanced at the notepad in his hand. “The house is registered as a Roarke Resorts holding. Did

your cousin live there permanently?”

Oh yeah, she was in deep trouble. He was avoiding her question.

She shook her head and looked at the carpet in front of her. Play it cool. Keep your head about you

and you’ll do fine. You know how this works. “No. He, ah, lives in Florida. He has a wife.” She

closed her eyes. Crap. Madeline. She forced her eyes open again. “He’s been overseeing construction up here. But he prefers to stay in the Chicago house rather than here.”

“Quite a commute, isn’t it?” Chen asked.

Yeah, but that was Bryan’s plan. Stay far enough away so he had an excuse for being gone a lot of

the time. None of the staff would ask questions and he’d get off on easy street. It was part of the

reason this resort was half a million dollars over budget and two months behind schedule. And it

was also part of the reason she was up here now.

Her brain flicked back over the scene she’d witnessed. Paused on Lucy Walthers. Whom neither one

had mentioned yet.

Shit. Should she tell them? No. Because then she’d definitely have to give up Billy. And she’d never

do that.

“It is,” she agreed in a quiet voice.

She couldn’t help it. She flicked another look at Shane only to find his hard, dark eyes focused solely on her. He still hadn’t said a word, and aside from catching her before she’d gone down like a

wussy female, he hadn’t touched her again. But the way he was watching her with those probing

eyes set her on edge. They weren’t the soft, gentle eyes they’d been last night. These were cop eyes.

The kind that looked all the way through a person and decided, Yep, she’s lying.

Hailey had to look away.

“Did you go by the house yesterday, Ms. Roarke?” Chen asked.

Her stomach clenched. Now, how was she going to answer that one?

Before Hailey could open her mouth, the phone on Chen’s hip went off. He looked down at the

number, scowled and flipped it open. “I need to take this. Detective Maxwell can finish things up

here.”

He didn’t wait for an answer from her, simply lifted the phone to his ear and said, “Chen” as he

strode for the exit.

Okay. Finish up. At least that meant they weren’t going to arrest her. And it meant she wasn’t going

to have to say a word about Billy. A shot of relief raced through Hailey, as strong as any triple

espresso. Until the moment the door snapped shut and she was suddenly all alone with Shane.

He stared at her with narrowed eyes. Didn’t say a thing. And in the silence between them, every one

of her self-doubts came rushing back.

She’d never been good enough for any man. Not for her father, not for her ex-husband, and definitely not for this burly detective she’d been thinking about for three long months. In the end, they’d all

walked away from her for one reason or another.

She took in the way he was studying her. This was not a man who was interested in her anymore.

Not as a woman, at least. And definitely not as a possible lover. He was here right now only because

she was a suspect.

A suspect. Forget all that lovey-dovey crap. The only thing she needed to focus on now was figuring a way to keep her ass out of jail.

Damn, Bryan. And damn my father, too.

She squared her shoulders, refusing to be intimidated. And was just about to open her mouth and cut

the silence when the bathroom door flew open and Billy walked out in a rush of steam and heat that

poured into the room.

“Babe, I thought you said there was coffee.” Her former brother-in-law was naked but for a pair of

low-slung Levi’s and a towel he was rubbing through his light brown hair. “You know I’m no good

before nine without some caffeine.”

Shane’s gaze snapped from Billy’s bare chest to her white terry bathrobe. And in his eyes she saw a

whole lot of What the fuck? He knew who Billy was. And he knew Billy’s reputation.

Hailey closed her eyes and blew out a long breath. Yeah. Things weren’t looking up at all. And this

was doing shit to keep her out of jail.

Shane’s back tightened as Hailey quickly stood and turned away from him. “Billy. You remember

Shane Maxwell, don’t you?”

Billy halted and his head came up. Surprised, hazel eyes darted to Hailey’s face, then over her

shoulder to Shane.

Yeah. You keep lookin’ buddy. Shane’s jaw clenched. Billy was his sister Lisa’s new brother-in-law.

Technically Shane supposed that made Billy some twisted form of family. Not that he was claiming

the kid, though. What little he knew of Billy Sullivan could be summed up in one word: fuckup.

In his mind’s eye, Shane saw the bruises all over Hailey’s face that had nearly stopped him cold

when he’d stepped into the suite—the ones he hadn’t noticed last night in the dim light of the bar or

his apartment—her in nothing but that cotton bathrobe and this punk in front of him. And it all totaled up to one big-ass question he had no right to ask.

