She stared forward as well. Wished Chance would appear in the lobby. She should send him a text to let him know what she was doing. She started to reach for her phone, and the man spoke.
“I believe Shane had something to do with Pete’s murder.”
For a moment she felt sure she had heard him wrong. “What?”
He nodded. “I’m almost certain it was him.” His head swiveled so that he faced in her direction. “I thought he acted funny at the funeral. Then he disappeared for training. It just all seemed so coincidental.”
She held back the anticipation, too afraid to get her hopes up yet. “Do you have any kind of proof?”
He looked her squarely in the eye then. “I do. Yes. I wasn’t sure until your conviction was overturned and we learned there would have to be a new trial. That made me take a long hard look at everything. I started to think about all the little things that didn’t add up.”
Despite her throat being nearly closed, she managed to swallow. “What little things?”
“Like I said, how he behaved at the funeral. Then he withdrew from our lives. I can’t even tell you the last time I saw him until yesterday.”
“You saw him yesterday?” He’d met with Shane yesterday, and now he was here with her. That had to mean something. Had Anthony confronted him? Was he going to share whatever he believed with her now?
He looked at her again. “There’s something you need to see.”
“Okay.”
He started the SUV and backed out of the parking slot. About half a dozen emotions turned on inside her. Hope…fear…uncertainty. But determination won the battle. Rather than demand to know where he was taking her, she sat back, buckled her seat belt and let him drive.
They rode across town in silence. All the shops were closed. Only a restaurant here and there remained open. The idea that she was hungry flitted through her mind. But all that mattered right now was that maybe she was about to learn the truth.
He turned on the blinker and took the right onto Old Larkinsville Road.
“Are we going to Shane’s house?”
Anthony didn’t answer. Just stared straight ahead and kept driving.
The fear took top billing then. “I should let Chance know. He’s probably looking for me by now.” She pulled out her cell phone.
Anthony snatched it from her hand.
She tried to reach for it. “What’re you doing?”
His window rolled down, and he tossed her phone out.
Oh hell. “Stop this car and let me out now.” She reached for the door handle then.
The gun was in her face before she could blink.
Pete’s father had a gun?
The realization startled her. Pete insisted his family hated guns. He hated guns.
Even in the dim glow from the dash lights, she could see that this was no little gun either. It was bigger…like the ones the thugs in the movies carried.
Her heart started that crazy wild pounding again. She glanced around the vehicle. The console. The dash. Where was Anthony’s cell phone? Probably in his pocket. She stared at the jacket he wore. He and Pete had been alike in the way they dressed. Always neat and professional. Even in the summer they wore lightweight sports jackets.
God, she missed him.
She had to think…had to find a way to pull this situation back.
“You’re right,” she said in hopes of shifting his attention from the gun he held in one hand while he navigated the SUV with the other. “I think Shane was involved in Pete’s murder.”
Anthony said nothing.
