Lethal Game (GhostWalkers 16)

“I’m sorry. I don’t recall anyone by that name.” He had gone through interrogation techniques. He’d been interrogated. He’d been tortured, and the evidence was on his body had anyone bothered to look. He could look and sound as if he was telling the truth even when he was lying his ass off. “When was I supposed to have run across him?”

Mills stirred as if he might kick the shit out of Malichai’s leg all over again. Every cell in his body rebelled but he kept his face expressionless. He didn’t want to encourage the bastard if he was into torture. He needed to get his heart rate down and slowly test how much of his leg he could count on when he needed to explode into action.

“The other day you visited the magic shop and spoke to the major,” Callendine said patiently.

Malichai let his gaze shift to the older woman, a faint smile on his face. “Now, that, I remember. She was rude as hell.”

“You were lying,” Callendine said. “You don’t know Miss Crystal.”

“Actually,” Malichai contradicted, “I do. My fiancée works at the bed-and-breakfast. She’s been there for the last year. She introduced me to Miss Crystal some time ago. It’s true I don’t get leave that often, but when I do, I come to see my girl. She’s been helping Marie while Jacy’s sick again and so she can’t come with me. I’m gone a lot, so it was okay. Miss Crystal is a sweet old lady and a good friend to both women and Jacy.”

Callendine glared at the major. “I thought you researched thoroughly.”

The major ducked her head, clearly embarrassed that she hadn’t uncovered Amaryllis’s engagement.

“What branch of the service are you in?” Callendine demanded.

“Air Force,” Malichai said.

Mills snickered outright. Malichai was careful not to allow his gaze to shift toward the man. He didn’t want any of the three of them to see the sudden burning in his eyes. He was proud of his branch of the military. Very proud. He wasn’t going to blow this entire thing in order to get into a pissing match with Mills, whom he already considered an idiot.

“I don’t understand what’s going on here, sir,” he added, using the term of respect as if it was a habit and he wasn’t aware of it. He knew Callendine would like that. “If you’re running an operation, you should have told me to stand down. I was only looking for Miss Crystal. The major was rude, and that didn’t seem right when she was working at the shop supposedly trying to sell to customers. Big red flag to me. It didn’t occur to me not to ask questions.”

Callendine shook his head. “Perhaps the major could have been a little more personable. She’s used to deference.”

“What about Anna and Bryon Cooper? Why did you have Mills kill them? He did, I’m certain of it. What kind of threat were they?”

“Why would you think Mills killed them?” Callendine asked.

“It was sloppy. He’s military, not a professional. He didn’t have a lot of time when the opportunity presented itself, so he improvised instead of waiting for a better time.” It was all guesswork, but if Shevfield hadn’t killed the couple, someone else did, and it was too big of a coincidence to think that there was another killer involved.

“He should have waited,” Callendine conceded. “The woman couldn’t keep her mouth shut. She overheard things she shouldn’t have. How much was impossible to say, but she was a threat to national security we couldn’t afford.”

“She wasn’t a threat,” Malichai protested. “No one listened to anything she said.”

“Getting back to Shevfield. You went swimming that day you spoke with Major Salsberry.”

Malichai nodded. He didn’t make the mistake of running his hand down his thigh, but the temptation was there. He kept his hands firmly behind his back, shifting his shoulders every now and then as if to ease the strain being handcuffed caused. “My physical therapist advised me to swim in the ocean. I’d promised to continue. The doctors wouldn’t release me to come to see Amaryllis unless I agreed to swim. I do so every morning.”

“So a recent injury.”

Now they were getting into things Malichai didn’t want to talk about. Callendine could use that information to help whoever was financing his mission to find out information about Malichai and his unit—at least where he’d been.

Malichai stared at Callendine. Mills made a move toward him, but Callendine waved him off.

“I see,” he said. “You must belong to a special unit. I assume wherever you got that injury, and from the photographs I saw, you were shot multiple times, you had to have been on a covert mission.”

Malichai remained silent, not taking the bait. Callendine sighed. “Mr. Shevfield entered the water in full scuba gear. You weren’t wearing even a partial wet suit and yet you swam for some time in what amounts to very cold water. You came out without a single problem. Shevfield did not return.”