“Yeah? Did you know that she takes on animals that no one else wants? That she bought a house in a crappy area of town because it came with enough land for her animals?”
She gaped at Brody. “How did you know that?”
Brody fiddled with his glasses and shrugged. “It was obvious. Why else would you live there? And I’m guessing you use most of your money to help them and other animals.”
“I do.”
“Not many people would do what they could to protect animals the way you do. Heard about what you were doing tonight. You ever need me to help with anything like that . . . I’m there.”
“Jesus, Brody,” Ink said with a groan. “Your, um, your man isn’t going to let you get involved with anything like that.”
Brody frowned. “What makes you say that? Just because he does . . . what he does, doesn’t mean he can stand animal abuse. He’d want me to help. Even if you just need my computer skills.”
“Thanks,” she said, taking Brody in properly for the first time as things finally started to pierce her bubble.
His thick hair was a bit on the long side, but he rocked it. He wore a faded T-shirt with a ninja on the front. His glasses added to his sexy nerd appearance.
“Thank you for calling us tonight,” she said. “For helping save my babies. I owe you.”
Brody blushed slightly. “You don’t owe me anything. I just wish I’d seen him before he’d thrown that Molotov cocktail or whatever it was. I wish I could have gotten there earlier.”
“Oh, that’s where I’ve seen you. You were there tonight. Did you arrive with Ink?” she asked.
“Ah, no, my, uh, man insisted on driving me. He wanted to see your house for himself.”
“He did?” Ink asked.
“Hmm.” Brody turned his gaze back to his laptop, tuning the rest of them out. Ink watched him assessingly for a moment. Then he simply shook his head.
She found that curious. But then realized she was feeling too much. She needed the numb back. If she didn’t have that . . . well, she might just fall apart.
“Let’s get this done quickly,” Matthieu said. “Maya has been through enough and we still need to find somewhere to settle.”
“Right,” Detective Reeves said. “I thought you’d rather be interviewed by me and your brother than another cop. Especially one that might have been a buddy of Vince’s. We also didn’t want any evidence to go missing.”
“You think that one of Vince’s friends on the force would get rid of the evidence?” Ink asked.
“Of course they would,” Maya said. “Those guys all stick together. And most of them aren’t good people. I thought that . . .” Her gaze went to her brother then away.
Shoot.
“You thought that I was friends with Vince? That I might take his side? Or try to erase the evidence against him?” her brother asked incredulously.
She shrugged. “No, it’s just . . .” She didn’t want to hurt her brother, but she didn’t know him that well anymore. “I’m not used to people believing me over Vince.”
Detective Reeves leaned forward as her brother appeared ill. Drat. Was she ruining any sort of relationship that they might have had? “Can you tell me about any run-ins you’ve had with Vince before?”
Maya gave him a curious look. He already knew about one.
“Other than the one I . . . extracted you from,” Reeves added.
“What are you talking about?” her brother asked. “What run-ins?”
“Vince has been Dad’s favorite for years,” she stated. “For some reason Vince thought that meant that he and I should be together. No, he seemed to think that I should be grateful that he wanted to date me. I agreed to one date to get him off my back. It was terrible. He kept grabbing me. Pinching my ass, trying to feel me up. I was so glad I drove myself. But he insisted on walking me to my car and he tried to reach under my skirt. He wasn’t taking no for an answer so I kneed him in the balls.”
“What the fuck?” Her brother jumped up and started pacing back and forth across the room. “Are you saying that Vince sexually assaulted you? Why didn’t you tell Dad?”
37
