BATON ROUGE by Carla Cassidy - Scene of the Crime 09 - BATON ROUGE Read Free Book Online Page A

spooked by a single phone call—Alex would pull her off the case if she appeared that weak.
    “What did your caller identification show?” Alex asked. She was pleased his voice held no sympathy, no coddling tone.
    “Unknown caller,” she replied, also glad that her voice held no sense of the cold turmoil inside her. “He probably made the call from a throwaway phone. He’s too smart to allow himself to be traced.” She paused a moment. “If it really was him, then why me?”
    “I don’t know. Maybe because you’re the only woman on the team?”
    “How would he even know that I’m on the team? The article this morning didn’t mention any names.”
    “I don’t have any answers for you right now,” Alex replied, his voice deep and his eyes fierce as he held her gaze. “But I promise you that by tomorrow we’ll have some. If there’s a leak in the department, I’ll get to the bottom of it.”
    She saw the depth of anger simmering in his beautiful eyes and would hate to be the person on the receiving end of that ire.
    “We can’t know for sure that it was really the perp who made the call,” he said thoughtfully. He took a drink of his coffee and set the cup back down. “There were plenty of news reports out of Bachelor Moon when Sam and his wife and little Macy went missing. The call could have just come from some creep.”
    “Creeps don’t generally know my phone number,” she replied dryly.
    “We’ll figure it all out,” he said in an obvious effort to soothe, but she knew it was more likely than not that they wouldn’t learn how he had gotten her phone number.
    They fell silent for the next few minutes. She sipped her drink while Alex slugged down his coffee and got up to order himself another one. She had a feeling it would be a sleepless night for him as well as for her.
    Macy. Why had the caller mentioned the little girl who had already found purchase in Georgina’s heart? Perhaps he had just reasoned that since she was a woman, the child would be the best way to get to her. What a calculating creep.
    By the time Alex returned to the table, Michelle and the man who had stood behind her at the autographing table walked through the door.
    The big bruiser had his arm around Michelle and a scowl on his face that indicated he was definitely not pleased to be here. “Why would the FBI want to talk to Michelle?” he asked as the two of them reached the table where Georgina and Alex were seated.
    “Maybe you’re the one we need to talk to,” Alex countered as he stood.
    Georgina released a sigh. She’d already had enough drama for one night. She didn’t need a macho showdown between the two men. “Why don’t we all sit down and we’ll explain exactly what brought Michelle to our attention.”
    Michelle took the stool next to Georgina. “I already know why you want to talk to me. This overly protective brute is my boyfriend, Jax White. Sit down, Jax, and let them ask their questions.”
    Jax took a seat as Alex returned to his. “I know the people I wrote about in my book are missing,” Michelle said. “But that’s all I know about the situation.”
    “So the kidnapping of these agents isn’t part of a publicity stunt to sell more books?” Alex asked.
    Michelle shot him a derisive look. “I don’t subscribe to the ‘Any publicity is good publicity’ theory.”
    As Alex questioned Michelle further, Georgina tried to put the phone call out of her head and instead get a read on the woman and man seated at the table with them.
    “I have some contacts in the agency,” Michelle said, “and they pointed me to Sam Connelly, Amberly Caldwell and Jackson Revannaugh as three of the best profilers who had all recently solved fairly high-profile cases. I decided to showcase them in the book as some of the best of the best when it comes to catching killers.”
    “And exactly how did you do your research?” Georgina asked.
    “She sure as hell didn’t kidnap the agents,” Jax exclaimed