Mace:Number is registered to a prepaid phone. No name attached. Last ping was near Grady the night Sam got shot.
I read it twice before locking my screen.
The investigation was moving, even if it wasn’t moving fast enough. Whoever had warned Sam to leave things alone had likely been close enough to the hospital to be involved in his death. That was something, but today wasn’t the day to drag Milan deeper into it.
She’d spent enough time scared.
When Angela stepped away to print a few forms, Milan looked at me. “Everything okay?”
“Yeah.”
“You looked serious for a second.”
“Work.” She nodded and didn’t push, which I appreciated. “You hungry?” I asked, changing the subject.
Her eyebrows rose. “Is that your way of asking me to lunch?”
“It’s my way of asking if you hungry.”
A smile spread across her face. “You really don’t know how to ask a woman out, do you?”
“Hold up… I wasn’t asking you out.”
“Of course not…”
Milan shook her head, still smiling as she turned back toward Angela. Watching her laugh without fear sitting behind her eyes felt better than it should have.
The murder, the break-in and every question surrounding Sam were still there. None of that had changed.
For the next hour, though, I didn’t want to talk about any of it. I wanted to see who Milan Rivers was when she wasn’t fighting for her life or fighting me.
9
MILAN RIVERS
Vice pulled his keys from his pocket as he headed toward his truck while I walked in the opposite direction to my car. I had barely made it halfway across the parking lot before his deep voice stopped me.
“Where you going?”
I looked over my shoulder. “To my car.”
“Why?”
“To drive it.”
He just looked at me for a second. Then told me, “You riding with me.”
“Who decided that?”
“Me.”
I sighed, already knowing this conversation wasn’t going anywhere. Arguing with Vice was like arguing with a brick wall. Once he’d made up his mind, there wasn’t much anybody could say to change it.
He opened the passenger door and stood there waiting, looking entirely too confident that I’d eventually give in. My eyes drifted from him to my car before settling back on him.
“I have somewhere to be after this.”
“No, you don’t.” He nodded toward the open door. “You rolling with me today.”