Free Red-Hot Vengeance by Sandrine Spycher

trusted.”
    “Okay, stop, or I’ll punch you again.”
    “You asked,” Carter said in an it’s-not-my-fault tone.
    “Have you never been in love?”
    Carter wanted to say no, but Farrell’s laugh resounded somewhere in the back of his mind. “Why are you asking that?”
    “I’m trying to get to know you better, that’s all.” What Cowley was actually doing was to study Carter’s reactions to her questions. She examined the movement of his eyes to be later able to tell whether he was lying or not.
    “And how much do you already know about me?”
    “I know you’re wanted by the FBI for fraud and identity theft,” she said factually.
    An unusually sincere smile stretched Carter’s lips. “Identity theft,” he echoed with a slight sigh. “Yeah, I have quite a nice memory of that one.”
    “Tell me.”
    Carter came back from his reverie. “So that’s what you were doing, huh?” he defended himself. “Getting to know me better. Yeah I get it now. And I don’t think I’ll be talking to you no more.” He sat back, clenching his pillow, and gave her a freezing gaze.
    “Then you’ll stay here for a while,” Cowley said while getting up. “Better get comfortable.”
    “Got my pillow, that’s all the comfort I need,” Carter concluded in a challenging tone.
    **
    Williams was watching Carter through the glass panel. He had listened to his conversation with Cowley and was now wondering why Carter hadn’t tried to escape. He obviously had very little chance to make it without any exterior help, but it wasn’t like Carter to not even try. When Cowley had walked out of the room, Carter had lain down on the floor, his back to the window.
    “Hey,” Cowley interrupted Williams’ stream of thoughts. She handed him a cup of coffee.
    “Thanks,” Williams said.
    “What’s on your mind?”
    “Why didn’t he try to escape?” Williams answered, still reflecting on the matter.
    “Yeah, I was thinking about the same thing. Perhaps he knows he won’t go far even if he tries.”
    “No, there must be something else,” Williams insisted. “I mean, think about it, since when does Reese Carter accept to surrender without a fight?”
    Cowley sipped on her coffee. “Good point,” she said. “Maybe he met someone,” she tried, almost joking.
    “What?” Williams raised an eyebrow.
    “Didn’t you see the look on his face when I asked if he was in love?” Cowley further explained.
    Williams reported his attention back to Carter. He had to admit that there was something different about him. But Williams couldn’t yet say whether it was good or bad. For all he knew Carter could as well be preparing something, or worse, waiting for someone.
    Williams let Carter sleep for a while before going to talk to him once more. Carter started up when the door opened. He stretched lazily and sat up.
    “I see you’re getting comfortable,” Williams noticed.
    “She told me to,” Carter said, yawning.
    “Well, get a chair now. You’ve slept enough, we need to talk.”
    Carter got up and sat heavily where Williams indicated. “How can I help you, officer?” he asked with irony.
    Williams gave him an energy bar. “Thought you might be hungry.”
    “Wow, thanks,” Carter said. “Can I have a beer too?”
    “Don’t push your luck. Last time, you told me you made a forgery of Duval’s ruby and sold it to Kathleen Vaughn,” Williams lectured. “I’m not finished,” he said when he saw Carter open his mouth to talk. “Then you refused to cooperate with officer Cowley when she asked you about the real ruby. So, I’ll try again: do you know where it is?”
    “No,” Carter simply said. Williams was staring at him, expecting more. “Okay,” Carter sighed. “It was sold at the auction sale the other day.”
    “By whom?”
    Carter had seen the question coming so he stayed calm and focused. “I don’t know,” he said, working hard on his tone so that it wouldn’t sound like a lie.
    “To