The agent’s eyes widened, and she smirked. “Got it. So, you finished questioning people—”
“Yes, then we came in and did the paperwork for the pimp and typed up our notes on the meetings with the CIs.” Jo rubbed her face. “When we finished, Sullivan needed to stop to get cough syrup for his daughter, which was why we were at Ned’s place.”
“Ned’s place?”
“It’s a mini-mart slash gas station. We’d just gotten what we needed when the place was robbed—”
“You’re joking,” FBI Barbie cut in. Her eyes were wide with disbelief.
“Nope. Rhys, that’s my fiancé, he thinks it’s a karmic alignment when it happens. Like the universe literally throws the bad guys in my way so I can take them off the street.”
“Did you say Rice?”
Jo pinched the bridge of her nose. “Not spelled R-I-C-E it’s spelled R-H-Y-S—”
“That’s Reese.”
“No, because his name is Rhysian but Rian, his brother, shortened it to Rhys. So, it’s Rhys.”
“So, the robber was arrested—”
“Oh no. I punched him because he shot the place up and hit Ned. Which meant an ambulance had to come and pick up Ned. Then Sullivan and I had to take the perp to the hospital since we had no idea what the guy was on at the time and it would not have been safe to transport him in an ambulance with Ned. Besides, it was where I needed to be anyway since Rhys was taking me home.”
“So you dropped the robber off and then went home,” Redden marked something in his notebook.
“No, something else happened.”
Redden looked up and his trepidatious expression made Jo grin. “Do I want to ask?”
“Well, it seems Dr. Carmichael remembers the worst date ever—”
“If it was with you that doesn’t surprise me,” Redden quipped.
“Ignore him.” FBI Barbie pinched the bridge of her nose. “Did this Dr. Carmichael and your fiancé have an altercation?”
“Oh no, they work together. Dr. Carmichael asked my fiancé if he was into ménage—”
Both agents’ jaws dropped open. It was FBI Barbie who gathered herself first. “Dr. Carmichael is gay?”
“No. See.” Jo leaned forward because the whole incident was still funny as hell. “Dr. Carmichael asked me if I’d be interested in a ménage with him. I might have led the good doctor to the impression that if he wanted one, I’d be open to two men and me. But I didn’t do female-male-female, at which point he ran out of the bar as if his pants were drenched in gasoline and someone had struck a match.”
FBI Barbie was snickering quietly but tried to hide it behind her hand as she pored over her small notebook. “I’ll have to remember that next time I’m on a horrible date.”
Jo hummed. “Unfortunately, Dr. Carmichael asked Rhys about it, and they were overheard by a redneck. One who decided he and his friends needed to teach Rhys and Dr. Carmichael a lesson by gay bashing them in the parking lot.”
“How’d that work out?”
“Well, there was bashing going on but not a gay person in sight. Mostly it was handled when Rhys kicked their asses, but one had a tire iron, so I had to pull my gun. Needless to say, we arrested them, and Sullivan filled out the paperwork to transfer the case over to you all as a Hate Crime.” Jo tapped the metal table. “After that, Rhys and I went home, which our security camera would have clocked us. If that isn’t enough, the alarm code we entered to turn it off and back on should verify it. Especially since the code wasn’t entered again until Rhys left for work before you all got there. Then I entered it yet again to let you all in the house. So that would be my alibi. Now, your turn. Why are you asking me all these questions? Because every bit of this can be verified by different security feeds. I’m sure our Crime Tech Unit already has all of them.”
“We had them pull the footage after talking to your partner, Detective Krane. It’s why it took us a while to get in here. We didn’t think you had killed the two kids, however, we have to cover every one of our bases on this new case.” FBI Barbie cleared her throat. “I need you to know, I was transferred here after Sharon, and I have a full caseload so you’ll be working with Redden from here on out. If this is a prob—”
Jo held a hand up. “It won’t be an issue. I like giving Redden a hard time because he’s easy to bait, but his work is solid. Every other case we’ve needed him on he’s come through except for the two oddballs.”
“Oddballs?” FBI Barbie asked.
“She means the Skinned case and the Gravedigger case,” Redden said.
“Oh.”
“Yeah, so his work is fine, but in the spirit of being part of the force, I reserve the right to give him shit when he screws up. And dang it, you two cost me at least fifty cents in the swear jar.” Jo sighed. “Is this why you dragged me in here, to make sure I would work with Redden?”
“No.”
Sprawling back in the chair, Jo opened her arms. “I showed you mine, now you show me yours. Why am I here?”
It was Redden who caved. Three photos in rapid succession slid across the table toward Jo. All three held the image of the same person-Zach the adult teen she’d arrested two days ago. The first two were candid shots, one at a school function and another a selfie with Amy.
The last picture made her pause. It showed him in a recliner, a blood-soaked hoodie clinging to his body with a remote in his hand. She raised her gaze. “He’s dead?”
“Murdered last night.”
“And you think what? It was my partner and me?” Jo flicked the edges of the pictures.
“We didn’t know, but with how the young man bullied Laura we needed to be safe.”
“Especially since his
