Harlan leaned close, his voice steady but firm. “Don’t. You can’t take her word for that. She’s angry, and she’s trying to wound you. It might not be true.”
Laney nodded, though the ache in her chest made it hard to breathe. She let Harlan lead her the rest of the way to the SUV, her mind spinning.
If it was true, her marriage had been a lie. And if it wasn’t, Sherry had just proven she would say anything to deflect suspicion.
Either way, the pain cut deep.
Sherry stormed back inside, the screen door slamming hard enough to rattle the porch frame. Laney didn’t move until Harlan’s hand pressed lightly against her back, steering her toward the SUV.
They both kept their eyes moving as they crossed the gravel, scanning the tree line, the neighboring pastures. Nothing stirred, but the silence carried weight, like someone was waiting just out of sight.
Once inside, Harlan started the engine but didn’t pull away right away. His knuckles were tight on the wheel, his eyes on the rearview mirror.
Laney’s phone buzzed in her lap. Unknown number. She opened it, and the words chilled her straight through.
All the locks, all the cameras, all the men with guns… none of it will stop what’s coming. You’ll pay for what David did.
----- ? ----
Chapter Ten
----- ? ----
Harlan sat in the chair opposite Laney’s desk, the glow from her monitor painting her face in pale light. She was leaning forward, eyes fixed on the screen, as the recording of Billy’s interview played back. His voice filled the room, dripping smugness with every word.
Billy was sticking to his story, hammering it in like a man too sure of himself. According to him, he’d beenframed.Every answer carried the same tune, as if repeating it enough would make it true.
Harlan didn’t buy it, and judging by the tightness in Laney’s jaw, neither did she.
Garrett leaned against the doorway, arms crossed, his gaze flicking from them to the hall. He was listening to Billy’s voice, too, but Harlan knew his mind was also on running a perimeter check, noting every sound, every shadow.
From farther down the hall came Evie’s giggles, light and sweet. Carol was bathing her, and the sound should have eased Harlan. Instead, it twisted the tightness in his chest. So did the weight of that message, especially now that darkness pressed against the windows.
All the locks, all the cameras, all the men with guns… none of it will stop what’s coming. You’ll pay for what David did.
Yeah, that was a heavy weight all right. And along with Laney, Garrett and Carol were feeling it, too. That was why they needed answers, and they needed them fast.
With that reminder pressing down on him, Harlan kept his eyes on the recording of Billy, but his hand stayed settled on the grip of his holster. If someone out there was planning to test those words tonight, he was damn sure ready to respond.
The recording ended with the sharp voice of Billy’s lawyer demanding his client’s release. Harlan didn’t need to hear the rest to know how it had played out. The sheriff’s hands had been tied.
Billy had walked free.
Harlan’s mind replayed the sheriff’s reasoning for letting the man go. Billy’s DNA on the hair clip wasn’t enough. There was no proof he had set foot inside Laney’s house. No proof he had ever touched the clip. DNA could travel by indirect contact, a handshake, a borrowed pen. Or it could have been planted, though Harlan didn’t like the implications of that either.
Still, something about it gnawed at him. Billy was many things, but careless wasn’t usually one of them. To leave a clip carrying his DNA behind when he knew a client had called him into the area? That felt wrong. Too neat.
Too planted.
That last thought burned through Harlan. Because for all of Billy’s bitterness, for all his rage at what David had done to him, the so-called evidence still felt wrong.
Billy was a survivor. A man who had already been caged once. He wouldn’t be careless enough to leave a trail of himself behind, not when he’d been summoned here by a supposed client. It just didn’t add up.
And in Harlan’s world, when something didn’t add up, it meant there was a bigger game in play.
But what game?
And who the hell was playing it?
