“She loves the angle, and she’s going to run it. She’s even going to keep John’s death
out of it. She’s only going to mention he’s a posthumous artist.”
The smile that spread across my face matched the one I knew Hailey had spreading across hers.
“That’s fantastic news,” I said. “I’m about fifteen minutes away from you.”
“I’ll be standing outside when you get here.”
The moment I pulled up into my driveway, Hailey slid into the seat of my truck. For all the stress she’d been under and all that had taken place today, she looked incredible. I took her hand and brought it to my lips, kissing her knuckles as her smile bloomed.
“Let’s take a breath before we get going, okay?” I asked.
We sat there collecting ourselves while the sun slowly set over the houses of San Diego. Hailey’s thumb was tracing small circles on top of my skin, and every single hair on my body was standing on end. I knew there would never be a point in my life where I wouldn’t crave her, where I wouldn’t want her every second of every day in my life.
“You ready?” she asked.
“Yeah, are you?”
“As ready as I’ll ever be.”
We arrived at the police station, and Mike was there to greet us. He led us over to a computer with a black and white picture pulled up onto the screen. It was a close-up of Hailey’s gallery with a man who looked to be kicking in her front door.
The anger I thought I’d squashed quickly rose up my throat as Mike pressed a few buttons.
“I’m going to back it up a bit. Take your time, Miss Ryan. Let me know if you recognize this man,” Mike said.
She backed it up and played it a few times while her eyes darted across the screen. The man was gangly and tall, with long limbs and a thick head of hair. The picture was a bit grainy, but higher quality than I’d expected from a telephone pole camera in the middle of a run-down part of town. The more Hailey backed it up and played it, the more I got the sense she was trying to digest more than she was trying to figure something out.
And the saddened look in her eye told me she knew who it was.
“Hailey?” I asked as I rubbed her back. “You know who that is?”
She swallowed hard and my heart lurched for her. Tears rose to the rims of her eyes as her fingers reached out for the screen. She was dancing over the picture of the man, her fingertips stopping right at the man’s hands.
“His rings,” she said breathlessly.
“His rings?” Mike asked.
“That’s Max Wentmore,” she said. “I know that’s him. His rings, I’ve always seen him wearing them whenever he comes in. That’s who that is.”
“Are you sure?” I asked.
“I know it’s him,” she said as she turned her watering gaze toward me.
“Where does he work?” I asked.
“Bryan, just calm down. We’ll handle it from here. We’ve already questioned him and—”
“Where does he work, Hailey?” I asked again.
“Bryan,” Mike said.
The look in his eye was serious, and I drew in a deep breath through my nose.
“We questioned him today. We now have a reason to bring him in, so that’s what the police will do,” he said. “You hear me?”
Hailey was looking up at me with her desperate eyes, her hands curling around my throbbing fists before she raised up and planted a kiss on my cheek.