Chapter Thirty-Seven

Angel was getting nowhere fast. She hadn’t been able to track the email message from Redgamer3, and after an entire day of worming her way into blogs and personal email, not to mention the deepest corners of the Darknet, she still didn’t have a clue who had the stolen prototype. Or who had killed Heath to get it.

Apparently, whoever took Zeller’s technology was in no hurry to sell it.

It made no sense.

No one was talking. Except about how she had offed Heath in a jealous rage. Naturally, they were still talking about that.

She even had a nickname now. The Mantis. Because the female praying mantis killed its mate during sex.

“Very clever, asswipe,” she muttered. “Maybe you should stop spending so much time watching Animal Planet in your mother’s basement.”

Great, she’d resorted to stereotyping.

She rested her forehead on her keyboard, praying to the gods of technology to give her a clue.

Her computer chimed with a new message from Redgamer3.

I haven’t heard from you.

Does this mean you don’t want the prototype back?

I thought you’d be more fun.

She ground her teeth. “Okay, asshole. We’re on.”

She hadn’t planned to interact with Redgamer3, but after hitting a wall on her searches, she had little to lose. She checked to make sure her location was invisible, and responded.

I think you must have the wrong person. I don’t know what you’re talking about.

Best not to show her cards too soon.

The answer came back immediately.

Come on, Mantis.

Surely you remember.

the dead man in your bed?

She thought out her reply before typing. If this was the real killer—and she felt maybe he was actually legit—she wouldn’t want to mess up an opportunity to pull him out where she could get to him.

How did you get my email? Have we met?

The answer came back immediately.

I don’t think these are the questions you want answered.

What you really want to know is…

How did I do it?

“Christ.” She sat back against the sofa and covered her mouth in surprise. This person knew her. Or at least it seemed they did. She read the three lines again, noting that all of his correspondence so far had appeared in three lines.

Maybe that was important, but she put it aside for now so she could focus on what they’d written, and how to respond.

How’d you do what?

While she wouldn’t be able to use an email to get out of a murder rap, she could see what the killer might reveal.

This is not as much fun as I thought it would be.

Your new roommate.

Has made you tame.

At the sound of the garage door opening, she picked up her gun and went to the window to make sure Colton was alone. Was he the roommate Redgamer3 was talking about?

Was he watching her now?

Pudge barked his happy welcome, and Angel followed him to meet Colton in the kitchen, still carrying her gun.

She took a breath to calm her tattered nerves. Redgamer3 was not here. He wouldn’t have been able to track her to a physical location.

She was sure of it. Colton didn’t need something else to worry about, so she wasn’t going to say anything. If she told him about the emails, he would want to help, and he couldn’t. Whoever killed Heath was dangerous as hell, and she would make damn sure they never came in contact with Colton.

She relaxed slightly, glad he was home where she could make sure he stayed safe.

As soon as he walked into the kitchen his gaze searched for her anxiously.

“What is it?” she asked, her heart racing again. Had Redgamer3 contacted him?

No. Colton would have called. She needed to calm down.

“I’m glad you’re still here,” he said.

Ah. Okay. Back to that.

She’d done this. She’d made him think she was ready to bolt at any second.

The worst part was, she wasn’t sure she wouldn’t. She wanted to think of herself as a better person now. As someone who would stay and face her fears of commitment rather than running away.

But she wasn’t sure.

Last night, he’d held her. It had felt nice, but she’d be lying if she said she didn’t wish it had been more.

A lot more.

She couldn’t blame him for not wanting to go down that path with her again. He’d opened up his heart and asked her to stay with him, and she hadn’t even had the decency to face him when she turned him down. She’d run off like a coward in the night.

“I’m sorry,” she said out loud at the same moment he opened his mouth to speak.

His eyes widened as he cocked his head. “For what?”

This was her chance to backpedal. She could make up something else…or she could be honest and face this thing between them.

She opened her mouth, not sure which was about to come out.