“Close enough.” Hell, the little smile on her lips was worth breaking a million vows for. It disappeared too soon. “Please, Dean. Promise that if you break your vow, it won’t be on me. I can’t take that on my conscience.”
And that was completely fair. Whenever I broke that vow, I would make sure she didn’t take the blame.
“Done. We have a deal. Now, I need to know every detail you can give me about the night of the attack. Whenever you’re up for it,” I added, thinking of how tired she looked.
But she nodded. “It’s already been over three weeks. I want to nail those sons of bitches, and I can’t wait to get started.”
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Keira
“So this Donny Phelanis our primary suspect.” Dean glanced up at me from the paper he’d been studying. “What’s your level of certainty?”
We were sitting at my dining table with the contents of a file strewn across the tabletop. A tablet screen showed more photos and information about Phelan.
“Not high,” I said. “But this is what we’ve got.”
We’d spent the rest of yesterday and this morning going through everything I remembered about the night of the shooting, including my confrontation with Donny Phelan at the roadhouse. Maybe that had just been a coincidence, but cops rarely believed in coincidences. Usually, when something happened at a certain place and time, there was a reason for it. Motives mattered.
River, our friendly neighborhood hacker, had provided us with both the police report and some preliminary background on Phelan. River had agreed to keep our project to himself and under the radar of the rest of the Protectors, including Sheriff Owen Douglas.
The sheriff was still keeping me at arm’s length from the official investigation, which of course I understood. Hehad to be careful to keep things clean. Honestly, I wouldn’t have been surprised if Owen knew River had access to confidential department records. Owen might’ve even given him that access. But it was all about deniability.
By now, Dean and I had read through the sheriff’s report and the transcripts of the interviews with the witnesses at the roadhouse that night: Misty, the server. The bartender. Even Stephie and Vivian, who’d given statements too. There was no security camera footage from the roadhouse, though the dashboard cam on my personal vehicle had recorded my arrival and departure.
Aside from that, we had little to go on. Phelan had an alibi, and unless he talked to the police and gave something away, the official investigation had to look elsewhere for leads.
As for the DNA evidence from the shooter I’d managed to wound, the technicians hadn’t found any matches in the national databases. Another dead end unless the sheriff had a suspect to compare samples.
But maybe Dean and I could somehow knock something loose. Unofficially.
As we looked through the papers and scrolled through the info on the tablet, I kept casting glances at Dean. It was impossible not to. Having him this close after so much time apart was distracting.
My chest ached with longing I couldn’t quite suppress. I’d tried staying angry at him. Lord knew I’d tried. But my anger was slippery, and underneath it, something softer kept rising to the surface.
Was it just a physical reaction to this man? Something about his pheromones made me weak when he got near.
Brynn had been here when Dean arrived this morning. He’d brought coffee and breakfast for all three of us. To-gocontainers from Jessi’s Diner with omelets and home fries, danishes and fruit. An entire spread.
After breakfast, Brynn had pulled me aside and asked if I was really okay with having Dean around again. I’d explained that we were going to do some investigating of our own into Donny Phelan, though I’d left out the wholerevengething.
Brynn wouldn’t necessarily have a problem with vigilante justice. But I hadn’t wanted her to worry about me.
“I can handle Dean,” I’d said.
“I know you can. Just wanted to make sure you know it too. And that you know that I know.”
“I’m confused, B.”
She’d laughed. “Me too. You’re fine with my leaving you alone with him? Thought I’d get in some gym time today. Trace offered to spar with me. I look forward to handing him his ass.”
“Yeah, go. Have fun. I’m good.”
Then after Brynn left, Dean and I spent hours going over the files on Phelan. I was wearing the fuzzy socks Dean had given me, and last night, I’d slept with the new throw blanket over me and the lavender candle on my nightstand.
Yesterday, after I’d told Dean to leave, he’d defied me and stayed. I was trying not to read too much into that. Even though all the things he’d said yesterday kept running laps around my head.
I missed you. I care about you.
