Page 47 of Capture My Heart

She slumped onto the edge of the counter. “I had a note on my car a week ago warning me to back off and let the past stay dead.”

“What are you digging into?” He had started on her father’s case but didn’t see anything in the four-year-old case worth all this trouble.

Trey caught the sheen of tears before she dropped her eyes and picked the label off the water bottle.

“Amy. Let me help you.”

Her gaze lifted and locked with his. She must have seen the sincerity in his face, because her shoulders dropped and she exhaled. “I’m looking into the case my father was working when he was killed. He believed my brother was set up.”

“What changed?”

Her eyes were as big as the moon.

“Come on, I’m willing to bet you’ve been looking into this for years.”

Air rushed out in a whoosh, and she dropped to the counter stool. “The driver in his hit-and-run was released from prison last week. He reached out, so I talked to him.”

“What did he say?”

She shook her head. “Not much. It’s like he changed his mind about talking.”

“Then why go after you?”

“I don’t know. But the driver, August West, was killed in a hit-and-run just a few minutes after we spoke. Walking out to get his mail.”

“Smells fishy.” He’d had salmon that was less fishy. He didn’t need to be a cop to know that someone believed Amy knew something.

“Yeah. It didn’t help that I went to Gardiner’s the other day.”

“Gardiner’s? The restaurant?”

“Yeah, my brother worked for them when he was arrested. It’s rumored that they have a major drug operation but no one talks. I should add: those who do, die.”

Trey blew out a breath. He paced into the living room at the same time the buzzer rang. He answered, “Yeah.”

“Ashwood Police, we got a call.”

He buzzed them up and a minute later, a young officer entered, followed by Brannon. “Larson, Fenley, you two alright?”

“Yeah, Ian. We’d gotten home from the party and found the lock broken on the back door. My apartment was the only one hit.”

Ian and Amy went across the hall to her place, and the other officer stepped up to Trey and flipped open his notebook.

Trey tracked her every move as they retreated.

“I just have a few questions for you, Mr. Fenley.”

He turned back to the officer. Trey had questions as well. Lots of them.

Amy couldn’t keep her eyes open much longer. No amount of rubbing would get the gritty feeling to go away. Ian offered to do regular drive-bys as he was on shift for the night.

She wiped at the leftover print residue. They had finished up their evidence collection around midnight. The unsub took some cash, her work computer, and her father’s watch. She touched the medallion around her neck and exhaled, grateful they didn’t get it. The watch had more value, but the medal was her connection with her father. She’d be lost if it disappeared.

The cash and computer weren’t a big deal. She backed up to the cloud after she finished working, but her father’s watch made it personal. They didn’t take her grandmother’s locket or her diamond earrings, so why the watch? It was a gift for twenty-five years on the force.

She fisted her hands. Could it be Stephen or whoever had her father killed? After all the crap that had been happening since she talked to Gus, there was no way this was a coincidence. Someone was making a point, but who?

“Are you okay?”