Dead End by Mariah Stewart Page B

Sorry if I sound off-the-wall. I just don’t recall having heard that you were slated for that night. Strange no one else mentioned it.
    She hit
send,
then waited. And waited. But there was no further reply from Connor that night. Nor was there e-mail from him waiting for her in the morning.
    She’d touched a nerve, no doubt, and felt a stab of regret. If Connor started to question if the bullets that killed his brother had been intended for him, he’d have one hell of a time forgiving himself.
    Then again, knowing Connor, there’d be no question that he’d put his own personal feelings aside to search for the truth.
    Annie turned off her computer, content with that knowledge, for now. If the truth had been buried with Dylan, there was no one more likely to help her ferret it out than Connor.

7
    Annie stepped out of her office and began the long walk to the elevator, made longer this afternoon by the heavy files she juggled in both arms. One had come just that morning from a police department in Michigan that had requested a profile on a killer who was targeting homeless men. The other was Dylan’s.
    She turned the corner and stopped in her tracks. Thirty feet down the hall, near the conference room, a group of men in dark suits were gathered. All tall, dark haired, well built.
    All Shieldses.
    Andrew, Brendan, Grady, and Aidan.
    From the back, they were nearly identical. Oh, some were a bit taller—Aidan and Grady were a few inches shorter than the other two—but even someone who knew them all as well as she did could have a tough time telling them apart from the back.
    From this angle, any one of them could have been Dylan.
    She had no idea how long she’d stood there, staring, before Aidan turned and saw her.
    “Hey!” he called to her, his mouth curving into a wide smile. “My favorite sister-in-law! I was just on my way to see if you were in your office when I ran into this motley crew.”
    The group walked toward her, and her stomach knotted. They were all so damned alike. Brendan and Aidan even walked the same way.
    “Good to see you, Aidan.” She turned her cheek for him to plant a kiss. “I just left voice mail for Mara. I wanted her to know I’d be out of town for a few days.”
    “Business or pleasure?” Grady peered around his brothers to see her better.
    “A little of both. I’m going to Lyndon, Pennsylvania, to see Evan, but he’s in the middle of a case he wants me to look over.”
    She stole a quick peek at her watch.
    “I have to get going or I’ll miss my plane. See you all later. Aidan, tell Mara to call me when she’s free.”
    The men stepped aside and allowed Annie to pass. She waited for the elevator, anxiously tapping her foot. She should have left at least a half hour ago.
    Maybe the plane will be late,
she found herself hoping.
    “Annie, hold the elevator.”
    She caught the door with her foot and held it open for Andrew.
    “Thanks, Annie.” He entered the car and hit the button for the lobby. “You are going to the lobby, right?”
    She nodded and shifted the files.
    “Here, give me one of those.” Andrew took the nearest file from her arms.
    “Thanks. I was just starting to think I might lose that one.”
    He glanced at the label.
    “I heard about this case. Catherine Cook was just sent out on it. What’s the count up to now, seven homeless guys?”
    “Eight, as of this morning.” She watched the light follow the floor numbers, then stepped back when the elevator stopped at the third floor and the doors opened.
    Two women in summer business suits smiled absently as they entered the elevator. No one spoke until they arrived at the lobby.
    “Which level is your car on?” Andrew asked Annie.
    “I’m right outside the door.”
    “You must be a real early riser, to have gotten a spot at the door.”
    “Early enough.” She smiled and reached for the file.
    “I’ll walk you out.”
    He followed her across the lobby, then held the door to the parking lot open for