“He’s not here to watch over this, so I will.” Not that she had any right to be there. They could remove her, but she got the sense Detective Schone wanted her to experience every second of the building panic and insecurity. Gabby couldn’t stop anyone or ask a bunch of questions. She had to stand there and take it, even though seeing strangers paw through Liam’s personal space made her queasy.

“Are you claiming to be his attorney?” Detective Schone asked.

This woman always had a comeback. This time, Gabby refused to get sucked into a nonsense conversation that rambled in circles. “No, but Baines was my ex-husband.”

“Why do you assume this search relates to his death?”

Something in the detective’s tone touched off an alarm bell. It rang and clanked inside Gabby’s head, warning her to tread carefully. To not talk too much or say the wrong thing. “What else would it be?”

“You were attacked. You witnessed a hit-and-run. There are money issues of concern at Mr. Fielding’s business.” The detective shook her head. “Drama follows you.”

Her, not Liam, which is why this search still didn’t make any sense. Courts didn’t approve search warrants just to shake people up. Judges needed probable cause, which meant something Gabby didn’t know about touched off this sudden need to poke around Liam’s life.

But she couldn’t shake the conclusion that all of this circled back to Baines and his death. Gabby didn’t see the connection, but she glanced around, analyzing what the team picked up and placed in bags and boxes to try to get a clue. “Are you saying those incidents are related?”

“I’m saying no matter where there’s trouble lately, you show up.”

Gabby snorted at that. “I was thinking the same thing about you.”

A younger man came down the stairs holding an evidence bag. “Detective Schone? We found this.”

“What is that?” Gabby could make out a bottle and a needle but not the label. While she didn’t know every part of Liam’s private life, she didn’t remember any health issues or medicine. She’d been staying at his place for three days and hadn’t seen him take a single pill.

“This?” The detective’s smile grew wider. “This is a very big problem for your brother-in-law.”

Chapter Fifty-One
Gabby

“What the hell is going on?” Liam stood in the doorway, overlooking the carnage of what once was his pristine family room. He held a duffel bag and his keys as two officers took positions on either side of him.

Battling sensations of relief and sympathy warred in Gabby. She wanted to say something smart. Something that would ease the tension. Nothing came to her. After a few seconds of collective staring, she forced a few words out. “Thank God you’re here.”