She walked over to the table and dropped a folder on the table before she sat down and crossed her arms. Cool. Controlled. Scary as hell.
“Care to tell me what the hell is going on here?” she asked, pushing her red hair over her shoulder.
“Not particularly,” Ellie muttered.
Lilah raised an eyebrow. “Cute. Try again.”
There was something behind her eyes, though, a flicker of concern under that badge and attitude.
Lilah turned to me. “Sawyer.”
“I’m surprised you’re here and not Colt.”
“Oh, he wanted to be, trust me, but I told him this was my case today. If you’d prefer the Colt James experience, though, I can always bring him in.”
“No thanks,” I said quickly.
She flipped the folder open and stared us down like we were a pair of misbehaving preschoolers.
“I usually play bad cop,” she said. “But how about instead, we start with the obvious. Why the hell did you break into someone’s house?”
I scratched the back of my neck. “Well, long story short, I bought that old house on Maplewood a couple of months ago.”
Lilah hummed.
“You see…we found this journal in the floorboards. It had some stuff in it—stuff that didn’t line up with the official story of the Hutchinson case.”
She tapped her finger on the table. “And you two geniuses decided to do what? Launch your own investigation?”
“We got curious. That’s all.”
“He’s lying,” Ellie said, her voice low.
I turned to her. “What?”
She glanced at me then back at Lilah. “He didn’t care about the journal. I’m the one who pushed it. I dragged him into it. He just…went along with it.”
Lilah blinked then leaned forward, resting her forearms on the table. “Look. I don’t give a shit about who instigated it. I care that the two of you were inside a stranger’s home without permission. That’s not curiosity. That’s trespassing.”
“We weren’t trying to steal anything,” I said. “We were just looking for answers.”
“About what?”
“We think the journal belonged to Lauren,” Ellie said. “And we think the woman living there now is her.”
Lilah sat back, exhaling through her nose. She flipped open the folder and scanned whatever notes were in there. Her mouth pulled into a tight line.
“I’ll be right back,” she said and walked out without another word.
“You know, I think we should've run.” Ellie brushed a strand of hair from her face.
I narrowed my eyes, a grin tugging at the corners despite everything. “I think we probably should not have entered in the first place.”
“Yeah…” She shrugged. “Probably.”
“Probably?Probably?” I threw my hands up, laughing despite myself. “Just probably? Ellie, we literally just?—”
“Okay, okay, definitely.” She held up her hands in mock surrender. “We definitely shouldn't have entered. Happy now?”
