She has no idea about half the shit I’ve done to Austin. “I fell in love with her.” I sigh. “I know, Becky. I’m a horrible human being, and I’ve done some really shady shit in my life.”
She stops pacing and looks up at me. “And what? Austin is how you redeem yourself? You think if she sticks around that you can make it better over time?”
“No. I—”
“Did you kill Kellan?” She interrupts me.
Fuck! This is starting to sound like the conversation I had with Shelby over Jeff. “Yes,” I admit. What’s she gonna do? She can’t prove it. No one ever will.
She begins to pace again. “Were all of you involved?” she asks me, biting the tips of her nails.
“I can’t answer for the others—”
“I’m asking if Deke helped you kill him,” she shouts, interrupting me.
“No,” I answer.
She looks me in the eyes, and I will her to believe me. I’m not lying to save Deke’s ass. I didn’t tell her the truth to keep her in the lie she’s been in since she started dating him. He’ll never show her the real him. He showed her what he wants her to see, and I’m not gonna take that away from her.
Not knowing is bliss. The truth would be crippling.
She falls to her ass in the middle of the closet and pulls her knees to her chest. Obviously, my lie wasn’t believable enough. “I know why you did it.” She sobs. “I know why he would help you do it.” She starts rocking back and forth.
I lean my shoulder up against the door and cross my arms over my chest. Fuck, this day started out great, but it sure has taken a turn for the worst.
She pulls her face from her knees and looks up at me, blue eyes full of tears. “I was so afraid for Austin. I thought she was …dead.” She sobs.
Me too. “She’s gonna be okay. She’s strong.”
Becky nods once. “She is.” Then she gives a weird hiccupping laugh. “She managed to tie you down.”
I smile and agree. “She did.” My phone begins to ring in my pocket. I answer and place it on speakerphone when I see it’s Shelby, allowing Becky to hear whatever update she has to give us on Austin.
“Hello?”
“Cole?” she whispers. “Where are you? Get back here! Austin is freaking out.”
I snatch the laptop off the bed. Becky and I are already walking out of the room by the time she stops speaking. “Why? She okay?”
“The police are back here to talk to her. I tried to tell them no, but she said it was okay. Well, once they mentioned something about a recording of what happened at the Lowes’ residence, she started bawling, so I told them to give her a few minutes to calm down.”
“Do they expect her to listen to it?” I demand. That’s the last thing she needs to hear. She’s already lived it once.
“They haven’t got that far. Deke is in there with her right now—”
“Take him your phone.” I interrupt her.
Becky and I are running out the back door. We’re in my car before his voice snaps through my speakers. “Cole.”
“What the fuck is going on?” Now I’m glad I left him there with her. “Do they expect her to listen to that fucking tape?”
“I think so.” He sighs, and my Bluetooth picks up the conversation. “They mentioned that she stabbed him. And by the amount of blood loss they found in the house, they said he would either be dead or in an ER.”
“So?” I snap, flying down the road. Becky remains silent in the passenger seat.
“So they’ve called all surrounding hospitals, and he’s not a patient anywhere.”
I glance in my rear-view mirror, making sure I’m not about to get pulled over since I’m doing twenty over the limit. “They think he’s dead.”
“Pretty much. Austin’s eyes went wide with fear when they said that was their conclusion. You could tell the cops know what we did, and they think she knows what we did. So he told her they knew it was self-defense because they heard the tape … and she just lost it. I mean, hell, the bastard has been dead for four days now! They have to know they aren’t gonna fucking find him!” he whispers harshly.
I look over at Becky, and she’s looking straight ahead out the windshield and a tear runs down her cheek. Deke just told on himself. She knows I lied to her, and I didn’t kill Kellan on my own.
“I’m almost there. Let me talk to her.”
“Cole?” Austin’s broken voice comes on seconds later.
My chest tightens. “Hey, sweetheart. I’m on my way back. Don’t say anything else until I get there. I’m gonna call my father’s attorney.” I kick myself for not already doing it, but I didn’t think they would go to her. The recording should have been enough for them to wrap up the damn investigation.