Free When She Wasn't Looking by Helenkay Dimon Page A

don’t?”
    “I will.”

Chapter Ten
    No one stood at the door. As promised, the guard had disappeared at the right moment.
    With help from his inside contact, Kurt had disabled the security cameras. They had switched to a blank screen exactly one minute ago, allowing him time to slip in and out undetected.
    He had the hospital pass clipped to his borrowed scrubs to help him blend. In the time it took to walk back and forth, he would wrap Cade Willis up in a tight knot that had him answering questions and fighting off murder allegations for months.
    Like father, like son.
    The best part: nothing would trace back to anyone other than Cade. An alibi, complete with video footage placing Kurt back in Washington, D.C., had been set up and readied. No record of him leaving the metro area existed. If anyone asked, he’d never been to Oregon.
    But first, Kurt had to see if he could get any information out of Paul Eckert. Confirmation of his connection to Cade Willis would do. If the men were working together, Kurt still could close the loop. If the investigation had widened or become official, things could get messy.
    Kurt eased open the door to room two-fifteen. The agent wasn’t in the bed, but the light in the bathroom burned in a thin line under the door.
    Kurt loved when a plan came together. If only everything related to his dealings with Courtney had run this smoothly.
    Putting on his black gloves, he moved to the bathroom. When the door opened, he shoved it back, slamming it into the agent’s head. The man lifted his hands to his nose as he groaned. Kurt didn’t wait. He pushed the agent against the sink and pressed the knife to his throat.
    “Who are you working for?” Kurt asked.
    The agent gasped as blood ran down his face. “Who the hell are you?”
    “Wrong answer.” The tip of the knife pricked skin. “Who?”
    “I’m FBI. Agent Paul Eckert.”
    “I don’t care.” Kurt didn’t have this kind of time. He’d been promised a few minutes alone and nothing more. As those ticked by, the chance of detection grew. And he could not allow that. “Are you in town on Cade Willis’s orders or someone else’s?”
    The agent’s confusion slipped for just a second before snapping back into place.
    “I don’t know who Cade Willis is. Never heard of him at all.” Paul’s voice sounded stronger, more sure.
    He broke a very easy rule—using six words when one would do. The slip didn’t get by Kurt. Sure, this guy played a role, trying not to give Cade away. Kurt admired the loyalty but didn’t let it sidetrack him. Now that the agent regained his wits, puffing up his chest, making a move couldn’t be far behind.
    “You’ve been very helpful.” Kurt sliced the knife deep into the agent’s neck and stepped back.
    Shock filled the man’s dark eyes the second before he stumbled. His hands went to his throat as his fingers wrapped around the wound. He choked and gagged, trying to speak, but no words came out.
    His body sagged against the sink as he threw a hand out for balance. Slick with the blood, he slipped and fell. His body bucked. He grabbed for Kurt’s pants but missed.
    Kurt took it all in. A dark blankness filled him as he watched the life drain out of the agent. He knew he should feel remorse, but this wasn’t his fault. Courtney put this man in his path. Courtney refused to move on.
    She caused this and she would be sorry.
    * * *
    C OURTNEY SAT DOWN in the hard wooden chair across from Jonas’s desk. She’d had her duffel bag and folder in hand, and they’d made it as far as his office again. He’d locked her precious cargo in the closet and promised to shoot anything that came in or out. Still, she stole a glance at the door every few minutes just to make sure.
    She’d never been inside a police station willingly before. Her police phobia saw to that. Now she’d been in one twice in a few hours.
    The one-story beige building stood in the middle of town, next to the mom-and-pop hardware