“And Andre, he works part-time. He was there too.”
“Robert’s your boss,” Adam said skeptically. “Your friend. The man who’s been vouching for you. You expect us to believe he’s an objective witness?”
“He’s an honest man. He has no reason to lie for me.”
“Doesn’t he? You work for him. He needs mechanics. Seems like he’d have plenty of reason to protect his employee. In fact, you’re his only full-time employee, right?”
Tyler shrugged. He wanted to argue, but he could see it from Adam’s perspective. Robert’s testimony would be seen as biased, tainted by their developing friendship and professional relationship.
“Look,” Tyler said, forcing himself to stay calm. “I understand how this looks. But I didn’t kill Sheila. I had no reason to. We were casual friends. I ran into her occasionally around town. That’s it.”
“Friends,” Adam repeated. “Is that what you call it when you show up at her workplace?”
“I went to the bank. Where I do my banking. Where half the town does their banking.”
“Rumor is Sheila wasn’t invited to your wedding.”
“My wedding? To Jen? Why would I have invited her?”
“If you were such great friends, why wouldn’t you?”
Tyler leaned forward. “You heard she wasn’t invited? Did you hear who was invited?”
“We’re talking about why Sheila wasn’t there.”
“Jen and I eloped. We went to Reno, just the two of us. Not even our families were there.”
Adam leaned back in his chair, studying Tyler with open suspicion. “Here’s what I think happened. You started seeing Sheila again, and those old feelings came back. Maybe she rejected you again. Maybe she said something that triggered memories of your wife leaving you—”
“My wife didn’t leave me,” Tyler snapped. “She died.”
“Under suspicious circumstances.”
“Under accidental circumstances.”
“Officially,” Adam said. “But we both know there were questions. Just like there are questions now.”
Edi pushed off from the wall. “Deputy, can I speak with you outside?”
Adam’s jaw tightened, but he stood. “Five minutes.”
They left the room, and Tyler buried his face in his hands. This was bad. Worse than he’d thought. Adam was building a narrative that tied everything together—the fire, Sheila’s death, Tyler’s return to town. It didn’t matter that the connections were circumstantial. It was a story people would believe because it fit their existing suspicions about him.
If he were smart, he’d tell Adam he was done talking and wanted a lawyer. Maybe he should’ve done that from the start. But why would he? He was innocent and had nothing to hide.
Adam could think whatever he wanted. Tyler knew the truth. He’d done nothing wrong involving Sheila or his family. He lifted his head and stared into the camera, daring it to find fault in him. A noise from outside drew his attention.
Through the small window in the door, Tyler watched Adam and Edi. Edi’s body language was tense, her gestures sharp. Adam’s face was flushed with anger.
Tyler’s mind drifted to Brooke. She probably thought he was guilty now. How could she not? The evidence seemed plausible, and the timing looked suspicious. She’d be smart to write him off.
But part of him—the part that had felt something real when they talked in her shop, when she’d agreed to go out with him—wished things could be different. He wished he could start fresh and build something with someone who saw him as more than just the cursed man from Basin County.
The door opened, and Adam returned alone. “Deputy Reeves had to take a call. We’ll continue.”
They went through it again. And again. Adam asked the same questions in different ways, trying to catch Tyler in a contradiction. Tyler gave the same answers, knowing how weak they sounded.
An hour passed. Then two. Tyler’s exhaustion was showing. His answers got shorter, and his patience thinner.
