Bloody Love (Lilah Love 6)

“Three people are dead,” I say, “I really don’t think it’s unreasonable. They’re covering their asses, not trying to kick you in yours.”

“Right,” she says. “I know you’re right. Let’s just get this over with.”

Indeed, I think.

I motion toward the door. “Head on into security. I’ll catch up.”

She does as I say, and I huddle with Enrique and Jay. “Watch that bitch,” Enrique murmurs low and conspiratorially. “She’ll curse you.”

“She won’t curse me,” I say. “But she might try to kill me. That won’t go well for her.”

“And then Kane will kill us,” he argues. “Watch your back, Lilah.”

“Always,” I say, leaving them outside as I enter the precinct.

Interestingly enough, security has no donuts today. Someone got smart.

Once I get past the stop and frisk, Marilyn and I head upstairs to room 222. Once we’re there, Houston and another tall, dark-haired detective in his forties are waiting for us. It’s Marco Polo, of course, and just another person to clutter up the clutter of this case with more clutter. There are introductions, of course, and confirmation that yes, this detective is Marco. Offers of coffee follow. “You should have some,” I encourage Marilyn. “Then you can say you drank oil and survived.”

She laughs stiffly. “I think I have enough to survive right now. Namely, a killer and the press.”

And a lie detector test, I think.

Thank fuck that is the last of the small talk.

She heads into the room with the technician administering the test. Me, the chief, and Marco head into the observation booth. We line up at the window with the two of them bracketing me.

“By the way,” I say. “I’ve offered her police protection, but don’t go to any effort. She won’t take it.” I glance over at Houston. “She wants Kane’s protection which I believe is because Kane is on the list of fake investors. My take is that she tried to kill us with the sous chef. She wants a second chance.”

“Fuck,” he murmurs.

“Yes,” I say. “Fuck.”

The test begins, and I listen to a few of the questions before I say, “Notice her pause.”

“What about it?” Marco asks.

“She’s asking herself a different question. Like hypothetically, ‘Do you like mushrooms’ when she hates them. That way when she says no, she believes her answer.”

“Agreed,” Houston says. “She’s been trained.”

I back up away from the window and dial Tic Tac. “Just who I wanted to scream at,” he says.

“Pipe down,” I counter. “Not now. Marilyn. There has to be someone military in her background. Maybe a client of her accounting firm. Maybe a family member.”

“I’ve done a surface check on her. Nothing is clicking. Everything we can legally do without a warrant has been done. We need a warrant.”

“Yes, I know,” I say, “But we don’t have time for that process to take place before we act. Keep digging your way, by the books, but we have to do more, faster. Right now, we need Lucas. Do you need to call him, or do you want me to?”

“We do things the right way, Lilah.”

“Kane’s a target,” I say. “You know that. I need to make sure he doesn’t end up dead, whatever that takes. And if you need more motivation, I’m clearly on this killer’s mind.”

He inhales and blows it out. “Okay. I’ll get Lucas diving deeper but get me something to justify probable cause for that warrant. And as for targets, Pocher and his brother are on the list, too. Murphy knows.”

“I’m dealing with that.”

“You need to talk to Murphy first. He’s going to call you.”

“Good,” I say. “I left him a voicemail about your raise.”

“You can’t bribe me,” he snaps.

“No. And I like that about you. The raise is because you deserve it. I can’t supervise Lucas. It’s a conflict in ten murderous ways. And I mean that literally.”

“Oh. Damn. Kane?”

“Yes,” I confirm. “He doesn’t like him. He doesn’t care he’s my cousin, because he’s a step-cousin. He thinks he wants to get me naked.”

“Does he?”

“Yes. Thus why I need you to do this. And I’m about to officially get you that list you’re already working on from Marilyn today.”

“I have no idea how you’re pulling that off.”

“Magic,” I say and I hang up, refocused on Houston. “Is it over?”

“About to finish. What’s the plan here?”

“Well, obviously, we need a warrant for actual police surveillance.”

“If she passes that test, we aren’t getting it. I don’t have probable cause. And even if we get a judge that doesn’t think we’re attacking a scared victim, out of desperation, pushing limits bites us later, and sets her free.”

He’s not wrong, which is exactly why I’m playing chess with Marilyn with every intention of winning. “She isn’t going to fail the test,” I say. “If she didn’t know how to beat it, she wouldn’t have taken it.”

The door opens and the test administrator, a quiet, older man with gray hair, and a uniform, says, “She passed, but I question the validity. She took a full minute for every question. Enough to ask herself another question before answering.”