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“Maybe he would have got it right the first time if we hadn’t been friends for so long.” Lucian scowled.
The detective ignored Lucian’s tone and scribbled down another note before he looked at me. “Gypsy, according to my notes, there were no other witnesses besides the two of you that night?”
My fingers dug into Lucian’s thigh. “That’s correct. It was just us.”
Taylor held my gaze for a few seconds too long, and something in my gut told me he knew I was full of shit.
“As we told you already, the security footage from the house couldn’t be recovered, but there was something else we found.” He removed a grainy photo from the file and handed it over to me. It was surveillance from the community cameras, a picture of Ace and Birdie on his motorcycle, their faces obscured by helmets.
“The entry cameras captured this footage around the same time of the incident,” Taylor noted. “None of the neighbors seem to know who they are. Do you?”
I shook my head on autopilot, forcing the word out like my life depended on it. “No.”
“Well, luckily, we were able to track down the owner of the motorcycle,” Taylor said. “Huck William Fallon, more commonly known as Ace. Does that ring a bell?”
“He’s a friend of ours,” Lucian interjected. “He’s been checking on us often, helping out since I’ve been sick.”
“Funny,” Taylor said. “That’s exactly what he told us too. But it seems he didn’t notice the house was on fire that night. I wonder why that is.”
“We aren’t the only ones who live in this community,” Lucian bit out. “He could have been visiting anyone that night.”
Taylor disregarded him and returned his attention to me. “What about the girl on the back of the bike? Any idea who that is, Gypsy?”
“You’d have to ask Ace. I have no idea.”
“Odd.” Taylor scratched at his chin and set the photo aside. “I wonder who it could be.”
I felt like he was toying with me, but I didn’t respond.
“In your own words, can you tell me one more time what happened that night?”
I was tired of this song and dance, but I knew we had to go along with it. Nobody could know that Birdie was there that night. It was the only way to ensure she was safe while she recovered from her injuries.
“I was in the bedroom,” I began the story I’d told too many times to count. “Asleep. Lucian was going to come to bed after. I woke up when I heard him screaming from the hall, but it was so loud, it was difficult to tell if it was real at first.”
The detective’s pen traced over the previous version of events I’d given him, looking for any discrepancies.
“The doorway between us was a wall of fire, and he couldn’t get to me. There was so much smoke in the room, I panicked. Lucian told me I had to shut the bedroom door and wait for him to come around to the window outside.”
“Okay, and did he?”
It was a stupid question, considering Lucian answered it only a few minutes ago, but I complied regardless. “No. I broke the window out myself. Lucian was still trapped inside, fighting with Nolan.”
“But you didn’t witness this?” Detective Taylor asked.
“No.”
“The windows were reinforced,” he observed. “Can you remember what you broke it with?”
“Lucian had a special tool in the sill for emergencies,” I lied.
“Okay.” He clicked his pen in rapid succession. “What happened next?”
“I went to the front of the house to find Lucian, but Nolan found me first. He tried to force me back into a window, and that’s when Lucian tackled him to the ground. They fought over the gun, and Nolan forced the trigger.”
“It was still somewhat dark out at that time. Are you certain that’s what happened?”
“Yes.”
Detective Taylor observed me for far longer than I liked before he scribbled down a few more notes. “It looks like we’re going to be finalizing this case. As of right now, the prosecutor has decided not to file charges.”
A breath I didn’t realize I was holding seeped from my lungs.
“We were able to verify the records tied to the foundation,” Taylor informed us. “Nolan had been funneling money to bogus cases for the past three years. In total, we estimate that he collected over two hundred thousand dollars from the foundation alone.”
Lucian bowed his head, shaking it in disgust. “I should have caught it sooner.”
I squeezed his hand. “There’s no way you could have known. You trusted him.”
He looked at me, his eyes a storm of emotion. “More than I should have.”
I hoped he would eventually find the forgiveness he needed for the decisions he’d made that night, but it wouldn’t be today.
“What happens now?” I asked.
“Well, now you and your husband rebuild your lives, I suppose.” Taylor stood and offered me his hand. But when I shook it, he didn’t let me go. “I almost forgot. There was just one more thing I needed to ask you.”
