Patience might not be his strong suit, but he knew how to wait. In his mind, he cataloged every moment since he’d collided with Lindsey on the trail, wracking his brain for anything that could help their case, give credence to their story.
Only ten minutes had passed when Wendy marched into the room, looking pretty much the same as when he’d left her fifteen years ago.
“I wish I could say it’s good to see you,” she said, putting her hands on her hips.
“Same.” Todd nodded. “Thanks for coming.”
“Did you think I wouldn’t?”
He shrugged. “I don’t know how your chain of command works.”
She acquiesced with a tilt of her head toward the towering, broad-shouldered man who’d followed behind her, impeccably dressed in a charcoal suit and a pale blue tie that looked expensive. “This is Special Agent Daniel Ahmad from the local office.”
“Nice to meet you,” Todd said automatically, though he didn’t mean it. Not the guy’s fault, though. The whole situation just sucked.
Ahmad nodded, but didn’t speak or offer to shake hands. His gaze was sharp, his back straight as a steel rod. He posted up near the door, his gaze flicking between Todd and Wendy.
“You’re lucky I could swing this,” she said to Todd. “I had to pull some major strings to make it happen.”
“I appreciate it. I knew I could at least count on you to listen and be fair.”
“Hey.” Her expression softened. “I’m sorry about Bethany. I know you two were close.”
Todd nodded stiffly, his failure eating at him.
“Give your family my condolences?”
“Of course.”
“Okay.” Wendy clapped her hands together and sat across from him, placing a recorder in the center of the table, and opening a notebook. “Tell me what happened.”
“I’d like Ms. King-Okonkwo to sit in,” Todd said. Wendy might be an old friend, but she was a law enforcement agent first. He planned to tell her everything, but he wanted a witness on his side.
On the drive over, Marti had recommended that she be present for any questioning of either Todd or Lindsey, and they’d both agreed.
Wendy threw him an annoyed look, but gestured to Special Agent Ahmad.
Once the lawyer had joined them, Wendy invited him to start talking.
“I’m not even sure where to start.” Now that the moment to explain himself had arrived, everything became a jumble in his mind. All he knew was that he had to ensure they knew Lindsey was innocent.
“Why don’t you start by telling me why you’re in Montana,” Wendy said.
Todd spent the next hour giving her his version of events, starting with Bethany’s murder, right up until Marti picked them up from the movie theater. The only thing he left out was the details of his and Lindsey’s intimate encounters.
He shared the make, model, and license plate of the truck they’d stowed away in, and every detail he could remember of the drugs and guns he’d seen, the men at the compound, Megan’s and Pete’s actions in the cabin.
When Wendy ran out of questions, and he ran out of things to share, she made a few scribbles on her notepad and then looked up with a sigh. “Damn, Todd.”
“Yeah.”
“An FBI team went up to the compound last night, but I don’t know what we have yet.”
He could see it. How the little evidence he and Lindsey had was circumstantial. How the sheriff could’ve tampered with the evidence around Harris’s death. How without Megan to testify on their behalf as they’d originally expected, there might be nothing to exonerate them. Especially since he’d had a motive to kill Pete and had been tracking the man for weeks.
Fuck.
He swallowed hard. The idea of facing life in prison—or a death sentence—scared the living shit out of him. But failing the people he loved, as he had so many times before, scared him more.
