Total pages in book: 106
Estimated words: 103104 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 516(@200wpm)___ 412(@250wpm)___ 344(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 103104 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 516(@200wpm)___ 412(@250wpm)___ 344(@300wpm)
“I’m going in there to find them,” I push out, my chest rising and falling quickly, so quickly.
He hesitates for a moment then nods. “Ride or die.”
We cross the street, enter the station, and walk up to the front desk. The place is mostly quiet, a few officers milling around, and I search their faces, not seeing the one who just walked in. Knox and Dane and Mr. Grayson are nowhere in sight.
The lady at the desk gives me a small smile and checks out Wyatt’s tattoos. She’s older with gray hair and little glasses. “May I help you?”
I lick my lips. “My name is Ava Harris.” I pause, taking a breath. “May I see one of the detectives who worked on my case last fall?”
If she remembers me, she doesn’t show it, and I suppose she sees tons of people coming through here. She sits down at her computer and gives me an expectant look. “Detective’s name?”
Panic brushes at me. God, I can’t even recall. I haven’t wanted to think about him and those hours spent here, and I…
“He just walked in with the Grayson family,” I say.
She nods. “Bryant Thomas. He’s busy. Would you like to give me your number and I’ll have him call you?” She reaches over and hands me a form. “Just fill this out with the specifics of the case, and he’ll get back to you.”
The paper shakes in my hand. Would he? Would he really call me? He never has before. They dismissed me. They never even told me Knox drove me to Piper’s! They forgot about me as soon as I walked out!
“Ava?” Wyatt asks as he leads me over to some chairs in a waiting area. “Want me to fill it out for you?”
No, no, no, it isn’t even about the detective at this point; it’s about Knox meeting with him, that entourage of lawyers.
Fumbling in my purse, I pull out my phone and fire off a text to Knox.
I know where you are, Shark. I saw you walk in.
It takes him three minutes to walk out from a hallway to the right. Standing with my fists clenched, I watch as he jogs over to me in jeans and a Camden shirt. I dismiss how…beautiful he is.
I don’t know him, I don’t, and he isn’t who I thought he was, because if he—if he’s known what happened, how could he do this, how could he not tell me, how could he—
“Ava,” he starts, his face white. “What—”
“Stop. Don’t. Time to breathe? Really?”
His chest expands and he looks around the room before coming back to me. “I can explain—”
“No. You tell me right now what’s going on with you and your dad and your brother meeting with lawyers at a police station on a Saturday with the detective who interviewed me, and don’t lie to me. This can’t just be a coincidence!” My voice rises and a few people send us glances, but I don’t care, not now, not in this place with all those memories in my head.
I recall Knox’s words to me after the game. How his dad looked at me so warily.
“You and your brother and your dad—did you really think I wouldn’t figure it out? You wanted to tell me on Monday? Monday,” I sneer. “How could you?”
He tries to take my hand, but I snatch it away.
“Please,” he says, his voice colored with dread. “Please, listen to me.” He looks around the room. “Let’s go somewhere and talk—”
“Dane remembers something! That’s what all this is, am I right? You and him and the lawyers? I’m not stupid, Knox! He knows, and he told you, and you need time to breathe right after we have…a moment together that I thought meant something. So no, I’m not going anywhere with you!”
The lady from the desk appears next to us, her eyes darting from me to Knox. “Is everything good here?”
No, no it’s not.
“We’re leaving,” Wyatt murmurs to the woman then steers me to the exit. “Sorry if it got a little loud.”
We step outside and Knox follows us, stopping me with a hand on my arm. “Ava, please—”
I whip around. “I’m no one to you. No one.”
Knox scrubs his face. “Please let me talk.”
“More telling me to slow down? I knew something was off with you!”
The silence stretches around us, thick with tension.
“Talk to him,” Wyatt tells me softly. “I’m not leaving.” He wanders off to sit on a bench a few feet away.
I rub my hands over my arms, feeling chilled in the sun as I try to hold myself together. I want to be strong, I want to prepare myself, I want to walk away from him with this anger hot in my chest, but…I have to know. “Tell me why you’re here!”
He grimaces. “When I went home Thursday morning, Dane told me he remembered seeing Liam follow you into the woods.”