Page 166 of Summers at the Saint
“Let’s cut to the chase here. Why didn’t you leave the island, after the fire?”
“I couldn’t. My piece-of-shit car was dead,” Garrett said. “I texted Madelyn, to tell her what happened, and she said I should just go hide out somewhere, until it was safe to leave.”
“Back up. Did you know Livvy and Felice got out of the dorm alive?”
“I left as soon as the dryer blew. But KJ texted me they’d gotten out.”
“We have KJ in custody, by the way,” Coyle said, watching Garrett’s face.
Garrett rolled his eyes. “I told Charlie it was a mistake, bringing him in. Guy’s a lightweight.”
“You said Madelyn suggested you hide out. Where were you up until tonight?”
“A cottage that Madelyn knew about. A snowbird owns it, only stays there from Christmas through Easter. It was our hookup house.”
Coyle pushed his chair away from the table and crossed his legs. “Why did you show up at Traci Eddings’s house tonight?”
“Madelyn fucked me over,” Garrett said. “Totally ghosted me. I needed a car, and money to get off the island, and I figured Mrs. E had both. I was gonna make her go over to the hotel, get some cash out of the safe. I was never gonna hurt her. The gun was just to persuade her.”
Coyle pointed to the phone. “Are there texts on your phone? From Madelyn?”
“Hell yeah. She’d text whenever she wanted to get with me.”
“And you saved those texts? Didn’t delete them?”
Garrett smirked. “Insurance.”
Traci’s fingers itched to slap the smile off his face.
“Text her now,” Coyle said.
“She won’t answer. I’ve called, like, a dozen times.”
“It’s different now. Tell her KJ is in custody, and Charlie’s in custody, and the two of you need to talk. Tonight. Or you’ll go to the police with what you know.”
“Fuuuccck,” Garrett said, hanging his head. “You got Charlie?”
“And his girlfriend,” Coyle said. He tapped the back of the phone. “Text her. Tell her you need to meet up at that house you told us about.”
CHAPTER 73
Traci intercepted the sheriff in the hallway outside the interview room. “I want to be at that house when Madelyn gets there.”
“Nope.” Coyle looked over her shoulder, and she turned to see Deputy Shapley escort a handcuffed Garrett out of the room.
“Get that nose doctored,” Coyle called out. “And clean him up so it doesn’t look like he was mugged by a girl gang.”
Garrett looked over his shoulder at Traci and Whelan. “Madelyn ain’t coming to that house. She’s super smart and crafty.”
“Not crafty enough to make sure you deleted all those text messages between the two of you,” Traci sniped.
Shapley gave Garrett a shove. “You better hope she does show up. Or you’re going down for murder, while she walks. This better be the performance of your life.”
Traci waited until Garrett was out of earshot. “Sheriff? Those two conspired to murder a member of my family, a young woman who was very dear to me. They stole hundreds of thousands of dollars from my business, attempted to kill two more of my employees, and burned down one of my buildings in the process. I intend to be there when you arrest Madelyn Eddings.”
“No, ma’am,” Coyle said. “You’re here strictly as a courtesy. Now, you go on home, and we’ll call you when and if we have Madelyn Eddings in custody.” He gave her a curt nod.
“Screw that,” Traci muttered, watching him walk away. “I wasn’t asking for permission.”
