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He rubbed at his arm, his jaw clenched Not so blank any more "Don’t do that"

Innocent as the devil, she blinked over at him "Don’t do what?" Arouse you? Make you craveto say is, we should consider using the witness as bait to draw out the Arcadian or whoever hired hi stupid, like leaping over the table and devouring Hector Uh, shesome sense into Hector "If the two cases are connected, the Arcadian will try to cover his tracks and tie up all loose ends Right now, the witness is the only loose end we’ve got"

"That we know of," she replied "But he’ll never agree He was scared as hell already"

"Well, we don’t have to use him in the field," Hector said "Just his nao that route, though Not yet Not until we have a fewmoment after he’d spoken, he watched her, silent, his intense expression so her back to the reception hall, with his ar arousal pooled between her legs

Stop You have to stop this

She cleared her throat, breaking the spell

He looked away "I’ve got agents scouring Whore’s Corner, searching for other possible witnesses Especially so me updates and so far no luck"

"They probably won’t find anyone," she said "Witness mentioned a foot chase Our killer would have found anyone else in the vicinity and ould have found a trail of dead bodies"

"Maybe Or, if our killer found soht have taken hi was then under control But there are no footprints anywhere So either our witness was lying and there was never a chase or they iped"

"Wouldn’t be difficult for a rich ht equipents search the field for a small pinlike device It’s sround and switched on, it disrupts the natural lay of the land, kind of like shaking dirt in a glass" Of course, if the device was used, the body could have been dragged there without leaving tracks

"Never heard of so like that," Dallas said "Wouldn’t we have felt a quake or so like that because it’s black market and new I certainly don’t know about it because Ava and I trashed a senator’s prized backyard after he threw a tantrum when she wouldn’t sleep with him I just like to stay up to date on new inventions"

"Up to date?" Hector said "That’s the alibi you’re going with?"

A shrug of one shoulder

"I’ll have the agents look As for us, we need to notify Mr Marks’s family about his death before the press learns his identity I tried to phone the mother, Brenda Marks, on the way over, but there was no answer" There was a dagger-like sharpness to his tone Clearly he hated that part of the job "When she finds out, there will be a public outcry for action and answers, and we’ll have cameras on our everyas a woet You don’t have to worry about any tears or accusations that you should have done your job and saved Bobby But she does like the liht, and she will phone every newspaper in town the le of scents wafted to Noelle a split second before the waitress arrived Noelle’splate was skidded across the table Her stoerness

Her favorite develop

"Don’t ask, because I’, she lifted a piece of extra crispy bacon, bit off the tip, and gave another of thoseshe’d ever tasted Maybe it was The flavors exploded on her tongue as she chewed

"Not nice," Hector growled, rubbing his arm more forcefully

Dallas reached out to confiscate a piece of toast, but she stabbed his hand with her fork in a lightning-fast e

"Ow!"

"The fact that I’naled the waitress and said, "My friend would like a bowl of pretzels if you’ve got thee for his hand"

"I’ll see what I can find" Off the waitress went again, returning a few

Dallas ignored the rag andat Noelle the entire tie "Giveany kind of de her--more than once--would have pissed her off But … that husky voice, paired with those glittering eyes, and the stubborn tilt of his chin, was just flat-out sexy Wouldn’t do to give in gracefully, though

Forcing a put-on expression, she scooted the plate of patties his way, and said, "Only because I’ve had my hand wrapped around your …" His eyes slitted and she smiled innocently … "tool kit"

Dallas looked between the else, just focused all of his intensity on the food

"Mia will be ticked" Dallas worried two fingers over his stubbled jaw

"That I didn’t share my toast with you?" Noelle shook her head as she shoveled in a bite of eggs, sed "Try again"

The worrying paused for a moment "No, moron, if the media learns Marks’s identity before the family is notified"

He was lucky Ava wasn’t here The nae and when Ava raged, people required hospitalization Or coffins "But you guys still want his name kept out of the papers?"

"Yes" Hector bit into the sausage with gusto

"ME’s report will hit our desks in the , and you can wait to notify Marks’sthe bowl of crackers back and forth between his hands "But there’ll be no keeping the details on lockdown after that"

Noelle noticed that while she called the victim by his first na distanced, she thought Any other case, she probably would have done the same But then, she’d known Bobby before his murder

"We still risk a leak beforehand" Reporters would be all over a rich man’s death Just like the vultures they were While she could ensure information was filtered in theabout the ones they didn’t "I’m sure a press conference will even be called, and as the primary on this case, your face will be plastered on every TV screen in town," she said to Hector