Speak No Evil_ A Novel - Allison Brennan [62]
Then he laid on top of her as her body convulsed beneath him.
This time, he was done when she was.
EIGHTEEN
ANGIE’S MEMORIAL SERVICE was held at a funeral home near the college in the middle of the business district. More than a hundred people crowded into the chapel waiting for the service to begin. To Carina, it was particularly depressing that so many in attendance were young. And at the front of the room poor Angie lay in her coffin.
Will touched Carina’s arm. “I’m sorry I have to bail on you. My flight leaves in two hours. I’d better high-tail it to the airport.”
She squeezed his shoulder. “Keep that scumbag in prison where he belongs. That’s part of our job, so don’t worry about it.” She glanced over to where Nick and his brother were in a quietly heated conversation. “Nick can fill in for you until you return.”
“Hmmm.”
She jerked her head back to Will and narrowed her eyes. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“What’s what?” He was grinning.
“That hmmm.”
“You’re reading way too much into my noncomment.”
“We’ve been partners for over a year, friends for even longer. I know you.”
“And I know you.” Will looked over her shoulder at Nick. “I don’t make it a habit to check out men, but he seems smart and reasonably good-looking. Not as handsome as yours truly, of course, but men of my attributes are rare.”
She rolled her eyes. “Don’t you have a plane to catch?
Will laughed. “He’s a good cop. The chief was impressed with his background. I like him, too.”
“Ask him out on a date when you get back,” she snapped.
“I think you’re more his type.”
“Go away.”
“Going, going. Be careful, okay?”
“I promise.”
Will left and Carina walked over to Nick and Steve.
“I don’t like being treated like a suspect by my own brother,” Carina overheard Steve say to Nick before he saw her. He glared at Carina. “Detective Kincaid,” he snapped.
“I don’t mean to interrupt, but Hooper left and I need to talk to you, Nick.” She eyed Steve suspiciously. She flat-out didn’t like him. Though he’d moved down on the suspect list, his attitude about his affair with Angie and the other college girls left her with a sour taste in her mouth. She certainly wouldn’t want him anywhere around Lucy, though she suspected her sister had a good head on her shoulders and wouldn’t be sweet-talked by a guy twice her age, regardless of how attractive or clean-cut.
Steve opened his mouth to speak, then shut it and walked away. Carina watched as he spotted Angie’s friends Abby, Jodi, and Kayla. The foursome embraced.
Nick tensed beside her.
“I’m sorry,” she began. “Will left and I wanted to point out the undercover team since you’re not familiar with our people.”
“I saw them.”
She raised an eyebrow. “I guess we’re not as discreet as I thought.”
He grinned at her. “Maybe I’m just better than you thought.”
She hadn’t thought of Nick Thomas as much of a joker. She liked the lighter side of him.
But a memorial service was no place for lightness. His humor dissipated as he kept his eye on his brother.
“You know,” she said, “he’s not guilty.”
“I know.”
She watched Steve Thomas closely. Angie’s friends certainly didn’t look scared of him. Kayla was a bit standoffish, but that was her personality. Rough and prickly. Abby and Jodi, on the other hand, constantly touched his arm, his back. Jodi left her hand on his forearm, leaned over and whispered something in his ear, then kissed his cheek.
Dillon’s explanation of why Angie was attracted to older men made sense, even if Carina herself couldn’t relate to the girl. But Abby? Jodi? They were from traditional families, didn’t seem to have the same dysfunctional issues that Angie had dealt with.
As she observed Steve, she realized that it was him. He didn’t act like a man nearing forty. There was no difference in the way he acted and dressed than any of the other college guys who’d come to pay their respects. She remembered Dillon pointing out that he would have assumed, based