“Shall we get to it?” Deputy Boverman directed a look at Edi. She kept her focus on Tyler and rolled her eyes. Tyler held his smile. It was good to see Edi with more confidence as an adult than she’d had when they were younger.
“Of course.” Tyler leaned against the counter, forcing himself to look relaxed even though every muscle had gone tense.
Adam’s eyes were cold as they focused on Tyler. “We’ve been going over everyone’s statements, making sure all the details line up.”
“Makes sense.”
“Does it?” Adam shifted his weight, hand resting casually near his belt. “Because I’m having trouble with your statement. Specifically, the part where you just happened to be hiking in the exact area where a body was found.”
“We weren’t.” Sue shook her head. “We were on the trail. The body was off the trail.” She paused for a moment and added, “Only one body, right?”
Adam ignored her, his attention fixed on Tyler. “Why were you hiking there?”
“It’s a popular trail,” Tyler said evenly. “Lots of people hike there.”
“But not lots of people have your history.”
There it was again. Boverman was on a mission.
“My history has nothing to do with what we found yesterday.”
“Doesn’t it?” Adam pulled out his notebook, flipping through pages with deliberate slowness. “Your wife and child died in a suspicious house fire. Questions were raisedabout the circumstances. And now you’re present when another body shows up. That’s quite a coincidence.”
“I reminded you yesterday, the fire was ruled accidental,” Tyler said, his voice hardening. “The investigation cleared me completely.”
“Officially,” Adam agreed. “But there were questions. Questions you didn’t stick around and answer.”
“I left because I couldn’t stand being here anymore,” Tyler snapped. “Because everywhere I looked reminded me of what I’d lost. Because people like you kept implying I’d murdered my own family.”
“Nobody’s implying anything,” Adam said smoothly. “Just stating facts.”
“Deputy Boverman,” Edi cut in. “We’re here to follow up on the discovery yesterday. Not to rehash a closed case.”
“It’s all connected, Reeves. You know that.”
Robert stood up from where he’d been leaning against the wall. “Tyler’s a good man. Been working for me since I took over in April, and I’ve never had a single reason to doubt his character.”
“That’s right,” Sue added, moving to stand by her husband. “He’s been nothing but professional and reliable. Whatever happened in his past, it doesn’t define who he is now.”
Their support caught him off guard. They barely knew him, really. A few months of working together, some weekend hikes, casual conversations over coffee. But they were standing up for him anyway.
“I appreciate the character references,” Adam said. “But I need to hear from Tyler himself. Walk me through what happened that day. The day of the fire.”
“Deputy,” Edi said with a warning in her tone. “That is not why we are here.”
“It is now. I have questions about this case that may hinge on what happened then.”
Edi’s mouth went into a tight line as she shook her head. When her gaze met Tyler’s, she gave a slight shake of her head as if to say, “You know how he is.”
Tyler held himself still. He’d told this story so many times it should’ve been easy by now. But it never got easier. Every retelling felt like ripping open the wounds that hadn’t fully healed.
“Now? Here?”
Boverman smirked. “Have something to hide? Something you don’t want the boss to know?”
Tyler glanced at Robert and gave a slight shake of his head. “Robert knows what happened.”
“That’s right, I do,” Robert said.
