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The first thing I feel is a stab of relief. Olivia isn’t involved with this, and it doesn’t have anything to do with alumni.
Then I realize that my initial reaction to my friend’s accident was relief.
What the fuck is wrong with me?
Vaughn drives like a maniac at the best of times. He has totaled more cars than most people will ever have. I should probably be a little more concerned that he’s doing okay.
Fuck.
I see Captain Humphrey first and make a beeline toward him.
“What’s going on here?” I shout when I’m still a few feet away.
“Back up.” His command is automatic as he motions me away in a movement that I ignore. When I step into the glow of headlights from a nearby squad car, his expression changes. He doesn’t exactly look happy to see me. “This is an active scene, Mr. Van Koch. I need you to stay outside of our perimeter.”
I ignore the directive and don’t stop until I’m standing right next to him. “I asked you a question.”
The struggle within him is obvious as Captain Humphrey decides whether to tell me to fuck off, like he obviously wants to do. Instead, he grimaces and motions me to the side of the road and away from the other officers.
He’ll talk to me because he knows he doesn’t have a choice.
Just another perk of my father’s influence that leaves a sour taste in my mouth even as I take full advantage of it.
“This car ran off the road about thirty minutes ago,” he bites out. “We’re just waiting on a tow truck to clear the scene.”
My hands clench into fists. “Did anyone get hurt?”
“I’m not at liberty to release that information.”
I’m already reaching for the wallet in my back pocket. “Is that your way of saying that you’ll take a check this time?”
Humphrey glares at me, his piggy little eyes narrowing into pinpoints. “You better watch your mouth, boy. Don’t think that your daddy’s money will save you if I decide to run you in.”
It’s an empty threat and we both know it, but I hope it makes him feel better.
Daddy’s money is probably enough to buy this entire town, much less one crooked official.
I raise a mocking eyebrow. “Sheriff is an elected office, right? It would be a shame if your opponent in the next race had a nice big cash infusion to jumpstart their campaign.”
His face turns as red as the siren blaring on top of a nearby cruiser. Apoplectic is the only word to describe his expression. “Listen here, you little shit—”
“Look Sheriff, I don’t want to waste any more of your time and I really don’t want to waste any more of mine.” I lower my voice enough that it won’t carry to the deputies lingering nearby. “Let’s just do both of us a favor. You tell me what I need to know and then I’ll be out of your hair. I’m sure you’d like to be done with this by dawn.”
“Two occupants in the vehicle, both unconscious when EMS arrived to the scene and transported to the hospital,” Humphrey bites out, anger shining in his eyes. “One male is in critical condition and one female has moderate injuries.”
A shock of painful fear clenches in my belly. “They have ID?”
“We haven’t finished processing the scene.”
“The girl. What did she look like?”
Sheriff Humphrey eyes me curiously, his beady eyes pinning me down when I look away. “Why are you so interested?”
“Just curious. People rubberneck accidents all the time. How many times has someone caused an even bigger pileup because they couldn’t tear their gazes away?”
I’m not going to tell him that this is my best friend’s car.
It’s hard to identify the instinct driving me forward, but the need to keep secrets is too deeply ingrained to fight it off. Even if I thought that Humphrey could help me, telling him anything that I’m not convinced he already knows is absolutely out of the question.
