“Yeah,” he said, switching the screen back to Herman’s rap sheet. “He was a low-level pusher, never got to run drugs, just sell them in the streets.”
“Did he sellNightwalker?”
My spine stiffened.
Angel tilted her head to the side. “What’sNightwalker?”
Jake didn’t look up from his tablet as he answered her. “A drug that sends a temporary paralyzing agent into your muscles, limiting your movements while also having similar effects to PCP. Users have been known to see hallucinations.”
“Why would someone want to take something like that?” Angel rasped.
“It’s not a drug you use on yourself,” Grayson murmured darkly.
“No, he did not sellNightwalker.When he was dealing drugs, it hadn’t even been developed yet,” Jake informed us.
“Someone needs to go talk to Tucker.”
“Leave him be,” I said. “Let’s handle Herman first and hand him over to Humbly. We don’t need to piss off the sheriff any more than we already have.”
“He’s right,” Margo warned. “Humbly’s fuse gets shorter by the day with you boys.”
“Yes, but can he hold Herman?” Dominic asked.
Jake took a seat on the coffee table in front of Angel and me, his eyes warm and when he spoke, he wasn’t talking to the rest of the room. He was talking to my starlight. “Angel,” he began softly, taking her hand, “Thomas told me he was instructed to keep an eye on you because you meant something to Ash. He got a job at Margie’s Place three weeks before you did.”
“Yes, I know. We had to do some on-the-job training together.”
Jake glanced at me. “Angel, he confessed to killing Felix.”
God dammit.
I wrapped my arm around her, pulling her close as she sucked in a sharp breath. “Why?” she croaked. “What was his motive? Felix didn’t even know Ash.”
A muscle jumped in Jake’s cheek, and I knew he was debating about telling her the complete truth. I jerked my chin. “Tell her.”
“When I asked him why he killed someone who wasn’t his target, he said, ‘because he pissed me off.’ This gives me plenty of reason to believe that Felix Kolby’s murder had nothing to do with you or Doss.” He took a long breath, closing his eyes. “He has also confessed to killing an elderly woman—his landlady.”
Her hand slapped over her mouth, stifling a cry that burned my insides. Margo and Carrie were both near tears.
“That bastard killed Joann?” Margo whispered hotly, anger dripping from her words, tears running down her face.
“Easy, Temper,” Hayes cooed, putting his hands on her shoulders.
She whirled on him, finger in his face. “I want five fucking minutes with him.”
Hayes shook his head. “Can’t let you do that.”
“Whatever you want to do to him,” Dominic interjected, “I can do for you.”
Angel stood, looking down at me. “I want to talk to him.”
“Baby—”
“Felix was my friend,” she whispered as I stood, cupping her face. My eyes bounced back and forth between hers, and I wished we were anywhere but here. I wished I could take away her pain, even if it meant never healing from my own. I wanted to take her far away from here, from the memories, from the agony. I wanted my starlight to shine again.
My thumb hooked underneath her jaw, guiding her head back. “Is that what you want?”
“Please,” she rasped.
