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“The murders he committed with Jasper Niers weren’t his first,” I say before he can get a word out.
I need this man to know I was right, that the cases I’ve worked recently have always been connected to my sister’s and Caroline Ritter’s.
What I don’t know is how Dixon went undetected for so long, and why he’d come back.
A shiver of unease crawls up my spine at the idea that he came back for me, that Elizabeth and Rochelle losing their lives was a way to taunt me, to relight that fear inside of me that my parents held a flame to for so long.
I clear my throat, wincing at the pain there and the ache it increases in my head.
“Am I fired?”
He doesn’t answer immediately and it has the power to light my blood on fire.
“You did a good job tonight,” he says instead. “I’m glad you’re going to be okay. Do you have somewhere to go? Your house is a crime scene right now.”
I shake my head. “I checked every corner. How did he get in?”
If Rachel betrayed me and saved Joey Dixon, I’ll never be safe there again. I could put bars on the windows and replace the door with bank vault doors, and I’d still tremble at the thought of being there alone.
“We think he hid in the blanket chest at the end of the bed in the master,” Monahan answers.
He was there when I went into my parents’ room? There when I showered?
Another wave of chills hit me, and I pull the scratchy blanket tighter around me. Sawyer steps closer, but he doesn’t reach for me.
“She’s coming back to the clubhouse with me,” he says, looking at my boss.
I want to argue, but I know I’m in no position. I know I can’t go home. A hotel would probably be less complicated but I know how easy those doors are to breech. The Cerberus clubhouse, from what I saw when I visited last week, seems like a fortress.
I nod in agreement, watching as a hint of relief fills Sawyer’s eyes.
“Take a week or so to recover—”
“Two,” Sawyer says, interrupting my boss.
I wince when I try to glare at him. My face is sore as hell.
“We’ll discuss your return to the department when you’re feeling better.” Monahan gives me a quick nod before turning around and leaving the room.
I want to argue with Sawyer, to tell him that I’m a grown woman and capable of taking care of myself, but my injuries aren’t exactly evidence of that at the moment.
He inches closer, and as much as I want to tell him to give me some space, I know how lost I’d feel if I were left alone.
It takes everything I have not to cry when he sits on the side of the bed and cups my cheek as if I’m the most precious thing in the world to him.
The injuries are painful, but I think the lie hurts worse.
Chapter 30
Ugly
It took the threat of being admitted overnight before Lennox caved and allowed herself to be pushed from the room in a wheelchair.
I know where her head is at. She was victimized tonight, and she views not being allowed to walk out of here on her own as a sign of weakness. No one but her feels that way, but explaining that only sounds condescending in my head. I know she’s already questioning why I’m around in the first place.
“Do you want me—”
“I got it,” she says, her voice weak as she pushes up on the armrests of the chair and stands. “Couldn’t we have done this around the back or something.”
I nod to the couple walking by, knowing from the look in the woman’s eyes that she thinks I beat the shit out of Lennox.
“Sorry,” Kincaid says as he rounds the front of the SUV. “They made me leave from back there.”
“Doesn’t Cerberus own this town,” she mumbles, making me think she still sees us as some kind of criminal enterprise like some others do in town.
I recall her coming to me and saying she was asking for my help, not the help of the club. I know she’s been in Farmington her whole life or at least since before her sister’s murder. So maybe there’s some bad blood there that I don’t know about.
I keep my hand near her back as she climbs into the back seat of the SUV, and as she settles, it seems to take everything she has.
I go around to the other side of the vehicle while Kincaid pushes the chair back into the entryway before climbing in behind the wheel.
She seems dazed or maybe a little groggy from the pain meds they gave her, and she flinches when I reach across her to pull her seatbelt around and click it in place. Instead of pushing me away, she clamps her hand on my forearm.
