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“Yes,” he lashed out. His nostrils flared. “I don’t give two fucks what you’ve done with your life. You were a criminal growing up. It was in how you were raised. You were born to be a criminal and that part of you is so far deep in you, that’ll never come out. You might be legal now, but you are still and will always be a criminal. She deserves better than you.”
I stepped back, finally getting him to show his cards. He didn’t say anything that wasn’t true and in a way, I respected that. It was honest.
“We can agree on that, but she’s better than both of us.”
Surprise leapt in his eyes at my words, but they went flat again because I smirked, knowing it looked cruel, wanting it to look as cruel as possible. My tone taunted because by now, it was a conditioned response to this asshole. “Still doesn’t change a goddamn thing because again, I got the girl.”
He bit back whatever he wanted to say, and it took considerable effort. He grated out, “I didn’t come here for this pissing match. I came to find out how she’s doing. How is she?”
I narrowed my eyes, studying him. I wanted to see a crack, maybe a hint that he actually didn’t care, but fuck this guy. He did. I wasn’t sure when he’d finally detach from Billie.
“How do you think?” It pissed me off that he was coming to me, but it also would’ve pissed me off if he hadn’t. Before he could retort, I said briskly, “Let’s walk.”
As soon as we got outside, I said, “She’s at the farm today.”
“I know. I called Lo.”
So he’d checked up on her. “Why are you here then?”
“I need to run something by her and Lo said you’d be the one to ask for the most accurate barometer check on Billie.”
I stopped abruptly, everything else instantly dropped. “You found something.”
“I—” He gave in. “Yeah. We found something, but it’s not much. It’s not enough.”
“What is it?”
“The name we had is a fake.”
I waited.
He didn’t say any more.
I raised an eyebrow. “That’s it? Save your gas next time.” I started walking.
He let go, staying behind. I got four paces before he said to my back, “We got a picture.”
I braked. “You should’ve fucking led with that.”
He shrugged, unperturbed, coming to pass me. “I’m leading with it now.” Before I could ask, he held a palm up. “We don’t have the picture yet, but it’s coming.”
“What the fuck does that mean?”
“Traffic cameras at four of the murder sites, and one near your gas station, all picked up the same truck—different plates, but the same guy. His face is covered in all the images except one. We’re waiting for the last one to come through. It’s got good quality, we’ve been told. I’m here to ask how to proceed with Billie. She made it clear she wanted to be in the know. Nikki approved that, so I’m asking your opinion. Do I tell her we have a picture coming or wait and see if it pans out into anything?” He hesitated. “I wasn’t sure her mindset, considering the recent phone call leak.”
That’s why he was here. That was maybe the real reason he sought me out. “The call rattled her, but she’s okay.”
Some relief hit him and his shoulders lowered a little. “And the other thing?”
I chewed on it, but after seeing her reaction this morning to the call, I nodded. “Send the picture when you get it.”
“Even if we can’t get identification from it?”
I wanted to tell him no. I wanted to shield her from all of this, pretend none of it was happening. I wanted to pick her up, take her to bed, and not let her leave again until she was smiling and glowing and had that little giggle I loved.
But I knew my woman by now and knew what she’d want.
“Even if you can’t see shit, you send her the picture.” My phone buzzed, and it was actually a name I wanted to hear from. “Anything else? Any other realizations you’ve had over the last forty-eight hours that you need to get off your chest?”
