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Constance thankfully doesn’t press me for the truth. “She didn’t ever say the name. I mean, there were a few that would have been eligible. My best guess is Syd Wilhelm. He left town before she was born. And I have to wonder if maybe the money for the bar came from him to keep the truth quiet.”
“Syd?!”I cry out.
“Yes, he was on your list.”
“You—” I tighten my fingers in the air. “You interrupted me during my call.”
Constance frowns. “What?”
I jab the keys in the ignition, turn on the car, and put it into drive, zipping out of the parking lot like a madman. Constance grabs onto the handle above the passenger window to steady herself. “I was mid-call with him when you walked into the station and Ihungupon him, and when I called back he didn’tpick up.”
“I didn’t ask you to hang up on him,” Constance says calmly.
I speed down the country road away from the high school. The schools are all on the outskirts of town, which means we have a bit of a drive to downtown Horace. “No. You didn’t.”
But she distracted me. She was right to back off last night. This is a conflict of interest. Something that could have cost us the case.
“Don’t put that on me, Rory.”
And now she’s saying my name? Twisting up my thoughts even more? “We could have lost the lead. This is a one in a million thing we’ve come across and?—”
“You think Syd Wilhelm would have confessed to fathering a child he didn’t want out of wedlock after skipping town over thirty years ago? You’ve got to be dreaming.”
My pulse is raging. I’ve broken out into a sweat. I feel every joint and muscle in my body locking together.
I press on the gas.
“You’ve got to slow down, Rory.”
“I’m the sheriff. I’ll go as fast as I want.”
“Rory.”
The world around me becomes muted. I can’t hear a thing except for my heart pounding faster… and faster… and faster.
There’s a reason I left the city.
It was going to kill me.
Horace was supposed to be a respite from that.
And if this small town kills me, I’m going to be so annoyed.
19
Constance
I don’t say a word as Rory speeds down the road. Don’t say a word when he misses stop signs. Don’t say a word when he nearly sideswipes a semi while speeding past.
All I do his listen to his breath. How strained it his. Just like me last night, except worse. Way worse.
It sounds like he’stryingto kill himself.
I’ve never seen this side of him before. I know he contains multitudes. I’ve seen him play the stiff sheriff, the bad cop, the friendly townsperson, the protector, the supporter.
This I cannot quantify or explain in a single word. Whatever is happening is coming from the deepest, most tucked-away part of him.
I am not good at supporting. Never have been good with the velvet glove.
