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“I was at Eli’s house when Amanda killed Jim. Forty minutes away. How the hell could I have done it?”
“You obviously convinced her to do it!” he points out, then points at me literally.
I keep looking at him for a few seconds then slouch in my chair and tilt my head up.
“In all the rooms in the world,” I muse. “I never expected that I would be the one being accused of murder here.”
I don’t have to look to the other end of the table where a notorious murderer is sitting. I’m pretty sure everyone gets the point.
And I’m proven right when Eian barks out a laugh, followed by Iris, Liv, then a few others.
“He’s got a point,” Shirley muses, surprisingly. “You sound like a conspiracy theorist, Richard. Control yourself.”
I smirk—she’s a pro at wielding that disappointed mom talking to a clueless boy tone.
“I for one can assure you that the full power of the NYPD is behind the investigation of Jim’s murder, Richard. There’s no evidence at all that Tucker had anything to do with it.”
“Moving on, then,” Harrison says, sounding tired already. “What else?”
The rest of the meeting passes quickly enough, and when everybody stands, Liv and I go directly to Beatrice.
“We have a meeting with Luna later, but maybe we can get Avery to come to my place tomorrow so we can talk about all this?” I wave a hand in the air, gesturing at nothing, but Beatrice understands.
“I think Avery could come to the offices out in Irvington, actually,” Liv says. “If you can come by later, there’s a few things about the trust we want to check.”
“I can.” Beatrice nods. “Just text me the time. I have to get the files from the office, but I can meet you after.”
“Thanks,” I murmur, then turn to leave with Liv without saying anything else to anyone. “You know I didn’t have anything to do with it, right?” I ask Liv on the way to the garage where she left her bodyguard.
“Of course I do, Tuck. Seriously, don’t even worry about that. We all know you wouldn’t waste your time on Jim, but also that you’re not that damn crazy.”
“Okay.” I breathe out in relief. I never expected anyone to think I might be the one behind Jim’s death. I never thought of killing him, even while I was admittedly waiting for him to die.
He was already close. I knew it, everyone knew it.
So why would I have bothered?
And why is Amanda claiming self-defense?
Was Jim maybe worse than I thought? Did he—
“Did he ever hit you?” I ask, turning to her the moment I put the car in park.
Liv smiles softly at me, and cups my cheek tenderly.
“No, Tuck, and I don’t think he ever cared enough to hit Amanda. He didn’t ever hit me, and I’d know if he’d hit Luna or Avery.”
I nod, looking away.
She’s right.
Of course she’s right, but I had to check.
“All right. I need to go home to meet Wes and Johnny so we can get the boys, but I’ll see you later at the meeting. I’ll text Beatrice.”
The management offices of the Demons are in an adjoining building to the practice rink, and looking at it now, I think about how inconvenient that is—it must’ve been for Jim too, having to go from one practice facility to another on the rare days that he bothered to act like the owner of three professional sports franchises.
It gets me thinking for a few moments, until I snap out of it when Maddox screeches with glee and wakes up Mason.
