Stolen(66)

“He wants you gone. That’s part of the deal.”

“What’s the rest of the deal?” Caity asked quietly. Her eyes, normally such a vivid blue against the jet black of her thick lashes now seemed almost gray. Last night, they’d been a softened color, too. Those eyes of hers were like a damn mood ring.

Hatcher stared at a spot on the wall and said, “Caitlin. She’s gone, too.”

“Like hell.” Spense slammed his fist into his palm. “Nobody’s going to pay for my stupidity but me.”

“Not how it works. You and Caitlin are a package deal. If one of you gets a rose, the other does, too. And if one of you gets sent home . . .”

“This isn’t a dating show.” Caity collapsed into one of the remaining chairs.

“Then your boyfriend shouldn’t have acted like a jealous jackass.”

“Jackass, I’ll give you,” Spense said. Though he was far from jealous of Grady Webber. Caity couldn’t stand the guy. “But Webber’s got to respect the boundaries Caity sets for him. I’m not going to stand by and let him get away with murder.”

“Let’s hope you didn’t just.” Caity shrugged one shoulder.

That was harsh.

And coming from Caity, the nicest kid in the world, it just about killed him. He’d hoped the way they’d cooperated last night meant she’d forgiven him. But maybe that had been more for the sake of justice than for love.

“Listen, Jordan. Keep Caity on. I’ll bow out completely. Officially. Unofficially. Every-icially.” He made a hands-off gesture. “I swear.”

“Can’t do it. Webber was crystal clear about his terms.”

“Who gives a flying fuck? Go ahead and charge me with assault. I earned my lumps and I can take them. There’s no reason for Caity to get the axe, too.”

“It’s out of my hands. Commander’s officially blacklisted the both of you. The reason I called you in this morning was for one last meeting. I need you to turn over all your notes, fill me in on your working profile, etc.”

“If you want our work product, then you have to keep us in the loop,” Caity said.

“I’ve already told you, it’s not up to me.”

“No.” She checked her nails. “I don’t mean that you would go against the commander’s orders. We would go off the books . . . but not off the loop. And don’t try to tell me you never had anyone off book before. Besides, there’s no one left around to tell tales anymore, right?”

“Just Cliff.”

“You trust Cliff,” she said. “It’s obvious. So what’ve you got to lose? Spense and I operating behind the scenes could be a good thing. It gives us more freedom to bend the rules.”

Spense clapped the base of his palm to his ear. Did he just hear Caity suggest bending the rules? Maybe he’d set a better example for her than he’d realized. But he couldn’t let her make that sacrifice for him. “I don’t want you to risk your reputation because I screwed up, Caity.”

“You screwed up, all right.”

Yep. She was still pissed.

“But I’d rather risk my career than let a predator go free.”

Hatcher scratched the back of his neck, then motioned for them to sit. “You still think there’s a predator out there? You’re not buying Dr. Webber’s theory about Laura re-enacting the murder of Angelina Antonelli?”

“The guy’s a quack at best.” Spense pulled up a chair next to Caity and across from Hatcher. “Last night, Caity went through a bunch of his notes and transcripts. We were hoping to find some minor professional mistakes Webber made that we could use to hold him at bay.”

“Why didn’t you say so? Maybe it’s not too late to renegotiate.”

Caity shook her heard. “We found mistakes all right, but they weren’t minor. In good conscience, we can’t go to Grady and make a deal with what we found. There’s too much at stake. I wouldn’t want to tip our hand or promise to hush his conduct up either. Once all the puzzle pieces are in place in this criminal investigation, we’ll be ethically obligated to turn our findings over to the board of medical examiners.”

“Why would Webber give us his files if he knows he did wrong?”

“Because he’s arrogant. I’m sure he thinks, if challenged, he can explain away all the crap he pulled,” Spense said.

“You gonna share that crap with me?”

“Are you keeping us in the loop?” Caity asked.

Look at her, playing hardball. Spense couldn’t help but puff out his chest.

“How about you two get your asses down to Boulder, or wherever your family is, and lay low. I can’t exactly keep you on speed dial, but let’s just say I won’t delete your number from my contacts either.”