Page 61 of Wild Escape

I regarded him with a healthy dose of skepticism. "For the record, state their full names."

"Sadie Perkins and Jared King. Don’t you already know that?”

"I do, I just needed to hear you say it. How many houses in total did you hit?”

Wyatt stared at me for a long moment as he contemplated his answer. "Let's keep this focused on the Murphy residence.”

"I don't think you understand how this works. Sadie has thrown you under the bus. She says you planned all of the robberies. Unless you start cooperating, she's looking like our star witness. You’ll be left out in the cold.”

The muscles in his jaw flexed.

"I don't care how close you think you are to someone,” I said. “When their ass is on the line, they will almost always choose self-preservation.”

The sadness in his eyes was evident. It was clear they were a couple.

"I know you think she loves you. And maybe she does. But she likes breathing free air a lot more."

Wyatt's jaw clenched tight, and his lips quivered. "Okay, yeah, we hit a few houses. But this was all Sadie’s idea. And I'm telling you, I didn’t have any involvement at the Caldwell's. Maybe Sadie and Jared were trying to cut me out."

"Have you been having trouble with Sadie lately?”

Wyatt glared at me. "I'd rather not talk about my personal life."

"So, girlfriend trouble?"

He frowned.

“Think she’s got something going with Jared?”

He glared at me.

I’d struck a nerve. "Did you tamper with the sensor at the Caldwell residence?"

"No. We weren't planning on hitting that house. At least, I wasn't.”

"Why not?”

"Because we had just done the Murphy’s place. I wanted a little time to let things cool down. I felt like we were starting to rush and get sloppy. And obviously, we were. Sadie kept pushing for more.”

"I gotta tell you, it wasn't too bright filling up your truck at the gas station before the break-in.”

He exhaled a frustrated breath and shook his head. "Yeah, well, hindsight’s 20-20.” He paused. "It doesn't prove anything anyway."

"We’re well past that stage.”

Wyatt frowned and shook his head in shame. He was angry at himself. That was easy to see. He’d made a boneheaded move. Now it was going to cost him 15 years. Maybe life.

We chatted with Wyatt a bit more, then stepped out of the interrogation room and regrouped with the sheriff.

"You buy that bit about not being involved in the Caldwell residence?" the sheriff asked.

"I think he's trying to avoid his destiny," I replied.

"Let's go pick up his co-conspirators and see what they have to say."

We filled out applications for warrants, then set out to pick up the dirtbags.

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