Ryan ran his hand through his hair. “Look, I’m not going to be shedding any tears over Duquette’s death. Honestly, if youdidkill him, I’m not even sure I would care, after how he was tied to Nate’s death. But I don’t think you did, and that’s why I’m here.”
He heard the car door open and held his hand out to Bree without even looking behind him. This affected her, too.
“Is everything okay?” she asked.
He pulled her to his side. “Bree, this is Ryan Fletcher. He works in the district attorney’s office.”
“Fletcher?” she asked softly.
Tanner nodded. “Nate Fletcher’s brother.”
Ryan stepped forward and held out his hand. “Nice to meet you. Sorry it’s under these circumstances.”
“What circumstances?”
Tanner wrapped an arm around her shoulders. “There’s been another murder. Somebody else connected to me.”
Bree’s curse echoed his from a moment ago. “I don’t understand what the hell is going on.”
“When it was just Anders and Newkirk, I was willing to accept that it was a nasty coincidence. But three people tied to me?”
“This is some sort of setup,” Ryan finished for him.
“I’m not big on conspiracy theories, but three dead guys that I arrested? That I lobbied pretty hard to keep in jail and am on record for being frustrated when theywere let out? That’s really starting to look like pretty good motive.” Tanner scrubbed a hand down his face.
“But motive shouldn’t be enough. Not for someone like you who has a stellar reputation in law enforcement,” Bree said.
Ryan nodded. “She’s right. Nobody would think about trying to arrest you based just on potential motive, even if it was good.”
Tanner wasn’t so sure. Whitaker didn’t seem to need much more than that to be convinced of his guilt.
“But there’s more than just motive,” Ryan continued. “Your DNA was present at Duquette’s crime scene. It was also present in Anders’s car and at Newkirk’s body.”
“I’ve already admitted to being in Anders’s car, and I was first on scene at Newkirk’s death, so that would explain both of those. But I definitely haven’t been anywhere near Duquette since he got out of prison.”
The three of them looked at each other, the truth unavoidable. Someone was trying to frame Tanner for murder.
“Who would do this?” Bree whispered.
He wrapped his arm more tightly around her. “I don’t know. But I’ll talk to the sheriff, and we’ll start gathering some possibilities. She and I have known each other for a long time. She worked for my dad. She’ll give me the benefit of the doubt.”
“Sheriff Duggan may not have that luxury,” Ryan said. “I was at her office first thing this morning, because I got a call directly from the governor. Evidently, there’s some concern that the sheriff may not be able to consider you objectively.”
Tanner and Bree both cursed. Tanner had to smile when hers was quite a bit more colorful and descriptive.
But Ryan didn’t have anything to smile about. “Ijust came from a meeting with the sheriff, Whitaker and Dr. Michalski.”
“Let me guess. Whitaker was the one leading the charge for my arrest.”
Ryan rolled his eyes. “Actually, he seemed excited that there wasrealpolice action going on. It was Dr. Michalski who provided the most damning information. He overheard us talking after court last week. Remembered you saying Duquette would get what was coming to him.”
Tanner threw up his hands. “As in, put back in jail as soon as he broke the law again, not murdering him.”
“The sheriff asked Dr. Michalski point-blank if he thought you were capable of killing someone. Michalski said yes.”
“I’mcapable of killing someone,” Bree muttered. “Actually, I don’t have to kill them. I can just get into a computer system and make their entire identity—”
Tanner lifted his hand off her shoulder and wrapped it over her mouth. Ryan was his friend, but he was also the district attorney.
