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“I assumed he was telling the truth.”
“You’re a police captain. You know the difference between a verified location and someone claiming to be somewhere.”
“Don’t tell me how to do my job.”
“I’m asking you why you tried to give your brother an alibi when you didn’t know where he was.”
Evan twisted his head toward her. “I don’t need an alibi.”
“Then why did you tell Robert you were in Dallas?”
“I didn’t.”
His brother spoke immediately. “Yes, you did.”
Evan went still beneath my hand.
That was interesting.
“So one of you is lying,” Judy said.
“I spoke to him twenty minutes ago,” Robert insisted. “He said he was at the cabin.”
“I haven’t talked to you today,” Evan said.
The brothers fell silent.
I looked at Judy.
Her eyes narrowed as she considered both statements.
If Evan was telling the truth, someone had called Robert and pretended to be his brother. If Robert was telling the truth, Evan had lied about his location only minutes before arriving at Sheriff Tate’s house.
There was a third possibility.
They were both lying.
Judy picked up Evan’s phone with her gloved hand. “Unlock it.”
“No.”
“Unlock it.”
“You don’t have the right to search my phone.”
“She asked you to unlock it,” Sheriff Tate said.
“And I said no.”
Sheriff Tate’s voice hardened. “You came to my house without a believable explanation. You knew about a box that had been removed from Main Street before most people understood what it was. You knew Detective Langley was in town, and your brother just claimed you were more than three hours away.”
“It’s closer to four,” Rylie said.
Evan looked at her. “What?”
“The cabin. If it’s the one your father used to own near Dallas, it’s closer to four hours away.”
“How do you know about the cabin?” Judy asked.