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away Jackson Muldare’s protective shield if it was the last thing she ever did. Not to satisfy her own curiosity, which she admittedly had in spades, but because she felt that he needed to expose whatever it was he was guarding so zealously to the light of day. She was convinced that he would remain a tortured soul until such time as he cleared out his demons.

      * * *

      Forewarned, Roman Thomas Cahill was waiting for them when they arrived at the law firm.

      Stopping at the reception desk, Brianna and Jackson asked the very efficient-looking young man manning the desk if they could speak with Cahill.

      “First door to your right,” the receptionist said. “Mr. Cahill is waiting for you.”

      “One hurdle down, four hundred and ninety-nine to go,” Brianna said to her partner.

      “Only?” was Jackson’s response.

      A moment later, they were walking into R. Thomas Cahill’s cavernous office.

      Leaving the shelter of his desk, Cahill met them halfway. “I was told that you’d be stopping by,” he said, shaking both their hands. He gestured toward the two chairs before his desk, his indication clear. “Although I must admit that I’m a little unclear why the Aurora police department would have the slightest interest in the sale of the Old Aurora Hotel.” He chuckled. “I realize that the city doesn’t have much in the way of crime to keep detectives like yourselves busy, but surely there are more pressing things for you to look into than the sale of that fine old building to the city in order to make way for another wave of development.” Finished, he leaned back in his richly padded chair, his hands on either armrest as he waited for the weight of his words to sink in.

      “Well, that’s quite a mouthful, Mr. Cahill,” Jackson commented.

      Was he deliberately trying to irritate everyone today, Brianna couldn’t help wondering. She instantly went into damage control mode.

      “What my partner is trying to say,” she told the lawyer, “is that we’re wondering if you could clarify why the property was sold at this particular time and who on the city council authorized the sale.”

      Cahill’s expression remained unchanged. “Again, I have to say that I hardly see why that would concern the police department.”

      Jackson grew tired of all this beating around the bush. “It does if the building in question has bodies in it.”

      “Bodies?” Cahill echoed. “What the hell are you talking about?”

      “When the construction crew began demolishing the hotel this morning, they found bodies in the debris,” Jackson answered.

      Cahill didn’t look as if the news surprised him. Although there was a flash of color on his florid face, it gave way to a thoughtful expression as he advanced a theory. “That’s easy enough to explain. There were undoubtedly homeless people living in the building—they turn up everywhere—and they didn’t manage to get out in time.”

      Brianna could see that Jackson was on the verge of losing his temper. Placing her hand lightly on his wrist to placate him, she took the lead.

      “No, these bodies didn’t belong to any homeless people looking for shelter. These bodies had been encased in cement,” Brianna told the lawyer.

      Cahill’s complexion turned a serious shade of red as he rose to his feet. “Surely you don’t mean to sit here and accuse my client of having anything to do with such a heinous crime. Bear in mind that I can and will sue you and your whole department for defamation of character if either of you even so much as breathe this outside my office.”

      Not about to be intimidated, Brianna and Jackson were on their feet as well.

      “Before we get into all that ugliness, Mr. Cahill,” Brianna said in a calm voice that seemed to have the exact opposite effect on the attorney, “why don’t you just tell us who approached your client about the sale of the Old Aurora Hotel? You tell us that and we will get out of your hair.”

      “And you can get back to doing whatever it is that lawyers do,” Jackson interjected.

      “Don’t tempt me to show you,” Cahill said as he drew himself up to his full height, which was at least five inches shorter than Jackson. Clearly struggling to keep his temper in check, Cahill turned away from Jackson and said to Brianna, “If you’ll wait right here, I’ll see about getting you that information.”

      With that, the attorney stormed out of his office.

      “Why do you think he didn’t use his computer to get that information?” Jackson asked, looking at the door.

      “Probably because he wanted to get some space between himself and you before he did something that isn’t smiled upon in law school.” She looked at the other detective, more amused than annoyed. “Am I going to have to put a leash on you?”

      “You can try,” Jackson told her. Then, eyeing her for a moment, he added, “Might even be fun to watch you try.”

      For just a second, an image that had nothing to do with the case flashed through her mind. Not the time, she silently lectured.

      “We’re trying to make nice with these people,” Brianna reminded him. “Haven’t you ever heard that it’s easier to catch flies with honey than with vinegar? And if you give in to your urge and use a flyswatter,” guessing what was going through Jackson’s mind, “then you haven’t gotten anything at all for your trouble except for a flyswatter full of smashed flies.”

      Jackson gave her a look she couldn’t read. “Anyone ever tell you you’re colorful?”

      “Muldare, I’m serious,” she stressed. “We need these people to cooperate.”

      A hint of disbelief entered his eyes. “Are you telling me that you expect these people to just raise their hands and say, ‘You got me. I did it’?”

      “No, what I’m hoping is that one of these people might say something to help us find out just who decided to use the Old Aurora Hotel to cover up their killing spree.” She sighed as other thoughts occurred to her, things that needed to be checked out. “We’re going to need to get a task force together to help us tackle this.”

      “Safety in numbers?” Jackson asked.

      “Efficiency in numbers,” she countered. “I get the feeling that there are a lot of pieces involved in keeping all this secret, and the more people we have working on this, the better chance we stand of getting some answers before someone in the Aurora family tries to stonewall us.”

      “Then you do think it’s someone in the family,” Jackson asked. His tone made it clear that he already thought that way.

      “Until we get a few more things straightened out, I’m not thinking anything just yet,” she answered.

      Jackson was about to ask her something else when Cahill walked back into the office.

      At the same time, Jackson’s phone began to vibrate.

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