But Phil believed in Tyler, and when Tyler looked at her as they led him away, Brooke hadn’t seen a killer. She’d seen a man who’d already lost everything once and was watching it happen again.
Her phone buzzed again, another message from Phil:Rumor is, you’re the one who found the body??????
“Sorry, bro,” she muttered. “I’m not up to talking right now.”
She drove home on autopilot, her mind churning through possibilities. What if Tyler was innocent? What if he was guilty? Could she even trust herself to know?
Brooke pulled into her driveway and sat in the car, staring at her house without really seeing it.
She was worried about her business—the social media posts, the gossip, the way “murder central” would stick in people’s minds whenever they thought about Irma Brew.
She was worried about Tyler and whether he was guilty or innocent. Worried about him sitting in a jail cell, facing murder charges, his life destroyed again.
And she was confused. About everything. About what to believe, who to trust, and how to move forward when every instinct she had seemed suspect.
The only thing she knew for certain was that nothing would be simple from here on out.
Not her business, not her peace of mind, and definitely not her feelings about Tyler.
Even if she wanted to walk away, she couldn’t. She was already too involved, too invested in what happened next.
For better or worse, her life had become entangled with Tyler’s the moment she stumbled across that bear cache.
And now she had to figure out what that meant, and whether she was brave enough—or foolish enough—to believe in him despite everything pointing the other way.
Chapter 12
Tyler
The interrogation room at the Basin County Sheriff’s Department was exactly what Tyler expected. Beige walls, fluorescent lights, a metal table bolted to the floor, uncomfortable chairs. He’d been in this exact same room before, twelve years earlier, when they’d questioned him about the fire.
History was repeating itself.
Deputy Boverman sat across from him, a folder opened on the table between them. Edi stood near the door, arms crossed, her expression unreadable. A camera was visible in the corner, its red light blinking steadily. He looked at the mirror. Was someone watching on the other side? Maybe, though he hadn’t seen anyone after they finished booking him and led him in.
“Let’s go through this again,” Adam said in a deceptively casual tone. “You knew Sheila Jones.”
“We went to high school together.” Tyler struggled to keep his tone even. How many times was Adam going to ask the same question?
“You dated.”
“Briefly. I’d just graduated, and she was heading into her junior year.” Tyler kept his voice level, forcing himself not to react to Adam’s baiting tone. “We went out for a few months.”
“So you were, what, eighteen? She was sixteen? What are you, a pedophile?”
Tyler shook his head. “I was only seventeen when I graduated, one of the youngest in my class. Turned eighteen on September 4th. Sheila was held back a year, so she was the same age as me.”
Adam glanced toward Edi, who gave a nod. “Sounds right.”
Tyler tried not to take pleasure in Adam looking a little foolish, but he failed. He was reminded of a lawyer show he’d watched once that said, “Never ask a question unless you already know the answer.” Too bad Adam had missed that one.
“But Sheila broke up with you, right?”
“Yes.”
“That must have hurt.”
Tyler met Adam’s eyes. “It was years ago. I got over it.”
