“I had to visit your friend Theo’s apartment this afternoon, after he called in a domestic assault.”
“A domestic assault? You’re saying someone assaultedhim?” Kayden hadn’t even known the guy was dating anyone.
“Yeah. Pixie.”
Kayden straightened. “Pixie, as in—”
“Pixie who works at the front desk of the visitors center, Pixie. Yeah. Apparently the two of them have an on-and-off relationship. Very explosive. He was pissed. Said he was done with her. That she assaulted him. Threw a vase at his head. He said he wants a restraining order.”
“Shit.”
“Yep. Interestingly, he also said he lied to us about Pixie being with him the night of Macy’s murder.”
Kayden’s back straightened. “Why would he do that?”
“Because Pixie asked him to. He also told us that at the time Jake was shot, she wasn’t in the office. She took a half hour break from the desk and wasn’t there when they locked down the center.”
A ball fisted in his gut. “You think it was her?”
“Don’t know, we haven’t been able to find the woman to question her. She’s not home and not answering her phone, but we have officers stationed on her street.”
Suddenly, all Kayden could think about was getting to Tilly. It was all too connected to the visitors center, and he wanted to be with her right the hell now.
He grabbed his phone—only to stop at the sight of the voice mail.
Putting the phone to his ear, he listened to Tilly’s voice.
“Hey, this is going to sound crazy, but I found something in Pixie’s desk drawer. It was a photo of her wearing the watch.” Suddenly, there was a gasp, and a beat later, a new voice sounded. The words were too muffled to make out…but he was almost certain he recognized the voice.
Kayden’s gaze shot up to his brother, fear settling inside him, weaving and poisoning.
“What is it?” Eastern asked.
“Call your deputies to the visitors center. Tilly’s in trouble.”
CHAPTER 29
Tilly’s breaths whooshed in and out of her chest as her feet sank into the dirt on each step.
She’d had to choose—run back to the visitors center and hope like hell she made it to her car without receiving a bullet to the back or head into the mountains.
She’d wanted to choose her car. God, she’d wanted to drive to safety so badly. But the chance Pixie would have caught her before getting there was too high, and then she’d have been trapped. Either that, or the woman could have blocked her way out of the parking lot and shot at her car.
So she’d chosen the mountains, where she could slip between trees, maybe hide or use them as shields.
A shudder ran down her spine as she pushed for more speed. She could hear Pixie’s footsteps behind her. They didn’t sound like they were gaining on her, but she wasn’t creating any more distance either.
Pixie was athief. Amurderer. Jesus, it didn’t feel real. Not only had she killed Macy, she’d shot both Jake and now her father.
Was her dad alive? She didn’t even have her phone to call for help—it had flown from her fingers when her father had shoved her to the floor.
She rounded a tree, her foot catching on a root and sending her to the ground. She groaned as her cheek hit something hard, pain radiating throughout her skull. When the breaking of a branch sounded behind her, she forced the pain to the back of her mind and shoved back to her feet.
“I can fucking hear you!” Pixie shouted, causing Tilly’s throat to close. “You’re a dead woman!”
She forced herself to focus. Had Kayden heard her voice message? Had he heard Pixie’s words and understood what was going on?
Every second that ticked by had the sky getting darker around her, to the point she could barely see the ground beneath her feet. Would the dark be a help or a hindrance?
