Rhett was dead. Not just dead—murdered in their damn park.
By who? And why? Just to scare off Addie?
No. You didn’t murder someone just for that, especially not someone Addie wasn’t even close to. There was more to it than driving a person out of town.
His gaze shifted to Addie. She and Jules sat on a large rock beside the parking lot, on either side of Cass, who’d been crying since they’d found Rhett. Addie was just as pale.Reallyfucking pale. He wanted to get her home and away from this, but Jesse and his team were still inside and hadn’t questioned anyone yet.
“What a fucking mess,” Colt said under his breath, staring at the cabin.
“I don’t know what the hell’s going on. I thought Rhett was the threat.”
“There’s obviously someone else,” Colt said quietly. “Maybe someone he was helping?”
“Until he became a liability.” That was the most likely scenario. Butwhocould he have been helping? And how did Addie pose a threat to this person simply by living in Amber Ridge? Noah looked toward the door. “Jesse isn’t going to be able to tell us much.”
“Yeah. Not with it being an open murder investigation.”
The wounds on Rhett’s front flashed back in Noah’s mind. “There were a lot of stab wounds. Makes me think it was a crime of passion. Maybe he didn’t intend to kill Rhett. Or maybe he did, then Rhett pissed him off and he got too excited.”
“I thought the same. There were also defensive wounds on Rhett’s hands.”
“He didn’t expect the attack. Which means he trusted his attacker.”
Deputies knelt outside the cabin, investigating the ground. He already knew what they were looking at—blood. Noah had scanned the area before Jesse and his team had arrived. There’d been a few other drops throughout the cabin. “He wasn’t killed in there.”
“Nope. But he wasn’t killed out here either—there’s not enough blood.”
“So they drove him here.”
“And accessed the cabin through the window because the lock was easier to break.”
“Opened the front door and dragged him through to the kitchen,” Noah finished.
“But then relocked the front door and went back out through the front window.” Colt’s brows flickered. “That’s a lot of work just to relocate a body.”
Noah’s back teeth ground together. “He wanted Addie to find it. That was the whole point. Scare her. Push her to get out of Amber Ridge.” He looked back over at Addie. Her arm was still around Cass, and the anxiety on her face…fuck, it gutted him.
“We need answers,” Colt said under his breath.
Jesse stepped out of the building and headed straight toward them, his usual smile nowhere to be seen. “We’re going to start interviewing everyone,” he said as he got closer.
Noah nodded. “The sooner we get this over with, the sooner I can get Addie home.”
“My deputies will interview you guys. I’ll start with Cass.”
Noah was one of the last to be interviewed, and he was so ready to get the hell out of there that he barely paid attention to the questions.
“You were the first to get to the park today,” the deputy said. “Is that right?”
Noah nodded as he watched Addie, who was now standing with Jules. They’d both already been questioned. “Yeah, I got here at six.”
“And you were alone?”
“Yes. I didn’t see the body because I didn’t go into the cabin.”
The deputy wrote something down. “Is it true you threatened to murder Mr. Ferdinanze last week?”
Noah’s gaze swung to the deputy, the question catching him off guard. “What?”
