The Girl Next Door (Shadow Agents 6)

But she did.

He opened his hand to her.

Gabrielle pushed back her chair and nearly ran to him. “I didn’t want him to die! I didn’t—”

“It’s okay,” he said, trying to soothe her.

The soothing didn’t work. Gabrielle shook her head. “I told McAdams that he could be in danger. I warned him that the killer could be targeting him next.” Her gaze searched his. “Why didn’t he listen?”

Because he trusted the wrong person.

That was what the man’s final message had been about. He’d opened the door to another EOD agent. Someone he’d thought he could safely admit to his apartment as a colleague or a friend.

But when McAdams had turned his back, that friend had attacked him.

Cooper wrapped his arm around Gabrielle and turned for the door.

He wasn’t particularly surprised to see Carmichael blocking the exit. As usual, the detective was glaring.

“Gabrielle told me that you both heard the sound of glass shattering...” Carmichael began.

Cooper nodded. He could confirm that part.

“You kicked in the door,” Carmichael continued, pointing at Cooper, “and when you searched the place, you realized that the perp had broken the window and escaped?”

“Yes,” Cooper snapped.

“Tell me how the hell he did that,” Carmichael demanded. “He was four floors up. There was no fire escape. Am I supposed to believe the guy flew out of there?”

Cooper’s hold tightened on Gabrielle. “The bricks were rough on that side of the building. Just as they were thrusting out a little too much at Lockwood’s place. For a man with the right skills, getting out would almost be too easy. Scaling down would be just like rock climbing.”

The detective stepped aside.

“Let’s go,” Cooper said into Gabrielle’s ear. She was too pale.

They’d taken two steps past the detective when Carmichael mused, “The right skills... Tell me, Marshall, do you happen to possess those skills?”

Yes. “I’m not your killer, and you know it. Gabrielle’s my alibi—”

“And you’re hers, yes, I know that. But I wasn’t asking if you killed the man. I was asking if you could have gotten out of that apartment the same way that the killer did.”

Gabrielle had stopped walking. She stared up at Cooper, waiting.

There was no point in lying. “Yes, I could have. I would have been down that wall and away from the scene in less than a minute. Just like the perp was.”

Then, before the cop could ask him any other questions, Cooper took Gabrielle toward the front of the station.

His motorcycle wasn’t around—one of his teammates would take care of it for him—so he directed Gabrielle into the first cab that he saw.

They raced away from the station.

He glanced back and wasn’t surprised to see a dark SUV slip behind the cab. He knew that his boss had been the one pulling the strings to get him out of the station, and Mercer would want an accounting of the night’s activities right away.

But Mercer would have to wait.

Because there was someone else who needed him first.

His arms tightened around Gabrielle.