“Are we good?” he asked in greeting. Theo eyed the bag Darius had just thrown. Darius ran a hand through his hair and took a beat to crack his neck to the side.
“Sorry,” he said. “It’s been a day.”
Darius belatedly looked around for signs of another bag or purse. Theo caught the sweep.
“Winnie already left,” he said. “She said she couldn’t concentrate on her interviews after everything that’s been going on.” He smirked. “Between you and me, I think she just wanted to go gab with her dad and JJ about the whole wedding drama.”
Darius suppressed another grumble and followed Theo into the kitchen.
“Winnie doesn’t like gossiping,” he reminded the boy. “It’s one of the better traits of yours that you share with her. You two onlygive what you need to, and even then, it’s like an act of God to get information out of you. I can’t imagine if you two ever made another human together.”
Theo made a noise of disgust.
Darius didn’t think it was genuine, but he let his joke lie.
A bowl filled with scrambled eggs, sausage and other little things was on the counter. Darius was surprised to see a second one next to it.
“Winnie told me to make you whatever I was having for dinner and put it in the fridge just in case, but I guess your timing worked out,” Theo explained. “Though, honestly, I thought you wouldn’t leave the department at all tonight.”
Darius felt some of the anger in him release a little. He gave the boy a pat on the shoulder and a quick thanks. He made a mental note to return the favor to Winnie sometime soon. For all their fights and youthful annoyances, there was no denying these kids were thoughtful.
They settled into the small dining nook and ate their breakfast-for-dinner bowls in silence. Darius might have vented a little, but his shoulders lined with a tension that seemed to seep downward and spread. It was only after Theo placed his fork into his empty bowl that Theo addressed it.
“I’m guessing the Mitchell Keys lead didn’t pan out,” he said, as neutral as the sheriff when he was being matter-of-fact. Darius glared. Theo raised his hands in self-defense. “Winnie and I might be stars in the tight-lipped department but that can’t be said for a good majority of McCoy County’s finest. Try as everyone might, some information slips out.”
Darius knew that no matter how hard he tried to keep a lid on the investigation Theo was right. Details and information would get out.
That’s why he hadn’t yelled at Eve right then and there in the meeting room.
You’re lying, he’d wanted to shout.
But, for one, he had never yelled at Eve a day in his life, and he wanted to take that achievement to the grave. And, for two, if anyone found out that Eve was lying about an alibi—an alibi in a murder investigation, to boot?
Darius shook his head now even at the thought.
It would get out. It would put suspicion on her. It could ruin her.
But what if she is involved? What if she’s covering for Mitchell?
These two thoughts had been on repeat since he’d had to let the couple leave. Darius hadn’t for a moment thought Eve had killed Gary or had a hand in his death, but would she really cover for Mitchell ifhehad?
It was a question that grated against Darius.
Maybe he had been wrong about her relationship with the younger Keys brother. Maybe she was in love with him. She was, he believed, lying to law enforcement for him. That wasn’t some typical friendly thing to do, was it?
Theo was still looking at him.
Darius sighed out and let his fork clink into the bowl beneath his hands.
“Everyone in the wedding party alibied out,” he skirted. “Almost all the guests came into town right before the wedding. There were only six who could have been here during the kill window. And, of those six, none had connections to Mr. Whittaker.”
“And no one knows where he was actually killed yet,” Theo added. Again, he raised his hands in defense. This time he added a smirk. “You can blame me hearing that from the sheriff himself. He pulled me and Blake into a video call to ask us career locals about places around here y’all might have not thought about.”
If it had been anyone else other than Blake, Liam’s wife, Theo’s adoptive mother, and one of the fiercest former sheriffs he had ever known, Darius might have taken offense at asking outside of the department for help. Instead, he knew to be grateful she had taken time out of her own job to try and give them more than they had.
Which was still almost nothing, if Darius were being honest.
“I’m assuming, since I haven’t been called in, that nothing came from that conversation?” he asked.
