They started toward the path together, not quite walking side by side but close enough to talk.
Their walking pace was faster than a stroll but not a power walk. It was a good pace for the way Brooke’s body felt. Their steps fell into a steady rhythm on the pavement. Other people were on the path—an elderly couple power walking, a woman with a stroller, two teenagers on bikes.
Normal people doing normal things.
Brooke tried to focus on her breathing. In through the nose, out through the mouth.
But her mind kept circling back to Joe’s words and how he’d been putting things together. The evidence and connections he found painted a picture she wasn’t comfortable admitting to.
She wanted to ask Tyler about it, to have him explain everything away so she could stop doubting him.
But what if he couldn’t?
They rounded the first bend. The path curved along the water’s edge, trees on one side and the lake glittering in the evening sun on the other. The days were getting shorter. Soon, fall would arrive, and then the middle of October,when she needed to register for the Moose Range Run 100.
What might her life be like by then? She’d be physically recovered from her injuries before then, but would she still be wondering about Tyler? Would there still be accusations and innuendo?
“You didn’t answer my texts,” she said quietly.
Tyler paused before replying, “I know.”
“Why?”
“Because I thought staying away was the smart thing to do. Sue told me your coffee shop was packed today, that everyone wants to know about us, that people are gossiping and questioning and judging you for being with me.”
“I can handle gossip.”
“You shouldn’t have to.” Tyler’s jaw was tight. “You’ve been through enough—with Kelsey and everything that happened at Bearwater, and now with the attack. You don’t need my mess added to your life.”
Brooke walked beside him in silence. The path stretched ahead, curving back toward the parking lot. “I heard things too,” she said finally. “About you and Monique. That you dated in high school.”
“I didn’t.”
“That’s not what people are saying.”
“People are wrong.” Tyler stopped walking and turned to face her. “I never dated Monique. I barely knew her. But somehow that rumor is all over town now.”
“You heard it too?”
“Yeah, Sue told me. Said a woman in line at the donut shop told her. I don’t know where it started or why people are saying it, but it’s not true.”
Brooke studied his face. His frustration was evident, but he also looked tired and worn down. But he didn’t look like someone who was lying.
“Joe Monroe said you dated both of them. Sheila and Monique.”
“Joe’s wrong. Or his sources are. I dated Sheila for a couple months when we were kids. That’s it.”
They started walking again. The conversation had broken something open between them, the careful distance they’d been maintaining dissolved.
“What else did Joe say?” Tyler asked.
Brooke walked him through it all. The evidence, the timeline, the doubts about the fire, and the other investigator who wouldn’t let the case rest. Tyler listened quietly, his expression growing darker as she spoke.
“Someone’s framing me,” he said when she finished. “Someone who knows my history, knows these women, and knows exactly how to make me look guilty.”
“Who would do that?”
“I don’t know. But I’m going to find out.” He looked at her. “I didn’t kill anyone, Brooke. Not Sheila, not Monique, not my wife and son. I need you to believe that.”
