“That doesn’t mean he’d do something so vile.” No way. Never. Lincoln was a standup guy.
“I agree. Lincoln loves the ladies, but he’s never been accused of hurting anyone. But it’s my job to suspect everyone involved and rule them out.” He pushed play on the video. “So instead of watching Lincoln and Lucky, watch Desiree.”
“What? No.” But he had felt a lot of her behavior was odd.
“Watch.”
Hawk couldn’t take his eyes off her. Every move she made seemed so innocent, except for the look in her eyes as she watched Lucky talking to Lincoln. Her hands fisted in her lap. Her eyes and lips narrowed with anger. She knocked back a double shot. It didn’t seem to improve her attitude.
She slipped her hands into her purse. It looked like she was trying to feel for something inside the bag.
Why didn’t she just open it and look inside?
Finally, she pulled her phone out, checked the black screen, then set it face down on the bar. A second later, Lincoln slid Lucky’s sangria across the bar. Desiree snatched it up and took a sip.
“What the fuck?”
“Yeah. Seemed rude to me, too.”
“What was she rummaging in her purse for? The phone seems like something easy to find in a small purse like that.”
“You caught it, too.” Jase seemed pleased.
“Go back to her taking the drink from Lucky.”
They watched the footage again.
Hawk seethed. “She could have spiked the drink when she grabbed it by the top. If the drug was in her hand, it would have dropped right into the drink. She takes a sip with the straw, the bottom of the drink couldn’t have anything in it. Not until it was stirred up a bit more. It isn’t obvious, but she could have done it. It’s much more likely her than Lincoln or the two guys they met.”
“My thoughts exactly.”
“Why would Desiree want to hurt her best friend like that?” It didn’t make sense to him, even if Desiree seemed abrupt with Lucky most of the time. He didn’t know her well enough to assume that she was simply like that with everyone.
Though she had come off as a flirt with Lincoln.
But in the hospital, she never asked Lucky about what happened. Never asked if she was okay like a best friend would. In fact, she didn’t seem overly concerned about her friend’s mental and physical wellbeing at all.
Jase pulled him out of his head. “I’ve been looking into the ex. Neil. I wasn’t around when he was arrested for killing her parents, so I asked some of the other officers about the case.” Jase held his gaze. “Did you know there was a rumor going around that Neil was cheating on Lucky?”
“No. She hasn’t mentioned anything like that. The thing that seems to hit her the hardest is that he killed her little brother, Danny. She misses him.”
“Yeah. Seems like the not-so-secret secret was that Mr. Sinclair liked to get rough with his family.”
“Mostly Lucky, from what I’ve learned. And it isn’t much of a secret when you look at the scars marring half her body.”
“I asked her about them every time something happened to her. She shut me down each and every time, saying that it was the past.”
“Tell me about these other incidents. What happened to her?”
“The day after Neil was sentenced, someone egged her car and spray painteddie bitchon her front door.”
“I assume Neil’s family and friends who still supported him might have taken out their anger on her. He did swear he didn’t do it, right?”
“Yes. His alibi was that he was home sleeping after drinking some beer and smoking some pot.”
Hawk rolled his eyes. “Alone. I presume.”
“His parents were home. They swore he hadn’t left the house.”
