“She said she saw someone right before she crashed.”
“Well, everyone knows the most reliable witness is the one you’ve got locked in your basement with a head injury.” His grin, that lighthearted one he so easily wore, died by the time his head rolled to the side. Omar looked forward again. “I’m just asking you to look at the facts, Mick.”
“You said there was a spike strip.”
“I said therecould have beena spike strip,” he hissed. “It’s just as likely that there was some tire malfunction, or she drove over glass earlier in the day.”
“And both tires blew at the same time?”
“We don’tknowthat. The techs haven’t confirmed anything.”
“Iknow that.”
“Come on, Mick. If you can’t prove it, you don’t know shit.” This time, when his attention shifted, Omar didn’t look away. This time, he didn’t think he could. “Look, all we know is her two front tires were flat when we got there.”
The sickness came in a violent wave. My head snapped forward, and shaking hands balled into tight fists. I hadn’t imagined it, had I? She said someone had attacked her, that someone climbed on top of her.Shesaid someone was there— so then, why was I so fucking sick? If Omar was right, if I’d made this entire thing up to justify some sick fantasy, I was just another psycho who ruined her life. But accepting that meant accepting the risk of losing her, of never being what she needed.
It wasn’t just the accident.
“She said someone’s been sending her flowers to her home and to her office.”
Omar shrugged, and my throat closed entirely. Was that what it felt like when I stood over him, when my boot crushed Josh’s windpipe?
“Women like her get attention from weirdos all the time, Mick. Doesn’t mean one of them tried to kill her.”
“She was covered in handprints,” I choked. His head jerked to the side, but before Omar could scold me, his features turned down. “Don’t fucking look at me like that. I know what I saw.”
“In the dark?”
Doyou know what you saw?
His shoulders softened, and I snapped forward again. This wasn’t how this shit was going to end. This wasn’t how any of it was supposed to end. Birdie was in danger, and if I wasn’t saving her, what the fuck was I supposed to be doing? If I wasn’t put on this earth to protect her, then I wasn’t sure I had much of a reason to be here at all.
“I’m just suggesting that we look at other possibilities.”
The beast snorted at the thought. “Like I’m out of my fucking head?”
“Like you saw a woman you care about and panicked.”
There weren’t enough gin joints in the world to mask that ache, to fill the hole in my chest. Since I’d left the underworld, I’d spent five years convincing myself I didn’t need anyone. I’d lost Birdie, I’d lost my family, I’d lost my only connections to the world, and when Omar came around, I convinced myself I’d survive losing a friend too. When the hardening came, just like it always had, I knew I wouldn’t be so lucky. Doubt had cost me another friend, and there was no dulling that ache.
He’s in the way.
A shiver ran over my system, and finally, I felt the shaking stop. All that was left was that brutal silence. No more concerns about Birdie, no more arguing over what was right and wrong, no more hoping this shit would work out. All I had left was this beast. All I had left were its whispers. There was someone in the woods. Birdie saw someone in the woods, and I’d die before I let her go back to him.
I’d die before I let someone else have what was mine.
“I need you to trust me on this.” I didn’t recognize the ease that slipped from my throat. When Omar’s head snapped over, I knew he didn’t either. “I need you to trust me on this one fucking thing.”
“I’m trying to look out for you.” A churning stomach shot me out of my seat. It wasn’t until Omar’s fingers dug into my sleeve that I paused— Birdie had tried to do the same. “We don’t even have another lead, Mick.”
“Find one,” I hissed, tugging my arm free. “She got in a fight with someone on Thursday afternoon at that place on Stinson.”
“Mick, I—” Cracking teeth snapped his mouth shut, but Omar tried again. “What if I do this and I don’t find anything?” My vision darkened, and I turned my attention back to the street.You’ll find something. You have to.“If I find this kid and there’s nothing, you have to end this. I need you to promise me.”
“Just find the fuckin’ kid.”
* * *