Touching Silver Read Online Free PDF Page A

been her imagination, but his voice got distinctly more professional, like he was reciting facts instead of relaying a story. “He tried to snatch her because she had this coin he wanted, but the goon he picked to do the job had a bone for Nathan too. Got him instead. She stared Gabriel down while I went in and got Nathan out.”
    “A coin? You know, in all my research, I must have missed the part about Gabriel’s renowned coin collection.”
    Isaac snorted. “It’s a family heirloom, apparently. He wanted it bad enough to take the deal Remy offered.” Grim respect darkened his features, even in the dim light of the car. “Nathan wouldn’t be around today if it wasn’t for what she did.”
    Maybe his confidence in Remy wasn’t as misplaced as it had originally seemed, but that still didn’t mean she belonged on her case—even if it seemed Isaac, Nathan and Remy were a package deal.
    She pulled into the visitor’s lot at the hospital and found a spot near the entrance. Nathan and Remy waited for them at the door. This time they weren’t trying to taste each other’s tonsils, though Remy had her hand in Nathan’s back pocket.
    “Does she usually dress like that?” Olivia muttered as she and Isaac approached the hospital.
    “Be thankful she’s dressed at all.” The doors whisked open, but Isaac stepped to the side, tilting his head toward the entrance. “Lead the way, Detective.”
    Olivia nodded and her three new associates fell in step behind her. The elevator ride to the fourth floor passed in silence. Nathan looked through the file she’d handed him at the station, Remy seemed fascinated by her nails and Isaac studied the case over Nathan’s shoulder.
    But she thought Isaac was really watching her watching him.
    She kept it casual, never letting her gaze catch on him for more than a moment at a time. Professional curiosity. That’s what it was. That’s what she’d argue to her dying breath if he had the balls to call her on it. But her eyes returned again and again, each time taking away a new detail. His suit, for instance. Expensive, tailored perfectly, like he was stepping onto a runway rather than heading to question a witness. He cared about appearances, regardless of his maverick attitude.
    The one time their eyes met, she steeled herself against looking away first. She won when he returned his focus to the file.
    She’d argue that to her dying breath too.
    Two plainclothes officers guarded Stacy’s fourth-floor room. When Olivia approached, one of them stood and nodded. “Detective.”
    Olivia glanced inside. Stacy’s eyes were closed, but she didn’t seem to be asleep. “I think it’s best if only Mr. Pierce and I go inside to speak to her.”
    Isaac frowned, ready to argue, but a sharp look from Nathan snapped his jaw shut again. Remy untangled herself from her boyfriend and instead curled her arm through Isaac’s. When he tried to pull away, she only pressed harder into his side. “We’ll run for some coffee,” she said.
    As Remy dragged Isaac down the hall, Olivia paused before stepping into Stacy’s room. “You’ll have to show me how to do that sometime.”
    “What?” Nathan asked.
    “How to shut him up with a glance.”
    “It takes years of practice.”
    The room was sterile, cold, and probably the worst possible environment in which to try and get a damaged girl to talk. Their options were limited, however, and Stacy Montenegro needed the medical attention at St. Joe’s. She laid in the narrow bed on her side, lank black hair half-hiding the angular planes of her face. Beneath the unflattering lights, her dark skin took on a sallow cast, though the bruises that had flowered along her jaw and neck at her arrival were finally starting to fade. Someone had done a number on her. Thankfully nobody would do it again.
    Olivia perched on the chair beside Stacy’s bed and said her name softly. The dark eyes fluttered open and Olivia didn’t miss the sharp panic that only