Page 56 of Hunter or Hunted

“You’re not gonna listen if I do.” He rolled onto his side to see me better. “If you go to jail, I’ll bail you out.”

Laughing again, I reached out for his cheek. I trailed my thumb over the hair along his jaw. My fingers found their way into his beard. “That’s true love right there.”

“Must be. I never would’ve done this for anyone else.” His hand came to my hip, tugging me closer. “How’re you doing anyway? After seeing her like that.”

Weights fell onto the corners of my lips, dragging them down. “Okay, I guess. I don’t know. Better, maybe? I don’t envision her with a bullet in her head every time I shut my eyes now, so better, I think.”

“That’s how you thought she died?”

“Maybe? Not really. Nobody told me how she died. But that next day, you told me about Sarah, so I guess my brain just…”

“Conflated the two,” he murmured. “Yeah, Edwards told me. I didn’t know if you wanted the details.”

I hadn’t. Picturing her hanging from a tree wasn’t much better than the bullet in her head. That did pique my interest though. “You’ve talked to Edwards about all this?”

“A little, yeah.” He pressed his lips together. “He always kind of agreed with you. There was some shit at the scene that didn’t add up for him. His superior shut him down though. That’s why—well, I guess I can understand your perspective a little better now.”

My heart picked up in my chest. “Did he tell you what wasn’t adding up?”

His eyes softened. “A couple things, yeah. Like I said, I wasn’t sure how much you wanted to⁠—”

“No, tell me whatever you know.” I spoke quickly, assertively. He tensed the slightest bit, and I made sure to soften my voice when I continued. “It’s not as fresh now. I can handle it. And honestly, when I saw her like that and I realized she hanged, I started doubting myself. I don’t know how a hanging could be murder without leaving traces for the cops to find.”

Sebastian pressed his lips together again, but he shrugged. “I can. If he garroted her, then suspended her in the tree once she was dead…”

Chills rose over my arms. My stomach rumbled and roiled, burning a path of acid up my esophagus. I swallowed it down, but the taste still tainted the back of my tongue. “I guess that makes sense. Was there something at the scene that suggested that?”

“Two things stood out to Edwards,” he said. “She shoveled a path to the tree. Which is odd for a suicidal person. If I were gonna hang myself from a tree, I don’t think I’d try to make my walk there more convenient.”

“Especially someone like Delilah,” I said. “I don’t think she’s shoveled snow once in her life.”

I winced at the present tense I’d said that in. Sebastian didn’t mention it.

“Her shoes were weird too,” Sebastian said. “They were a few sizes too big. And name brand. Delilah didn’t seem to care about that sort of thing.”

My breath stopped in my chest. “Evan does. He’s one of those shoe guys. He posted his collection on Instagram.”

“Something to look out for when you search his house,” he said. “It was a pair of white Nikes. Size ten, if memory serves.”

“I will,” I murmured, wishing I’d taken a better mental picture of the collection on his profile.

He had a whole wall of them in his game room. I remembered that much with clarity. I hadn’t taken screenshots, and I didn’t want to tap into the B&B’s Wi-Fi to search for Evan on the burner. Like Sebastian said—or had started to say before I cut him off—I couldn’t leave a paper trail. No one needed to know that I’d cyberstalked the last fifteen years of Evan’s social media.

Tomorrow, though, I would take pictures of the collection. When we got to a library, or somewhere else with public Wi-Fi, I would find Evan’s post. Then I’d compare and see if a white pair of Nikes were missing.

“If someone was trying to cover their footprints, that’d explain the shoveling,” I said.

“That’s what I thought too.”

“Did Edwards mention anything else?”

“No, just the shoveling and the shoes,” Sebastian said. “But something else stuck out to me. She used a rope. And sure, she could’ve gotten it at a shop in town somewhere, but Edwards asked around at the home improvement stores, and none of them remembered ever even seeing her. I guess she could’ve gotten it at the ranch somewhere, but she wouldn’t have known where to look for a fresh roll of rope, right?”

“No. Rhiannon would’ve given her some if she asked for it, but any construction-type equipment is kept under lock and key.” I shook my head. “Rope’s cheap and everything, so I don’t think Rhiannon inventories it, but still. Delilah lived in the apartments. She wouldn’t have had any reason to keep track of that sort of thing.”

“That’s what I thought too.” He shrugged. “I don’t know, Gwen. The cops are done digging. I get why you’re not.”

Those chills had settled, and that aching in my stomach did too. Something warm started in the center of my chest and spread through my whole torso. I considered thanking him again, but I leaned closer instead. The kiss stayed sweet at first, just a soft touch of lips.