Woodenly, Kat took the woman’s hand. “I don’t understand. The police officer I spoke to the other day said my father lost control on a sharp curve, and his car rolled down an embankment. They said he…broke his neck.”
“Three discs in your father’s neck were broken,” Casey confirmed. “However, after a review of the x-rays and autopsy notes, it was determined that the spinal cord injury your father sustained the day he died wasn’t from the car accident. In fact, the reviewing doctor is quite certain your father was already dead when his car rolled down that embankment.”
Kat reached for him, her delicate fingers digging into his bicep. “Someone k-killed my dad? Why…why are we just now hearing about this? Why wasn’t this caught sooner?”
“We’ll explain all that once we’re able to sit down and talk.”
The tremor in her voice pissed Matt off. “What’s the matter with you two?” He took a wide step forward. “This couldn’t wait until tomorrow?” Glancing behind him and back again, he glared down at the pair. “The man’s not even in the ground yet.”
A soft whimper met his ears, and Matt couldn’t keep from pulling Kat into his arms. “It’s okay, sweetheart. We’ll figure all this out later.”
“Actually…” Holloway began. “We need to figure it out now.” To Kat he said, “I apologize for the timing, but as I’m sure you can imagine, we’d like to find whoever did this to your father as soon as possible. It would be a big help if you two could come down to the station with us to answer a few questions.”
“Go to hell,” Matt told the man bluntly. “We’ve done nothing wrong, and you have no cause to detain us.” To Zade he said, “We’re leaving. Now.”
With a nod, Zade began making his way across the freshly cut grass to the paved road where they’d parked but stopped when the pushy woman began talking again.
“Mr. Turner, while I understand your hesitance to speak to us, it’s really in your best interest if we take care of this now rather than later.” Detective Casey gave him a tight smile.
Mr. Turner?His gut was screaming now.
“How the fuck do you know who I am?” he demanded to know.
“Oh, we know a lot about you, Matthew. Who you are. What you do for a living.” Holloway, the bastard, smirked. “What you and your team are capable of.”
Shit. Fuck. Shit.
The whole scene stunk to high heaven. It also reminded Matt of a time not long ago when Derek had been pulled in by the DPD under the suspicion of murdering his now-wife’s abusive ex.
Like Matt, D had been innocent, but while they’d questioned Derek about the supposed murder, his woman had been kidnapped. By the time anyone realized what had happened, Charlie—Derek’s wife—had nearly been beaten to death.
The fuck if something like that was going to happen to my woman.
“I’m not leaving Katherine.”
“See, that’s where you’re wrong.” Casey pulled out a set of cuffs. “I don’t want to do this here. Like this. But I will, if I have to.”
“We got a report of a man matching your description being inside the house with Thomas Marsh the day he died.”
“A report?” Matt raised a brow.
“Eyewitness places you at the residence. Said they knew who you were and described you to a T. They also said you and Marsh were involved in a pretty heated argument.”
Matt didn’t react, but his memory was working overtime. He didn’t recall seeing anyone else in the house that day, other than Kat’s dad. The only other person he’d spoken to was the guy who’d answered the intercom.
The house was large, however, so it was possible that man had been around, in the home’s shadows. He could’ve been someone who worked for Marsh back in the day.
Matt should’ve been more aware of his surroundings, but he hadn’t been thinking of that at the time. His total focus on confronting Marsh had overridden everything else that day.
Matt had been a man on a mission, determined to put the guy in his place and not the voice on the other end of the speaker.
“I don’t understand what’s happening right now.” Tears fell from Kat’s eyes, her voice sounding as desperate as he felt.
“Miss Marsh, your boyfriend is the last known person to see your father alive. It’s standard policy for us to question him in a case like this.”
“And since you’re the sole heir to his estate, Miss Marsh, we need to speak to you as well.”
“You think I killed my own father?” Her voice raised into a high-pitched tone that had the handful of guests still in attendance glancing in their direction.
