Free Lethal Legacy: A Novel (Guardians of Justice) by Irene Hannon Page B

his face, doing his best to wipe out the irritant, but he couldn’t get rid of it.
    Kind of like his guilt about Kelly.
    But what else could he have done? She’d become a threat to him—and to his plans. She’d sealed her own fate by being too persistent.
    He threw the towel back over the door and resumed scrubbing his hair, trying to muffle the little voice that said he’d overreacted. That she might have backed off on her own if she didn’t find anything in her father’s house.
    But what if she had found something?
    That was the problem.
    When you played for high stakes, you couldn’t take chances. All the loose ends had to be tied up. And she’d been a loose end.
    A big one.
    He shut off the water, toweled himself dry, then checked out his hair in the mirror. Not one speck of gray remained. No one would ever be able to connect him to Kelly’s allergy attack . . . and perhaps her death.
    But you didn’t have to kill her. At least, not yet.
    He frowned as he stared at his reflection. It wasn’t like him to second-guess. He was thorough. Professional. Dispassionate. He did his job, whatever it was, and did it well. Sometimes people died. It happened. But he’d never let it bother him before.
    This time, though, he had a personal stake in the outcome. A big one. And maybe . . . okay, probably . . . panic had affected his judgment. The truth was, he could have watched and waited.
    Irritated, he ran a comb through his hair. He wasn’t going to belabor this. It was too late for regrets, and the operation had been clean. Once he disposed of his disguise, there would be nothing to tie him to today’s incident. Worst case, even if Kelly Warren did continue to search her father’s house, he would just be back to where he’d been a few days ago. If she did happen to find something that raised questions, he’d deal with it.
    Things would turn out fine.
    Yet as he pulled on a pair of jeans and a T-shirt, grabbed his car keys, and prepared to make a pizza run, he couldn’t shake the niggling doubt that he’d made a mistake today.
    One that could very well come back to haunt him.

6
    Kelly reached for the phone next to her easel. Dropped her hand. Reached for it again. Hesitated.
    Annoyed, she huffed out a breath. How hard was it to pick up the phone, dial Cole Taylor’s number, and pass on the information she’d gotten from Lauren about the injector?
    It should be a piece of cake.
    And it would be—if she wasn’t also thinking about offering to take him to lunch as a thank-you for his help on Saturday. She just wasn’t used to asking guys out. Especially tall, dark, and handsome guys.
    Rubbing her damp palms on the oversized shirt that served as a smock, she told herself she was being foolish. She owed the man for giving up a big part of his weekend for her, and a mere thank-you note didn’t cut it. A meal seemed like a reasonable alternative. And it wasn’t like she was inviting him out for an intimate dinner. Lunch was casual. Low-key. Nonthreatening. What was the worst that could happen? He’d say no.
    But that was the scariest part of all. However, putting off the call wasn’t going to change the outcome.
    Summoning up her courage, she picked up the phone and tapped in his office number rather than his cell. That felt more official. Less risky.
    He answered on the first ring. A clipped, no-nonsense greeting. “Taylor.”
    Her fingers tightened on the phone and she took a deep breath, striving for a pleasant, conversational tone. “Cole, it’s Kelly Warren. Is this a good time?”
    Though he again responded with a single word, the transformation in his voice from brusque to gracious eased the tension in her shoulders.
    “Always.”
    Kelly shifted away from her easel and looked out the window. The day might be gray and dreary, but her heart suddenly felt lighter. “I wanted to let you know I asked Lauren your question, about whether there was any liquid in the carrying case. She wasn’t 100