AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Cal held up a hand. “If Darcy Cantrell was killed in the woods near Hidden Beach, then I don’t see how this question is relevant.”
“It’s relevant if it’s the murder weapon,” Ash said flatly.
“Except it’s already a well-established fact, verified by multiple witnesses, that my client didn’t have his baseball bat with him that night.”
Ash’s lips thinned, and aggravation flashed in his eyes, but none of it seeped into his voice. “Very well. Is there anything you’d like to add?”
Donovan opened his mouth but then glanced at his lawyer. Might be better to run this by him first. “Can you give us a minute?”
Ash grumbled low in his throat but shut off the recorder and left. After a quick conference with Cal, they let him back in, and he restarted the recording.
Cal stood. “Sheriff, my client has potentially pertinent information to the investigation, but he requests his source remain anonymous.”
Ash’s eyebrows winged up, and there was a whole lot of “what the hell?” on his expression before he shuttered it. “Depends on the information.”
Donovan spoke up. “The person who told me this doesn’t need to be involved. Their identity has nothing to do with the information they provided.”
Ash’s silence stretched for several uncomfortable moments. “Fine. Go on.”
So Donovan told him about the connection between Chrissy Jimenez and Darcy Cantrell.
“Jesus.” Ash jabbed the stop button on the recorder and leaned forward, propping his elbows on the table as he assaulted his scalp with both hands. “Van, that’s now two women you’ve been involved with dying under suspicious circumstances, and you were the last person to see both of them alive. You gotta know how that looks.”
“I wasn’t involved with Chrissy,” Donovan said.
“Bullshit. Everyone saw you two circling each other. If she hadn’t died, it would’ve happened eventually, and we both know it.”
“No, we decided we were better as friends. Nothing more.”
“Did she not come forward because she was protecting you?”
Donovan scoffed. “Why would I tell you about this lead if she had stayed silent to protect me?”
Ash opened his mouth, but Cal cut in. “If you plan on pursuing this line of questioning any further, Sheriff, we’re walking out the door.”
Ash sighed and leaned back in his seat, locking his hands behind his neck. “Fuck,” he said softly after a moment. “I knew there was something off about Chrissy’s overdose, but I couldn’t put my finger on it, and there was so much else going on at the time with Zak and Anna, Bella and Poppy—I just took it at face value. I should’ve looked at it closer. Fuck!” he said again with feeling.
“Ash, c’mon, man,” Donovan said. “You couldn’t have known it had anything to do with a fifteen-year-old missing persons case. Nobody could’ve. Chrissy was a drug addict, and, unfortunately, addicts overdose all the time. We had no reason to think it was anything else.”
He shook his head. Donovan couldn’t blame him for his shock. He’d had a similar response when Veronica told him the news. “I can’t believe she knew what happened to Darcy. All these years, she knew and didn’t say.”
“Yeah, but I bet she said something to her brother. They were tight, and I told you Tiago’s been hiding something. You need to talk to him.”
“Is it possible she didn’t say anything because she was protecting her brother?” Cal suggested.
Ash and Donovan both shook their heads.
“He wasn’t at the party,” Donovan said. “He was only… what? Thirteen or fourteen at the time?”
“Sounds about right,” Ash said. “But as soon as he’s back from the fire, I’ll bring him in for an interview.”
“Well, Sheriff,” Cal said. “Is my client still a suspect, or is he free to go?”
Ash scowled at the lawyer for a moment, but then his gaze shifted to Donovan, and the scowl faded. “I’ve never considered you a suspect. Like I said, this was routine. It had to be done, and now I’ve crossed you off my list.”
Cal smirked, picked up his digital recorder from the table, and clicked it off. “Thanks, Sheriff Rawlings. That soundbite will be immensely helpful in court if you change your mind and decide to charge my client.”
Ash’s face dropped as he remembered there wasn’t only one recording device in the room. The guy really must be exhausted—he wasn’t usually one to make sloppy mistakes like that.
