“That’s how it always had to be,” she whispered to the two men. “The cans must be evenly spaced. Their labels facing forward. And they were always to be in alphabetical order. If they weren’t, he’d...”
Charlie’s bottom lip quivered as old memories bubbled to the surface, making it impossible for her to finish her thought. Thankfully, she didn’t need to.
Derek wrapped his protective arms around her.
“They think you did it.”
He jerked back as though he’d been struck. “What?”
Charlie looked up at him, her arms locked around his narrow waist. “A female detective spoke to me before you got here. Detective York. At first, I thought she was just keeping me company until Eric got back to the room, but then she started asking me all these questions about you. By the end, she was basically saying it’s been you all along. Your car, your house. Tonight.”
Understandably angry from hearing that bit of news, Derek swung his gaze to Eric’s. “What the fuck?”
Eric put both his hands palms-up. “I didn’t know anything about it until right before you got here. I reamed her ass the second I found out, trust me.”
“That’s the stupidest fuckin’ thing I’ve ever heard. I was in a restaurant full of people when my car got trashed.”
“She said you could have hired someone to do it.”
He looked down at her, then. Insecurity mixing with anger. “You know I would never do anything to hurt you. Right?”
“Of course.” She hugged him tightly. “I never bought it for a second.”
“Thank, Christ.” He hugged her back.
“Besides”—she looked back up at him“Coop was with you, so you have an airtight alibi.”
Derek stiffened. “Actually, I don’t.”
Her stomach fell. “W-what do you mean, you don’t? You told me Coop was there, too.”
“He was until just after midnight.” Derek glanced over at his brother. “I finally convinced him to go home and get some rest at about twelve-thirty.”
Eric cursed under his breath. “So, there’s no one that can vouch for your whereabouts after twelve?”
“No.” Derek shook his head.
“Yes, there is,” she argued. “The officer who drove there to tell you what happened. He can tell Detective York you were there when he showed up.”
Eric looked at Derek, his eyes marred with a level of concern that left her nauseated.
Derek closed his eyes. “Fuck.”
Charlie’s stomach churned as she looked back and forth between the two brothers. They were doing the same weird, not-talking thing they did when they were younger.
It used to annoy her back then. Right now it was infuriating.
“What?”
It was Eric who finally spoke up.
“If I got caught pulling an officer from the streets to do a personal errand for me, such as finding my brother just to inform him of a supposed break-in at his girlfriend’s place, I’d get my ass handed to me. So, to lower that risk, I waited until Officer Morse got here with you and then had him go.”
“Okay. I still don’t understand what the problem is.”
Derek calmly explained. “York is going to say I had plenty of time to enter the apartment using the key you gave me, screw with the pantry, and get back to the client’s house before Officer Morse showed up.”
Her mind whirled and her shoulders fell. “He’s not going to stop, is he? He’s going to keep coming at you.”
