Page 25 of The Secrets We Hide
“You know what happened at Ms. Vickery’s house today?”
“Yes, ma’am.” Drake had caught her businesslike tone. He pushed away from his car. “My mom said you wanted to talk to me, but I didn’t hear anything.”
Emmy wasn’t surprised he couldn’t hear over the music. “Did youseeanything?”
“No, ma’am.” He took a deep drag off his pen. His gaze went to Cole, then back to Emmy. His anxiety was palpable. “Nothing.”
“No other cars on the road?”
“No, ma’am. Most people in the ’hood are gone on Saturday afternoon. Chores and things.” He blew a plume of smoke out of the side of his mouth. The nicotine was doing nothing to soothe his nerves. “Sorry I can’t be more helpful.”
“You didn’t see any people out walking? Maybe one of the neighbors with a dog?”
“No, ma’am. Folks usually get that outta the way in the early morning or later at night.” He took two quick puffs on the pen. “I was driving. Looking at the road.”
“What’s going on here, Drake?”
“Nothing, ma’am. Like I said, I wish I could help you. If I think of anything, I’ll definitely give you a call.”
He tried to open the car door, but Emmy bumped it closed with her hip. Their eyes met for a moment. The metal pen clicked against his teeth when he jammed it back into his mouth. He left it there without inhaling, chewing it like a pacifier.
Emmy let her silence linger. He was so damn jittery it made her brain hurt.
He coughed quietly. Looked out over the street. He’d clearly seen something before the shooting—or someone.
“Drake, people who lie to me only lie for two reasons: they’ve got something to hide, or they’re hiding something for somebody else. Which is it?”
His hand shook as he took the pen out of his mouth. Sweat dotted his forehead.
Emmy realized she’d misjudged the situation. He wasn’t being cagey. He was scared. Which meant the person he had seen was someone who held a lot of power. Not Bill Garrison, who only threatened women. Maybe a cop. Maybe the Clayville Chief of Police.
Reggie Wilder would know the layout of Allison’s house. He would know where she kept her backup weapon. He would know how to stage a crime scene.
She nodded for Cole to give them some space. Watched the desperate way Drake’s eyes followed her son all the way back to Allison’s front yard.
“Drake, look at me.” Emmy waited for him to comply. “I get that you’re afraid to say the man’s name. Maybe you think you have a good reason. He might be somebody with a lot of power in the county. I promise you that I won’t let him use that power against you. Anything you tell me stays with me. I won’t even write it down.”
He sucked on the pen. Held the swirl of chemicals in his lungs before doing a slow exhale.
She tried an easier question. “When you drove by here earlier, did you see a car parked in the driveway that didn’t belong?”
“No, he never—”
Emmy watched the panic take hold again. “He never parked his car in the driveway?”
Drake tapped the power button on the pen until it shut off.He jammed it into his pocket. Squared his shoulders. “I don’t have to talk to you. Not legally.”
“You’re right.” He was going to talk to her if she had to drag him down the street to his mother’s house and get Ginny to force him. “But Ms. Vickery was murdered. Mandy’s still in surgery. She’s probably not going to survive the bullet wound to her head. Whoever you’re protecting came here to murder a woman and her child in their own home.”
Drake looked away again. Tears wet his eyes. He swallowed with an audible gulp. Emmy could tell he was going to break. All he needed was a few more seconds for his fear to negotiate with his conscience.
When he finally relented, it was only by degrees. “He’s a bad guy, but I don’t think he’d hurt her. Not like that. Ms. Vickery, for sure. But not Mandy.”
She waited.
“I don’t know if he loved her, but he must’ve cared about her, right?” Drake sounded desperate for confirmation. “I mean, he was taking a huge risk just being with her. Mandy’s barely sixteen, right? Dude’s my age.”
Emmy’s mouth filled with bile before her brain had time to really process what she was hearing. The entire case had just shifted. Reggie Wilder was almost two decades older than Drake. He was giving her another suspect. Of all the scenarios Emmy had considered, Mandy being groomed by an older man had not been one of them.
