“Good. Turn the sign to closed. It’s near enough time anyway.”
Brooke did as he asked, then made her way to the small room and settled into a chair, acutely aware of Tyler sitting a few feet away. The chemistry she’d experienced between them was still there, humming beneath the surface.
Dangerous and undeniable.
“So,” Phil said, leaning against his desk. “While it’s been a minute since I’ve seen my baby sister, we’ve been texting back and forth.” He looked at Tyler. “She asked me why I believed you were innocent before. When Jen died.”
“It’s a fair question.” Even though Tyler’s words were calm, Brooke didn’t miss the tension radiating off him.
“And Tyler came here to tell me he’s innocent now. Seems like a good time for everyone to get on the same page.”
“You still believe I’m innocent?” Tyler asked. “Even with everything that’s happened?”
“Of course I do,” Phil said without hesitation. “For the same reasons I believed it then.”
“Which were?” Brooke prompted.
Phil looked at her before shifting to Tyler. “What grade were you in when you moved here, Tyler?”
Tyler shrugged. “Second grade, I guess.”
“Yeah. That sounds right. And we’ve been friends ever since.”
“Mostly,” Tyler agreed. “I do seem to remember that first day when you came at me acting all tough.”
Phil chuckled. “And you smiled and said, ‘Hey, I’m Tyler. What’s your name?’ Your friendliness took the tough right out of me.”
Brooke smiled at the thought of Tyler and Phil as children. She could almost imagine it. The differences in their personalities were evident in that exchange as young children.
Phil turned back to Brooke. “You remember Tyler coming over to our place?”
She shook her head. “Maybe. I know you had plenty of friends.”
“Right. Tyler was one of them. We played football in junior high and high school, though I was better at that than Tyler. He only played because his dad insisted on it. Tyler preferred track.”
“You’re a runner?” Brooke asked.
Tyler raised his hand. “In school. Not as much now.”
“Tyler’s a natural athlete,” Phil said. “Always was. Even when he was too lanky, he had skill. But football wasn’t his thing. He was too nice on the field, and coach hated it. He wanted us tough. That’s the point I’m making. Howcould Tyler be a killer when he didn’t even like roughing people up on the turf?” Phil shook his head.
“I know his character. Besides, he loved Jen and Garrett with his entire being. And Tyler starting the fire never made sense. Why would he kill his family when he was working overtime to provide for them?”
“They said that was one of the reasons,” Tyler corrected. “I was tired of working all the time.”
“You still work all the time, right?”
Tyler shrugged. “Not like then. I was working at the factory then and reworking cars on the side. That’s one of the reasons Jen and I chose that old house. It had an extra-large lot with a separate double-car garage at the back of it. The extra income helped make ends meet.”
“Yup. That’s right. You did good work. Buy a car cheap and fix it up. You don’t do that now?”
“No place at my rental. Besides, I’m working with cars every day now instead of doing factory work.”
“Coming home was a risk.” Phil scratched his chin, leaving an ink mark on it.
“And now there’s Sheila,” Brooke said quietly.
“Yeah, now there’s Sheila,” Phil said. “But the whole idea makes no sense. They dated years ago. So what? Lots of people dated Sheila. I even went out with her a couple of times in high school.”
