Page 62 of Dead Man's Alibi

Still, if this was Nate Bennet’s…

It didn’t matter.It was hardly theonlyevidence.“So what?You want me to look into Cal and Landon instead?”

“I want you to do yourjob.This is Nate’s.”She jangled the keys aggressively.“So whatever you found at the scene of the crime wasn’t his.”

Jake wouldn’t frown.Wouldn’t betray an emotion.Because emotion didn’t matter.There were facts.There was apoliceinvestigation and an arrest warrant.This wasn’t abouthim.

“There’s more than just the keychain, Sam.Regardless, one of those means the Bennet name exists at the scene of a murder.The only connection the victim had to a Bennet was toNate Bennet.”

“Open and shut then, huh?”

It was.Itwas.“Sam, there are things you don’t know.”

“Like what?Let’s have a list, Jake.”

He’d already given her too much, that much was clear.He’d miscalculated, and he couldn’t do it again.Or what?She might prove that evidence circumstantial too?

“You know whatIthink?”she demanded.Then continued without letting him answer.“I think you have something to hide, Jake.Ithink you’ll use whatever and whoever is in your path to hide it.I thinkthis”—she gestured at him, and the room around them—“is a distraction.”

Frustrated with her, with how this wasn’t going at all like he’d assumed, he crossed his arms over his chest.“That’s ludicrous.”

She smirked at him.“We’ll see.”

“I came here as a friend.”

“No, you didn’t.Maybe you think you did, but you don’t know the meaning of the word.We all worked together last month.We all found the truth out, about what happened to your father.”

But Nate wasn’t stupid or swayed, because when they’d worked together it hadn’t been about his father.It had been about Glenda.Discovering the truth about his father’s death had been an accident, really.“No one was all that concerned with what happened to my father.”

“We all worked together and found thetruth.Including the man you think would hurt a random woman, because what?You’ve got your evidence.Pathetic though it is.What’s the motive?That she was annoying?Guess what, Hayes?You’re fucking annoying.I haven’t killed you yet.Neither has Nate.”

He opened his mouth to argue that, but she just kept pressing on.

“You came here thinking that I’m blinded by love or stupidity.You came here thinking you could change my mind simply becauseyoubelieve something.Whenyou’rethe one who has fucked with him every step of the way.Pulling him over that night was childish.And you’ll note, he didn’t take his frustration on that night out on you or anyone else.But you think because he set some boundaries with that woman publicly, and there’s a Bennet knife that something liketwentypeople own, he’s a murderer?You think that’s open and shut?You think Cal won’tdestroyyou in court with this?Or maybe I’m wrong.Maybe you came here because deep down, you know you fucked it up.”

“I have followed the letter of the law.”

She made a sound.Rude.Condescending.“You’ve absolutely let personal feelings interfere with your investigation, and trust me, when this is all over?I’ll have your badge for it.”

He rolled his eyes, too used to having people threaten his badge or him to be moved by such a threat.“All right, Sam.I see you’ve taken the full plunge into Bennet delusion.Have fun with that.”He turned, jerked open her door and stalked out of it.

“If you ever come to this house again, youwillbe taking me away in cuffs,” she called after him.“If you can walk.”

Temper warred with sense.He turned to stare her down.“Threatening a police officer?”

“Yeah.Yeah, I fucking am.What are you going to do about it?”

He hated that the answer was and only could benothing.He wasn’t going to arrest her.He certainly wasn’t going to fight her, and there was nothing more he could give her without risking his case.

He got in his car, drove to the station instead of home.If he went home, he’d only seethe and stew.Better try to work some things out.

Still, he was fuming as he settled back into his desk.That was what a guy got for thinking he was friends with someone.That was what he got for thinking there could be some decency to be found in that group of assholes.Sure, he’d thought working together on Benjamin Bennet’s trial and then Glenda Harrington’s secrets meant something, but a man could still be wrong sometimes.

Dead fucking wrong.

“Because I can fucking admit when I’m wrong,” he said aloud to no one.

But he wasn’t wrong about the damn investigation.Just Sam.And maybe Cal.