Darcangelo chuckled. “Dark humor. LEOs do that,too.”
Joaquin’s expression had gone serious. “So do journalists. Journalism isn’t as dangerous as being a cop or a soldier, but you see alotofshit.”
“Hell, yeah, you do.” Darcangelo shared a glance withJoaquin.
Mia felt the weight of that glance. She had worked in a mostly male environment long enough to recognize deep friendship. Joaquin and Darcangelo wereclose.
There were still cops at Jason’s house when they arrived. Darcangelo parked, wished Mia well, told Joaquin to get lost, and walked over to talk with Petersen, the cop who had detainedthem.
Mia found herself staring at the open front door, the finality of the situation hitting her full force. Jason was dead. He was gone. He had survived Iraq only to be murdered in hishome.
Son of abitch!
Joaquin came up beside her, his hand closing around hers. “I’m so sorry,Mia.”
“Elena knew him. She would want to hear about this.” Mia glanced around, wondering if the killer was still nearby,watching.
“I’ll stop by her place on my way home and give her thenews.”
“Let’s get the hell out ofhere.”
Joaquin drove her back to her car, then followed her home. He got out of his vehicle and walked with her to her front steps. “Are you sure you don’t want me to come inside and check theplace?”
“Why do you care? You barely know me.” The words came out cold. She hadn’t intended that. “I’m grateful for what you did today. I really am. I don’t know what would have happened tonight without you. But I don’tunderstand.”
He ducked down and kissed her forehead. It was a fleeting kiss, and it wasn’t even on her mouth, but it made her breath catch and left her pulseracing.
He stepped back. “You did a lot for Elena. I couldn’t let you face all of this alone. More than that, I feel a connection to you, Mia. I can’t explain it. I just know it’s there. Call if you needanything.”
“Goodnight.” Mia hurried inside her condo, where it was warm, then watched through her front window while Joaquin droveaway.
Then, without stopping to take off her parka, she went to her bedroom closet, opened her biometric safe, and took out herpistol.
* * *
Joaquin wokeup to snow the next morning—and the realization that he was fucked. He showered and drove to work early, hoping to catch Cate before the I-Team meeting. He was at his desk cleaning the inner barrel of his zoom lens when she walked in. Her expression when she saw him told him sheknew.
Shit.
“Hey, Cate, can wetalk?”
“You know Mia Starr.” She dropped her stuff on her desk, her expressionhard.
“In private.” He motioned with a jerk of his head toward the hallway that led to the conferenceroom.
She followed, heels clicking on the tilefloor.
Joaquin shut the door behind them. “Mia Starr was my cousin’s commanding officer her first year of active duty. I met her Friday when I photographed her outside Andrew Meyer’s place. I had no idea who she was then. She ripped my head off. I ran into her again Saturday night at my cousin Elena’s welcome homeparty.”
“You sat through the I-Team meeting yesterday and saidnothing.”
“What did you want me to say? ‘Hey, my cousin served with her. I saw her at a party.’” Okay, so he’d also danced with her, talked with her, walked her to hercar.
“You could have offered to connect me with her or tried to convince her to let me interviewher.”
“She can’t stand media. If she’d wanted to do an interview, she wouldn’t have hung up on you. Nothing I could have said would have changed her mind.” Of that, Joaquin was certain. “I’m trying to stay out of this—for my cousin’ssake.”
“So, you take her to dinner and drive her to the scene of a murder? How is that staying out ofit?”