“According to Jared she works at night as a waitress so the best chance we have of talking to her is during the day. What I hope is that she actually knows something about this case. Who might want Roger Gaines dead and why?”

“I wish I were that optimistic, brother, but this job has made me cynical as hell.”

Jason climbed out of the SUV and looked at the building in front of him. Made of red brick with white trim, it looked like every other apartment building around with floors of doors lined up one by one. Anita Hazlitt lived on the third floor.

“Does that look like what I think it is?” West pointed to a door on the third floor as they approached the stairs. “What was the apartment number again?”

“303,” Jason replied grimly, taking the stairs two at a time. It looked like they were too fucking late. Yellow crime scene tape crisscrossed the apartment door.

“Fuck,” West hissed under his breath as they stood in front of the taped off entrance. “This is not good. Not good at all.”

“We’ll go see Seth. Hopefully Anita Hazlitt is okay.”

“I got a bad feeling about this. It’s too much of a coincidence.”

“What are you doing here? What do you want?” a feminine voice from behind them asked.

Jason whirled around and must have scared the young woman because her face turned pale and she practically fell over her own feet stepping back. West caught her arm and kept her from sprawling on the concrete. Tall and slender with short dark hair, she appeared to be in her early twenties.

“Easy there.” West patted the woman on the shoulder and then reached for his badge. “We’re the good guys. I’m Westin Anderson, Head of Detectives in Tremont and this is my brother Jason. We’re sorry if we scared you.”

The girls seemed to relax slightly but she still clutched her purse to her chest like a shield. She peered at West’s badge and then nodded. “Why are the cops from Tremont here? Sheriff Reilly said he was releasing the apartment to me this morning.”

Clearly they needed to talk to Seth and find out what had happened here.

Jason hooked his thumb at the door. “You live here? With Anita Hazlitt? We need to talk to her. Are you a friend?”

“I’m her roommate. Lita George.”

Her gaze darted back and forth between Jason and West as if she expected them to do something evil or violent. Jason held out his hand and gave her his best non-threatening smile.

“It’s nice to meet you, Lita. Do you know when Anita will be home? We really need to talk to her.”

“Is this about one of her cases? I always knew that she was going to get in trouble one day and I was right.”

Cases?

“Actually this is about her boyfriend Roger Gaines.” Jason watched for any change in Lita’s expression when he mentioned their victim’s name.

Lita rolled her eyes. “Did Roger tell you Anita was his girlfriend? She’ll get a big kick out of that. They were friends but she thought he was pretty geeky. Everyone did.”

“When you say cases, Lita, what did you mean by that?” West asked, giving Jason a sidelong glance. “What kind of trouble is Anita in?”

“You really don’t know, do you?” Lita tilted her head in question and tears welled up in her eyes. “Someone shot Anita yesterday evening while she was walking home from a friend’s place. I knew this was going to happen. She took too many chances and now look what’s happened.”

Full-fledged tears were running down Lita’s face and although Jason had a million questions for this young woman, the first thing he needed to do was comfort the poor thing. She’d obviously been through a great deal if what she said was true.

“How about we go inside and sit down? West will make you some tea,” Jason offered. “Seth said he was releasing the apartment? They searched it for clues?”

“Yes, he called me this morning and said I could come back and get my things. I don’t want to sleep here alone.” Lita shuddered but reached into her purse and pulled out a set of keys. “I’m going to move in with my parents until they catch whoever did this.”

They followed Lita into the apartment and sat down on the couch but Jason’s fingers were flying over his cell phone, texting Seth to find out how serious the injuries were and if they had any suspects. West took off his cowboy hat and set it on the side table while Lita settled on a chair to Jason’s right.

“If you point me in the right direction I’ll fix that tea for you, ma’am,” West offered.

Lita scrubbed at her cheeks and shook her head. “I don’t really need it but I guess I should be offering you something since you’re the guest. I think we have some sodas in the refrigerator.”

Jason shook his head, sympathy welling up inside him for this young woman. She’d been through the wringer and when he told her about Roger it was only going to get worse. He needed to be as gentle in his questioning as possible.

“We don’t need anything. I’d like to hear about what happened to Anita and why you thought it might have something to do with her cases. Can you tell me about that?”

Lita’s fingers plucked at the upholstery on the chair arm. “I think a murderer that she was investigating shot her because she was getting too close to the truth. You see, Anita likes to investigate unsolved cases. You know…murders and missing people. That’s how she met Roger. They were both in some online group and found out they lived pretty close to one another. They’d meet up about once a week and exchange information. Talk about their research. It was pretty much her whole world when she wasn’t working. She was really passionate about it and I guess he is too.” She slapped her head and groaned. “Has anyone told him about Anita? I don’t have his number but I can get it from Anita when she wakes up. He’ll probably want to visit her in the hospital.”

Jason exchanged a glance with his brother. Lita needed to be told the truth.

“Roger Gaines was shot three days ago,” Jason said as gently and calmly as he could. “They found his body in the motor inn in Tremont. Do you know what he was doing there?”

Lita’s face paled and her hands trembled as she scraped her fingers through her short hair. “He’s dead? Are you sure?”

Very sure.

“I mean…are you sure it was Roger?” Lita said softly, more tears spilling over at the news.

“Yes, we’re sure. That’s why we wanted to speak to Anita. We wanted to know who might have wanted to hurt Roger. Did she ever talk to you about him?”

“Now and then. Like I said they worked on cases together. But they weren’t romantic or anything,” Lita added hastily. “It wasn’t like that even if Roger said it was.”

“Roger didn’t tell us that Anita was his girlfriend. Roger’s friend Brad Enright did. Did you ever meet him or hear about him?” West asked, leaning forward, his elbows on his knees.

“No. Never heard of him.” Lita frowned. “You’ll have to ask Anita when she wakes up. She had surgery last night. I stopped by this morning but she’s still asleep.”

Jason’s phone vibrated. A text from Seth.

“Excuse me. I need to take this.”

Jason stepped into the next room which turned out to be the kitchen to see what Seth had to say. His answer was quick and to the point.

Anita Hazlitt had been shot walking home from a study session with friends last night. Serious injuries but doctors were optimistic. No witnesses. Why was Jason asking?

He’d call Seth and give him the whole story when they were done talking to Lita. Punching out a brief reply, Jason rejoined West and the young woman who looked even more frightened than she had when they first met her.

“Lita, do you know what case Anita and Roger were working on?”

This was the best lead they’d had so far. Perhaps Anita and Roger had been onto something. Or someone. Someone willing to kill to keep them silent.

“No, I didn’t really listen that closely.” Lita grabbed a tissue from the box on the end table and blew her nose. “But I think I know how I can find out. Anita was a little strange about the cases she worked on. She didn’t leave anything around the house about them.”