He exhaled slowly. “I learned all about her when I was running a background check on him. My team members said her death gutted him.”

“Mark couldn’t let another killer get away.” Layla straightened her shoulders. “I have to grill him. I have to learn every single thing that happened in the gallery.” Another hard exhale. “If it’s clear self-defense, no charges will be filed, but that’s not a decision that will be reached quickly. We’ll have to conduct a full investigation. I’ll need to get reports from the crime scene techs. I’ll need any security footage that’s available. Hell, I’ll need everything I can get my hands on.” Her phone gave a little ding and vibrated on her hip. She pulled it out and scanned the text. “Well, this is a start, and it certainly makes things easier.” She looked up at Piper. “From the Savannah PD. They just found a storage locker that belonged to Dante. Got lots of paintings inside—including several of you.” A pause. “They also found women’s underwear in there. Could be yours. Could be someone else’s. We’ll be finding out, though.”

God.

“Go home,” Layla urged her. “I’ve got one hell of a long night in front of me, but for you two…” Now her gaze darted to Eric, as well. “It could finally be over. Dante is dead, and he won’t be hurting anyone else. Mark made sure of that.”

Another brisk nod, and she walked away. Layla pulled out her phone and talked briskly to her contact. Her voice faded as she rounded the corridor.

Piper felt rooted to the spot. Was it over?

“What in the hell…?” Eric began.

Her gaze swung to him. But he wasn’t looking at her. He was looking at the elevator that had just opened. At the man—garbed in a paper hospital gown and rolling an IV stand with him—who was slowly shuffling out of the elevator even as a nurse tried to steady him.

“Ben?” Eric rushed toward him. “What in the hell are you doing?”

“Coming to see you.” Ben was a little pale. Correction, a lot pale. And he still had a big, white bandage across his nose. “Both of you.”

“He’s not following orders,” the nurse groused. “Trying to tear out stitches and get his dumb self hurt, that’s what he’s doing.”

Piper bit her lip, not wanting to get closer and feel the force of Ben’s fury again. Eric hurried to slide an arm around Ben and help steady him.

Ben inclined his head to the nurse. “She told me…you were down here. That there’d been a shooting…”