"I wish I'd seen him," I murmured. "So I could say for sure. It could have been Bryce. I just don't know."
"West is on his way," Griffen said. "At the least, you need to make a report. Cooper has his plane headed this way with a team of five. We'll have more coverage in the house. I want someone on Parker and Nash around the clock until we get a handle on what's going on."
I wanted to argue. By the tension in his body, I guessed Nash felt the same way.
Neither of us voiced a protest. I wanted freedom. I didn't want to be trapped, or never alone. But more than that, I wanted to stay alive.
It was looking like someone in the house very much wanted the opposite.
ChapterThirty-Six
NASH
Ididn't want to leave Parker, but I had to see Bryce's face when Hawk questioned him. Hawk didn't love the idea, making me promise I'd stay in the background and resist the urge to beat the shit out of Parker's cousin. I'd agreed, mostly because I wanted to see the asshole's face, and Hawk wouldn't let me in any other way.
My phone beeped with a signal a few hours after Finn had pulled Parker out of the dumbwaiter. Parker was asleep, wrung out by her ordeal. Hope sat beside her, keeping watch.
"Hawk just messaged that Bryce is here. Do you mind staying with Parker?" I asked.
"Yes, because I want to be the one to punch him after Hawk gets him to confess," Hope said, "but I'll take pity on you and sit with Parker while you go do it."
"Hawk made me promise not to hit him," I confessed.
"Then what use are you?" Hope asked, her words light but her eyes somber.
"I guess we'll find out," I said. "Be back soon."
I jogged down the stairs to meet Hawk in Griffen's office. As I opened the door, I heard Bryce, whining already.
"I don't know what this is about. I was just out fishing. I'd like to change, if you don't mind."
He could have been telling the truth. He was dressed in a t-shirt and cargo shorts, definitely more appropriate for fishing than most of Bryce's clothes, as far as I'd seen. A faded cap obscured his blond hair, his blue eyes sullen and annoyed.
"Just a few questions, Bryce," Griffen drawled, "And then you can go."
"What's going on?" Bryce demanded. "I didn't do anything!"
"What time did you leave to go fishing?" Hawk asked.
"I don't know. Around nine thirty? I wasn't paying attention," Bryce said.
"Why didn't you leave with Tyler?" Griffen asked.
"Because I was hungover and didn't want to get up yet." Bryce crossed his arms over his chest and sneered at Griffen.
Blandly, Hawk asked, "So it wasn't you who trapped Parker in a dumbwaiter around that time this morning?"
"What are you talking about? That's crazy, of course not!" Bryce's face was the picture of astonished innocence. "Why would anyone trap Parker in a dumbwaiter?"
"You mean, why would anyone other than Tyler trap Parker in a dumbwaiter?" Hawk pressed.
Bryce shook his head. "Look, Tyler is pissed at Parker. He doesn't understand why she left him, and her fucking this asshole isn't helping," he said, tossing his head in my direction. "Yeah, he's angry, and pretty broken up that his marriage is over, but he wouldn't do anything to Parker. He wants her back, he doesn't want to hurt her! You should hear him moan about how she broke his heart. The guy is miserable."
"Then he had nothing to do with the device on Parker's bedroom door handle? The one that almost killed Nash?" Griffen cut in.
I hadn't been near death, but I wasn't going to get in the way of the interrogation. Bryce's gaze cut to me, his eyes flaring wider for a second before he got control and pulled off his ball cap, tossing his hair with an insolent flick of his chin.
"I really don't know what you're talking about. I think you two miss your old jobs or something. You can't find the guy who killed Uncle Prentice and Vanessa, who keeps trying to kill the rest of you, and instead of getting out there and looking for him, you're blaming Tyler?"
