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.Nance is here.” She paused.“How did things go at the cemetery?” she asked.He wanted to kick himself again for not inviting her.“Good.Thanks for talking me into going.”“You’re welcome.”“Look, I’ll call when I know something about Brian.” He started to hang up, but paused, “Nikki…” He heard his old man’s words.Hold on to her, son.You’ll regret it if you don’t.“Yes?”“I miss you.”“Me, too,” she said, but it took her a long time to say it.Getting off the line, feeling as if he’d screwed up again, he took off to talk to Brian.“I didn’t kill anyone,” Brian’s patience already seemed to be failing him and Dallas had just gotten started.“What brought you to our door?” Dallas’s own patience was in short supply, too.“Sterns had you checked out.I read the report.It said you specialized in wrongly accused cases and I’m being wrongly accused.”“There’s just one problem,” Dallas said.“We’re already working this case.”“So you’re trying to pin it on me? Is that what you’re saying?” Brian looked at Tyler sitting on the other side of the table.“Goes back to the duck story,” Dallas said.“If it walks like a duck, talks like—”Brian slammed his hand on the desk.“I didn’t kill Jack.”Dallas kept pushing the guy, hoping he’d crater.“Do you deny knowing Jose Garcia?”The man’s face went white.Oh, yeah, he was guilty.Dallas couldn’t wait to hand him over to Tony.“I didn’t do it.Fuck!” He took several deep breaths.“If I tell you the truth, can you help me?”“That depends on what the truth is,” Tyler said.Brian hesitated.“I knew Garcia.”“And you gave the kid the stuff to put in Jack Leon’s soup, didn’t you?”“Yes, but it wouldn’t have killed him.”“Did Leon discover you were cooking the books? Is that what happened?”The man grew paler still.“I told him I was going to pay it back.”“What is it? Cocaine?” The muscles in Dallas’s jaw tightened.“At first, yes.But I stopped using.I hired this man to… help me.He helped me kick the habit six weeks ago, but then he came back and said I had to pay him or he’d tell my dad.I took the money one more time.Jack found out.I tried to explain, but he wouldn’t listen.I thought if I… threatened him, he’d back off.All I wanted was a chance to pay back the money.I’ve done some bad things but stealing from my dad’s firm was the worst.I just wanted a chance to fix it.”“But he refused and that’s when you decided to kill him, right?”“No!”“You broke into Nikki Hunt’s apartment,” Dallas accused.“Jack had the information on a flash drive.I knew he’d seen her, so yes, I went looking for it.But I didn’t kill Jack and I didn’t attack anyone at that gallery.I’ll take a polygraph, whatever, but I’m not going down for this.” Brian shot his gaze to Tyler.“What do I do? How can I prove I’m innocent?”Dallas folded his arms over his chest.He didn’t believe Brian.“For starters, you turn yourself in.”“If I tell them about the money, they’ll think I killed Jack.”“They already know.I handed all the evidence I have to my brother over an hour ago.He’s probably already sent a squad car over to arrest you.”“Fuck!” Brian shot to his feet.“Turn yourself in,” Dallas said.“You’ll look less guilty.Then get your daddy to find you a good lawyer.”“What about you guys? Will you help me?”Before Dallas could say, “Hell no,” Tyler said, “We’ll look into it.”Dallas glared at Tyler.What the hell was he thinking? Then he saw it in his friend’s eyes.Tyler believed Brian.“It’s really over?” Nikki asked Dallas that evening as she sipped from a glass of champagne.The cold bubbles danced on her tongue.“You’re officially off the suspect list, Ms.Hunt.” He pulled her against him and kissed her so softly that she leaned into him and let herself enjoy being close.She’d planned on coming here, gathering her things and going home.Not angrily, not to call it quits, not even for a time-out.She just needed a slow down.Time to regroup her emotions.“I figured we’d celebrate privately tonight.” He ran his palm up her arm
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