Illusion (Billionaire in Disguise 2)

“Everyone’s a suspect until they aren’t.”

They sounded like Sam when she first got here. But I knew Sam. I knew she wasn’t involved in this. She couldn’t be. She was as perplexed and shocked about the explosion as I had been. Hell, she ran down the stairs and into a fucking fire to make sure no one was trapped down there to die.

She wasn’t the one doing any of this.

And nothing they could say would convince me of it.

I walked into the interrogation room and saw Sam sitting there. Her face was stoic, and her eyes were locked on the wall as Special Agents Smith and Jones sat across from her. The heavy metal table was bolted to the floor, and they were staring hard at her, no doubt waiting for her to answer a question they had asked.

“Mr. Steele, glad you could make it. Have a seat beside Miss Williams.”

I raked my eyes down her body, registering how annoyed she was before I sat down beside her.

“Why was I pulled from my office?” I asked. “And why is my hired bodyguard not with me?”

“Just a few questions for her,” Agent Smith said. “But she’s a little hesitant to answer some of them.”

I looked over at Sam as she gritted her teeth. I could see her temple flexing as she clenched her jaw, physically biting down on her tongue.

What the hell was going on?

“Maybe I can help,” I said as I sat back. “What is it you need to know that you haven’t found out over this past week?”

“When Miss Williams went down below the deck, what happened?” Agent Jones asked.

“Sam, why aren’t you answering that question?” I asked.

But all she did was draw in a deep breath.

“Miss Williams, we can arrest you for obstruction of justice if you don’t answer the question,” Agent Jones said.

“That won’t be necessary. Miss Williams is in my employ. She might simply be waiting for me to give her the okay to talk,” I said.

Sam panned her calm gaze over to mine, but the anger in her eyes was obvious.

“Answer the question, Sam.”

She shook her head like I was playing into someone’s hand before she parted her lips to speak.

“I went below the deck and headed through the smoke for the kitchen. I was trying to find the point of origination of the explosion.”

“So you knew an explosion had occurred before you got down there,” Agent Smith said.

“No. But it was the only logical explanation for the boat listing the way it did when I was on the upper deck,” Sam said.

“What side did the boat tilt?” Agent Jones asked.

“To the right. Made it hard to keep my balance until I got below the deck,” Sam said.

“Why was below the deck easier to navigate?” Agent Smith asked.

“Because water was filling up the bottom of the ship. Spilling in from the holes in the sides,” she said.

“Did you see the holes down there? From where you were?” Agent Jones asked.

“No,” Sam said.

“Then how did you know there were holes in the ship?”