“Yeah. Sure.” Billy looped the towel over his bare shoulder. “What brings you up here, cop?”

Hailey stepped between them, and Shane knew without even seeing her bruised face she was flashing Billy a warning. Smart girl. He was in no mood to play nice. ”Detective Maxwell came up to

ask me a few questions about the new hotel.”

Billy’s gaze snapped to her face. And no, Shane didn’t imagine it. The kid may be a fuckup, but he

was quick on the uptake. “You don’t say.”

“Why don’t you head down to the kitchen and check on that coffee,” Hailey said with way more enthusiasm than it needed. “I’ll finish up here while you’re gone.”

Billy nodded once, flicked a look at Shane, then took two steps back toward the bedroom door.

“Yeah. Lemme just grab my shirt.”

He was back in a flash, pulling a plain white tee over his head, flip-flops clacking against the soles

of his feet. “You guys want anything?”

“No, we’re good,” Hailey said quickly.

“Okay then. I’ll see ya.”

The door snapped shut, and silence settled over the room. Slowly, Hailey turned Shane’s way again.

Only this time she didn’t look shocked, like she had when Tony’d told her the news about her

cousin; she looked guilty.

No frickin’ way.

She bit the inside of her lip. Eyed him warily. Waited.

And though he knew it was the absolute wrong thing to say, he couldn’t seem to stop himself.

“Moving from one brother to the next?”

Surprise hit first, then fire flashed in her sapphire eyes before they narrowed. “Fuck you, Maxwell.”

Pow. Like he didn’t deserve that one? Yeah, he’d been the one to call things quits last night, but seriously…Billy Sullivan? Billy Sullivan?

He raked a hand through his hair and pushed that damn thought right out of his head. Who the hell

she screwed wasn’t his concern. But if the guy was using her as a punching bag, Christ Jake, that

was his business, big-time. “What happened to your face?”

She tipped her head and shot him a bored look. “I fell.”

“Bullshit. Either spill it or I’ll find someone who will.”

Her expression never wavered, but finally realizing he wasn’t backing down, she lifted a shoulder,

dropped it. “Which ones?”

Which ones? She was letting Sullivan beat on her? On a regular basis? Oh, man, the kid was dead

meat. And where was the spunky, I-don’t-take-crap-from-any-guy woman he’d met in the Keys?

She dropped her crossed arms. “Oh, please. I know what you’re thinking and that’s not it. Have you

talked to Lisa recently?”

He thought back to the last time his twin sister had called. “Last week.”

“Did she tell you what happened with Pete?”

Pete was Peter Kauffman. A friend to Lisa and Rafe, and Rafe’s business partner at the Odyssey

Gallery. Shane had met Kauffman in Florida as well. Smart. Quick. Everybody’s friend. The kind of

guy—in Shane’s mind—you seriously had to watch out for because you didn’t know what he’d do

next.

“About the trouble with his girlfriend?” Shane asked, remembering what Lisa had told him. A few

weeks ago Kauffman’s ex had been stalked by two guys linked to a terrorist faction in Egypt because of a scandal she’d witnessed. He didn’t know the details, only that there’d been a run-in in

New York, Kauffman and the girlfriend had gotten away, and the terrorist had been killed.

“Yeah.” Hailey pointed at her face. “Yellow bruises. I was helping Pete with some research. Kat’s

‘friends’ mistook me for Pete’s sister. I guess they thought I might be good bargaining material.”

His eyes widened. Holy shit. She’d been taken hostage. By a jihad terrorist. “What happened—”

“Nothing,” she said quickly. “I got away. Bad guy got what was coming to him. End of story.”

A rush of relief forced his breath out. But that relief was short-lived when he remembered what

she’d said earlier. Which ones?

He focused back at the fresh bruise near her eye. “What about the new bruises?”

She bit her lip again.

“Don’t even think about holding out on this, or your boyfriend out there’s gonna be in serious trouble.”

Her lips flattened. “Are you asking because you’re concerned for my well-being or because you

need a statement from your top suspect?”

Her beauty and killer curves almost made him forget she’d been a cop herself. “You’re not a suspect.” Not yet, anyway.

“But I’m a person of interest. Semantics, don’t you think?”

“We’re talking to everyone related to this case, not just you.”

She studied him a long second. “How did he die?”

He hesitated. “We’re not sure. Autopsy hasn’t come in.”

She knew he was lying. She could read it in those crystal blue eyes. “I’m not answering any other