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Her protests died on her tongue.
“Don’t worry, I’m not going to book you. I’m balls deep in this investigation. I don’t have time for misdemeanors.” He took another sip of coffee, reviewing lines in his notebook. “You were there the day I showed up with the search warrant. Did he ever tell you what led to that?”
Stuffing the final sopping bite of pancakes into his mouth, he chewed and smiled like whatever he was about to say was the funniest thing in the world. He spoke while motioning with his fork. “Dayton Merino was the last known person to see Lacey Greene alive. And if I find out that you’re helping this sick fuck, covering up for him in any way, you better believe I plan to risk my career to nail you both.”
With that, he slapped a stack of bills on the table and walked away, leaving Kenna pulling on her scarf, throat burning.
27
BONFIRE
Night had fallen over the trees. Stars dotted the sky like feral diamonds and a blaze of orange light glowed off in the distance, illuminating the trunks of the pines.
Kenna didn’t know what possessed her to invite Dayton to the bonfire but she quietly regretted the bold choice as he parked amid the sea of cars.
He was mute in the driver’s seat. They had scarcely exchanged a handful of words since he’d picked her up from the apartment complex. She reasoned the quiet animosity was a direct result of missing her shift at the practice the prior afternoon. He hadn’t the faintest idea where she had been, and while she feared his reaction to the news, the thought of what he may have done if she opted not to tell him terrified her far more.
Staring out the windshield, he asked, “Where the hell were you yesterday?”
She didn’t look at him, not fully. Peripheral glances. “I lied to Reynolds.”
The name-drop granted her his full attention.
“You lied to a detective? To an officer of the law? When did—” He cut himself off, eyes darkening as realization dawned. “You were with him yesterday.”
Kenna had never seen him adopt such a furious look and her every impulse begged her to yank the door handle, barrel out of the car and run into the woods. She’d run until her feet bled and her insides exploded.
Her arms were limp. She didn’t reach for the handle.
This wasn’t last year.
She had no intention of hopping on her bicycle and riding away from his endless parade of horrors, even if it meant, by some wretched twist of fate, that she’d become one of them.
“Dayton, they got a warrant and turned your house upside down. How many times has Reynolds questioned you? And now, he’s questioned me. They’re looking at you hardfor this. If there’s anything you’re not telling me—”
“Enough.”
The harsh command dissuaded her monologue from going any further. What Reynolds had revealed to her about Lacey stayed secret. Why should she reveal what he wasn’t willing to tell?
His low voice cut the silence. “If you’re having second thoughts, I can go.”
Her hand covered his, though she didn’t hold it nor squeeze it. It lay limp over his own in half-hearted assurance.
“I want you to stay.”
She willed herself to believe the statement that served as a bandage over their heated exchange.
Truthfully, Kenna had invited him because she thought if other students saw them together, the sighting would finally kill the buzz on campus about their romance.
He leaned across the console and pressed a single kiss to her lips, eyes roaming her face when he pulled back. “You’re stunning tonight, Miss O’Callaghan. I recommend you stay by my side, lest a lecherous boy claim you for himself.”
She laughed. The sound was weak, punctuated by too much breath, but a laugh nonetheless.
It was a moment she wished would never end.
Alone together in his car as a party raged around them. Dayton making her laugh. Something bubbled within her that had been absent for so long. Happiness.
How was it possible to feel even that fleeting joy amid the grim landscape in which their relationship existed?
