“You’re also so fucking sexy, so handsome. I would say I wished more people saw that, but a very selfish part of me likes having you all to myself,” he said, finally seeing the crinkle around Josh’s eyes. “You’re so hot, and if other people don’t see that, that’s their loss. If I was in charge, you’d be named the sexiest guy alive.”
He could practically see the weight fall from Josh’s shoulders as he smiled at Riley.
A buzzing broke the moment, his thoughts stymied by the interruption as he saw Garrett’s name flash on his phone.
GARRETT:We need to talk.
26
IT HADN’T TAKEN LONG for Garrett to make his way over to Riley and Josh’s place.
The three of them sat on the couch, Josh plastered against Riley and Garrett on Riley’s other side.
On the table he placed a file labeled “confidential.”
Garrett leaned forward on the couch, his normally slicked back blond hair falling in pieces as if he’d been running his hands through it in frustration, and addressed Josh.
“I found some concerning information regarding the car accident that killed your parents twenty-five years ago.”
Josh trembled against Riley's side, and Riley slipped his arm around his shoulders, Riley’s free hand grabbing his and threading their fingers together.
“First, the police report of the accident was missingfrom our regular system, but Riley found it hidden in my captain’s database. That was especially weird to me because my captain is…” Garrett paused, taking a deep breath and slowly releasing it as if to steady himself. He continued. “My boss is an idiot. He does the bare minimum as a captain to get by, but he messes up more often than he succeeds in anything. Everyone I work with is under the impression he’s only kept his job this whole time because of his family.
“So the fact that he had access to this document when it couldn’t be found anywhere else was a huge red flag to me.”
Garrett opened the file folder on the table and spread out documents that Riley recognized as the police report from Josh’s accident.
“According to this report, the airbags never deployed in your parents’ car, which is what led to their deaths since there wasn’t anything to protect them. One of my colleagues found the insurance report from the incident. It noted the airbags were sabotaged. It wasn’t a fluke that they didn’t deploy. Someonemade surethey wouldn’t.”
“You’re saying someone messed with their car? Like, instead of cutting the brakes, they messed with the airbags?” Josh asked, his breathing escalating rapidly and his hold on Riley’s hand starting to ache as Josh gripped it like a vice. There was no way in hell Riley would let go.
“Exactly. Usually, the insurance report is connected to the police report as part of the investigation, but for some reason this one wasn’t. But it gets weirder.”
“Weirder how?” Riley asked nervously.
Garrett pointed to one of the papers across the table.
“There was an eyewitness account given to the first officer on the scene, an account that said a man was seen fleeing from the car that hit your parents head-on. She guessed it was a man based on the large build of the person, but they wore a motorcycle helmet so she couldn’t be sure. You said that you saw the man run for help, but the eyewitness and the officer said he never returned and a search for him didn’t return any leads.
“The eyewitness was a woman, around seventy-five years old, who died the following week of a heart attack.”
“What’s that mean?” Josh asked, his voice matching the tremble in his body.
“Well, typically it would make it harder to convict the person held accountable, but the timing of her death is suspicious. What’s more suspicious is that the first officer on the scene was also killed a month later during a traffic stop.”
“What the fuck?” Riley spurted. “This is starting to sound like some kind of cover-up.”
“Wait, wait, wait,” Josh said. “Are you saying… What are you saying?”
Garrett looked at Josh with sympathy and held hisgaze as he said, “I’m saying, I think your parents were targeted and murdered, rather than being killed in a random car accident like you originally thought.”
“My parents… They were killed. They were killed?” Josh looked at Riley, and he could see the pain in his eyes. “So it’s not my fault they’re dead?”
“That’s what Garrett’s saying,” Riley said softly, holding Josh firmly at his side. “The accident wasn’t your fault.”
They could hear Garrett thumbing through the documents. “Uh, it says here you were five years old. Why did you think it was your fault?”
Josh’s eyes filled with tears, and he squeezed them tightly, forcing the stream down his cheeks.
