“I’m sorry?”
“You’re wrong.”
“I am?”
“Where did you get your information about Dr. Hammer?”
Liam shrugged. “It’s in the paper.”
“Is my death in the paper?”
She had him there. “Well, yeah, but I was there when the police talked to Dan. They said Hammer’s research is also missing. The theory is that he was killed for it.”
“It’s my research, too.”
Liam ignored her outburst of ego. “They used some word I’ve never heard of to describe what you do.”
“Xenotransplantation.”
“It sounds like something out of a science fiction movie.”
“Hardly. We can transplant organs between animal species.” A new confidence filled her voice as she used her hands to act out the process. “The goal is to figure out how to grow human organs in animals and harvest them for transplants. It would eliminate the black market and organ shortages. We could offer even more than hope. We could give life.”
Make that a horror flick. “Are you kidding?”
“Of course not. One of the biggest impediments relates to the human immune system, but there are ways to account for that. Success would mean no more waiting on lists for transplants or depending on artificial devices. We’re talking about an epic breakthrough in the advancement of people’s health. The possibilities are breathtaking.”
He knew he had to put on the brakes before she gave him a full science lecture. “Anyway, the police thought you were collateral damage. That you happened to be in the building working at the wrong time.”
“How did they come to that conclusion?”
“They found a body. Thought it was you at first but it turned out to be male.”
Sadness pulled at the corners of her eyes. “Tom.”
“Who’s that?”
“The security guard.” She tucked her long hair behind her ear. “Okay, so they know it’s not me. What are they saying about the explosion and its cause now?”
This was not where Liam wanted the conversation to go. “They’re just asking some questions. Fishing. It doesn’t matter.”
She ripped off a long length of paper from around the bottle. “In other words, they’re blaming me.”
This is what happened when a guy dealt with a brainy woman. She had this angelic face and kissable mouth, but that didn’t hide the fact she was smarter than every adult around her by the time she hit the fourth grade. She didn’t miss a damn thing.
“That’s the new working theory,” he said.
“I didn’t.”
He wasn’t sure what to say to that since he still didn’t know what happened in that building, or what was going on in her head. “Okay.”
“And there’s one more thing you should know.”
“What’s that?”
“My boss isn’t dead.” She took a long drink. “But when I get my hands on him, he might be.”
A bottle of water and two painkillers later, Maura sat on Liam’s couch with him perched on the coffee table directly across from her. He hadn’t really moved since they switched rooms and he crowded in, barely giving her room to breathe. He just sat there with his elbows resting on his knees and a disbelieving frown plastered across his mouth.
“One more time.” His deep, husky voice broke the silence.
She forgot how potent he was up close. Dark brown hair cropped in style, and shoulders wide enough to block her view of the front door. Even in jeans and a boring shirt, danger vibrated off him. He was strong, determined and clever. Everything she needed right now. The same guy she’d avoided for years despite his friendship with Dan.
Liam’s eyebrow lifted. “Maura?”
Back to reality. “The police are looking in the wrong place.”
He tapped his fingertips together. “You think Dr. Hammer was kidnapped.”
She wanted to believe it because the idea was better than the alternative where her boss had something to do with the fireball that consumed the lab, and nearly took her along with it. “Possibly.”
“Did you recognize the people who took Dr. Hammer?”
“I saw him get into a car.”
Liam sat up straighter as the gold flecks in his green eyes brightened. “I notice you’re answering different questions from the ones I’m asking.”
She hoped he might miss that part. Fooling him would be hard, impossible even. But until she figured out who she could trust and how to keep everyone she cared about safe, she had to be careful. “It might be smart if you stayed ignorant about some things.”
He opened his arms and gestured around the room. “It’s a little late for that, isn’t it?”
He wasn’t wrong. Sprawled on the grass with her lungs burning from the flames, she’d needed a safe house and immediately thought of him. A former undercover police officer and current corporate security expert, he was the logical choice. She depended on his sense of duty and a rock-hard loyalty to her brother to gain his cooperation.
Problem was she dragged him into her mess even though she could never hope to control him. Rather than fight, she gave him something in return for his help—information. “I heard someone in the building right before the explosion. I saw Dr. Hammer hustle out of there while I was trying not to catch on fire.”
Liam shifted on the table. “So, you’re saying you did see the kidnappers.”
“No.”
“Maura.”
“I’m saying Dr. Hammer wasn’t kidnapped.”
Liam’s face twisted in disbelief. “How do you know?”
“I just do.” When Liam continued frowning, she tried again. “I have a theory and I’ll find proof.”
“Of what, exactly?”
She wasn’t ready to give the details. “With your help.”
“We’re still having two different conversations.”
Her mind raced ahead. She needed the documents she hid under the deck in Liam’s back patio. She needed the laptop from her apartment. She needed to stay hidden while she worked out where Dr. Hammer went and why.
“We’re talking about evidence,” she said.
“I still don’t know what we’re proving.”
For her investigation to work she needed to be mobile. Being interrogated could ruin everything. “No police. I’m supposed to be dead, so I’ll be dead.”
“Hey!” Liam clapped his hands together. “I can see your mind spinning. Stop thinking for a second and talk to me.”
“How do I stop thinking?”
“I’m serious.”
From the way his jaw locked, she could tell he was. To calm him back down, she slipped her palm over his hand. “Liam, I have to do this my way.”
“I can’t help if I don’t