Read Online Bring the Heat by Jo Davis - Free Book Online Page B

“All he said was that I ruined hislife, and now he’s going to ruin mine. I have no idea who he could be.”
    â€œAustin,” Danny said gently. “What about Ashley? Could the caller have ties to her?”
    He stared at the lieutenant. “What do you mean?”
    â€œDo you think maybe she was seeing someone? Maybe she was having an affair and he blames you for ruining things when she got pregnant with your child?”
    Those words hit his gut as though Danny had struck him. “No. Ashley wasn’t seeing anyone,” he insisted. “She’s a
victim
. She’s got nothing to do with this other than being used to punish me.”
    â€œAll I’m suggesting is another angle. It’s possible—”
    â€œNo!” Austin took a deep breath. “I know where you’re going and I’m telling you to forget it. I won’t accept that.”
    Glenn held up a hand. “All right. We’ll table that discussion for now.”
    Austin let it drop, but figured Danny would still check out his theory. A good investigator never left any loose ends once a question was raised and Austin couldn’t fault him for that. But he was also just as certain that road would go nowhere.
    Glenn rose from his chair and skirted his desk, perching one hip on the corner, hands clasped in front of him. Sympathy warmed his gaze.
    â€œAustin,” Byrne began carefully. “You’re a good cop and a terrific investigator. You know it’s typical for a killer to stalk the object of his rage for years before giving in to the need to act on his fantasy. Given the natureand timing of your wife’s murder, along with Blankenship’s, the phone call? We can’t ignore the fact that he’s connected to you somehow.”
    â€œYeah, I know. It’s all we’ve got right now.” Austin looked away, shaking his head. “God knows I keep searching for answers until I think I’ll lose my mind. I’ve started looking at my past cases again, adding to the list of which criminals might’ve held a serious enough grudge against me to actually follow through with killing. But the idea that Ashley and my child were murdered because of me . . .”
    He couldn’t imagine anything more horrible and doubted he ever would. The pain was still so raw and consuming. Austin had fallen into a black pit in the weeks following Ashley’s funeral. Now that he’d managed to start pulling himself together, he was determined to make her murderer pay for taking her life, and their child’s.
    â€œI know how you feel, but I
have
to look into Ashley’s personal life and double-check for any connection to the Blankenship murder or her killer,” Danny said quietly. “In fact, I already started.”
    A protest hovered on Austin’s lips and he struggled with the suggestion, even though it was necessary. “I hate the fuck out of this.”
    â€œIt has to be ruled out. Let Danny continue to handle it,” Glenn urged. “If a connection exists, he’ll find it. If not, there’s no reason to put yourself through the pain.”
    Austin ran a hand through his hair, causing the auburn strands to poke in every direction. “All right. Thanks.”
    Glenn hesitated. “There’s something else. I know you’re still technically on leave, but I’m also not stupid enough to think you’re going to back off from this case no matter what I say.”
    â€œEven if you threatened to fire me, I couldn’t walk away from this.”
    â€œExactly, but I don’t want you to fuck up because you lost your objectivity.”
    â€œI won’t. For God’s sake, you know me better than that,” Austin said, reining in his anger. “I’m not a maverick, and Danny and my detectives are with me every step of the way.”
    Glenn pinched the bridge of his nose with a heavy sigh. “This is much more