Drake crossed his arms over his chest and regarded the Tregre brothers as they sat on the ground beneath the trees, a small distance from the inn. Jerico had left them untied, but Remy immediately snapped cuffs on both of them, and he wasn’t gentle about it.

“I’m going to give you a chance to tell me the truth,” Drake said and held up his hand to forestall either of the brothers from speaking. “Before you decide to be stupid, you might consider that some leopards can smell a lie. Remy has quite the reputation in the police department and moved up the ladder fast. He’s actually a detective now. A homicide detective. Now why do you suppose that is?”

“You notice there’s been a lot of dead bodies’ turnin’ up around here?” Remy added. “Cuz I’ve been noticin’ that.”

“Would have been a few more, Remy,” Drake said, “if Saria hadn’t woken up when she did. Seems to me that your sister’s been in harm’s way quite a bit lately, like maybe someone’s targeting her.”

“You think someone’s targeting my sister, Drake? Your fiancée?” Remy asked, beginning to pace. He was a big man and he seemed to flow, all muscle and sinew as he paced back and forth in front of the Tregre brothers.

“That’s what I think,” Drake said.

“You find someone stupid enough to be tryin’ to kill my sister and your fiancée, what do you suppose we should do about it?”

“I guess we’d have no choice, Remy. They’d have to disappear.” Drake stared at the two brothers with no expression. “So which one of you is Beau and which is Gilbert?”

“I’m Beau,” the man on the left identified himself.

“So you’re the mastermind behind all of this,” Drake said. “The drugs, the killings, the attempt to kill off my team—and my woman.” He made it a statement. His voice was pitched very low, d very lsoft, and his stare was all leopard—all predator.

Remy shot him a quick look, no doubt wondering about the drugs, but Drake never broke eye contact with Beau. Either he was the greatest actor in the world, or something Drake had said shocked him. His mouth fell open, his face turned red and he shook his head violently, his gaze shifting to his brother, who looked equally as shocked.

“Killin’s? I don’t know what you’re talkin’ about. I never killed anyone. Never. And I wouldn’t. If I was gonna kill someone, it would have been the old man,” Beau denied. “I don’t know anything about any killin’.”

Gilbert shook his head. “Remy, you know us. We never killed anyone.”

“What the hell were you doing here if you didn’t intend to kill us?” Drake demanded. “You think intending to kill but not finishing the job is going to get you off the hook?”