But O’Bannion was a man who didn’t give up once he’d gotten the scent of a story. He had published the ‘truth’, exposing McCord’s proclivities to the disgust of the community. Luckily he hadn’t published the whole truth. Luckily Sean had been able to remove the more damaging files from McCord’s server before the police raided his house, took his computers and tossed his ass in jail.

We had to take a huge risk to ensure that good ole Woody McCord didn’t talk. It had been a stroke of fate that O’Bannion had been hospitalized at the same time, his life turned upside down by his own injury and the loss of his brother. Had he kept going, Alice was right. Ken and his entire team would be sitting behind bars.

‘And the second thing?’ she asked.

‘How will you get close to O’Bannion?’

‘I don’t plan to get close. I don’t care if anyone thinks it’s related to the girl this morning or not. Like I said earlier today, the man has so many enemies, nobody will know what hit him. I’ll make up a room for Demetrius, then I’ll focus on the O’Bannion problem.’

Ken dialed Decker as she left the room. ‘I need your medical services again,’ he said when the younger man answered. ‘Meet me in Eden Park near the Conservatory. I’ll be waiting next to Demetrius’s car. And bring some chloroform or something to knock him out with.’ He hung up and dialed Burton. ‘I need you to tow Demetrius’s vehicle to my garage. I want you to clean out the blood and then get rid of it.’

‘Yes, sir.’

Twenty-three

Cincinnati, Ohio

Tuesday 4 August, 9.05 P.M.

Scarlett found Marcus sitting on a sofa in a sleek, opulent living room, cradling a Sheltie in his arms. The dog wasn’t moving.

Oh no, she thought, her heart hurting for him even as her body trembled with relief. He was unhurt. Strong, healthy and alive. He looked up, met her eyes, and a new wave of fear passed through her. His looked stark and cold. Empty.

An officer stood behind him, his expression irritated. The man had his hand on his holstered service weapon as if he expected Marcus to bolt and planned to gun him down when he did. ‘Are you Bishop?’ he asked stiffly.

Scarlett glanced at the man’s badge. ‘I am Detective Bishop, Officer Towson. Stand down, please.’ She could see that there were people in the bedroom and knew from Dispatch that Marcus had made two calls to 911, one for the doorman, Edgar Kauffman, and the other for his employee, Phillip Cauldwell. The second ambulance had still been parked outside, so the medics weren’t done with Phillip yet. She looked over her shoulder at Kate, who’d stayed a step behind her the whole way. ‘Can you see what’s happening in the bedroom?’

Kate nodded and went to the master bedroom. Scarlett carefully sat next to Marcus.

‘Are you hurt?’ she asked, keeping her voice low and calm. As calm as she could, anyway, with her heart beating a hole in her throat.

‘I’m not hurt.’ He swallowed hard. ‘Phillip Cauldwell’s one of my team,’ he said, his normally beautiful voice flat and emotionless. ‘On the Ledger. Good kid. I’ve known him for years. His sister is Lisette Cauldwell. She’s also on my team. She’s one of my oldest friends. I need to tell her about Phil. I don’t want her to hear it from strangers.’ He fixed his gaze on the dog in his arms. ‘I also need a vet,’ he continued in the same flat voice. ‘He hurt her.’

He was in shock, she understood. Not physical shock, but emotional shock. ‘The person who attacked Phillip?’ she asked softly.

‘She bit him. She’s evidence, but I don’t want her in a cage. I want her taken care of.’ Another audible swallow. ‘She’s all I have left of Mikhail,’ he whispered, his voice breaking.

‘I understand.’ She placed her hand on Marcus’s forearm and gave it a light squeeze. ‘I called Sergeant Tanaka. He’s on his way with a team. I’ll ask him to call a forensic vet, okay?’ She made the call, then ran her hand gently over the dog’s coat. The animal whimpered softly, and Marcus’s hold tightened ever so slightly.

Kate came back in and crouched next to the sofa, looking up at Marcus. ‘Your friend isn’t dead. He’s hurt badly, though, but you knew that,’ she said honestly. ‘You stopped his bleeding, so he’ll have a chance.’

‘This is Special Agent Coppola,’ Scarlett told him. ‘She’s Deacon’s old partner. She’s just been transferred here, so she’s helping us with this case now. Deacon says you can trust her. Tell us what happened.’

He glanced at Kate before lifting his eyes to Scarlett’s again, his still stark and cold. He told them how he’d found the wounded guard in the lobby, how he’d found his apartment trashed. ‘He forced Phillip to bring him up here, but I guess he didn’t expect the dog to bite him or Phillip to stab him with his own knife.’

‘I guess not,’ Scarlett said softly. ‘I’m glad they took him by surprise.’

‘You were right,’ Marcus said, his voice as dead as his eyes. ‘I was the target this afternoon. They were shooting at me, not you. Maybe this morning in the alley, too. Maybe it’s been me all along.’

‘Not this morning,’ Scarlett murmured. ‘Tala’s killer tracked her to the alley.’

‘And Agent Spangler,’ he continued, as if she hadn’t said a word. ‘Maybe he’s dead because of me too. Maybe they’ve been following me all day.’

Scarlett wanted to sigh. His emotional shock was worse than she’d thought. He was taking responsibility for everything that had gone wrong this day. Although he didn’t sound paranoid. He sounded too coldly logical. Her gut had told her to look at Marcus’s enemies this morning, but she’d brushed the instinct aside, focusing on Tala as the target.

Because Tala had known her killer. And because Tala’s owner had been removed from his home, kicking and screaming. But then the killer came here. To Marcus’s home. To hell with sighing. Now she wanted to curse in frustration. I’m missing something important.

‘Who’s they?’ Kate asked.

‘I don’t know,’ Marcus said, his voice controlled and pulled taut at the same time.

‘I think we need to go over that list of yours,’ Scarlett said, keeping her voice soft, ‘because too many things don’t fit together. I need to call my boss. Give me a minute. I’ll be right back.’ She squeezed his arm as she rose, wishing she could brush a kiss over his lips or take him in her arms, but she knew that comforting him would have to wait.

‘Officer Towson,’ Scarlett said. ‘Bring the building manager up here, please. I want the security tapes for this building. I want to know if the shooter left, from which exit, and when.’

‘He’s gone,’ Officer Towson said. ‘I cleared every room.’

Marcus shook his head. ‘He’s gone from this apartment, but if he’s stabbed and bleeding, he may have holed up somewhere else in the building.’

‘I’ll get the building locked down and handle the door-to-door search,’ Kate said. ‘Hopefully he hasn’t taken anyone hostage, but we might find that someone saw something.’

Scarlett gave her a grateful nod. ‘Thanks. I have to give Isenberg an update and find someone else to lead the search for the women.’

‘No,’ Marcus said, grabbing Scarlett’s arm with a speed she hadn’t anticipated. He didn’t hurt her, but he’d startled her.

‘Hands off, buddy,’ Towson snapped, grabbing Marcus’s wrist and trying to yank it away. Marcus released her, but Scarlett knew that it was only because he didn’t want to hurt her.

‘I asked you to get the manager, Officer,’ Scarlett said, allowing the uniform to feel the sharp end of her tone. ‘Please do that. Mr O’Bannion is not a suspect. He is a witness, and we will treat him with respect.’

Towson gave her a dark look. ‘Yes, ma’am,’ he said mockingly and marched off, leaving Scarlett shaking her head. She could and would deal with Towson later. Now she sat back on the sofa, curling her fingers around Marcus’s wrist. ‘Why did you tell me no?’