“What? Why?”
“It was self-defense, Austin. They can’t—”
“No, Cole.” She interrupts me. “I don’t care about that. They have it on tape.” She begins to cry again. “Kellan told me that he watched me burn Jeff’s body.” Becky’s head whips over to look at me. “The car we stole …”
“Austin …”
“And that your final dare was to kill Bruce.” She sobs. “They know everything. You can’t come back up here. They’re gonna … arrest you.”
I ignore Becky, knowing she’s thinking what the fuck? “Babe, listen. It’s all okay. The one we gave to the police isn’t the original copy.”
“It’s not?” She sniffs, trying to calm her sobs.
“No. Bennett altered it. They know nothing.”
After a long moment of silence, she whispers, “Okay.”
“Let me talk to Deke for a second.”
“Yeah?” he asks, coming on the line.
“Don’t let them in her room. I’m on my way.” I hang up and look over at Becky. She arches a brow at me. I just shrug. Motherfucker! “Well, you wanted to know.”
She turns to look back out the windshield. “When Deke came to my house yesterday, I asked him about Kellan. I had a feeling you had killed him because it was strange he wasn’t around and then how things went down with Shane at the hospital. Deke informed me he had spoken to him that morning.” She sucks in a long breath. “Which would have been hard to do, considering the two of you killed him two days before that.”
Fuck!
CHAPTER ELEVEN
DEKE
THE DOOR FLIES OPEN to Austin’s room, and Cole enters followed by his attorney. “Where are they?” Cole demands.
“They were right outside her door.” The cops may have allowed her a few minutes to gather herself, but they didn’t go far.
“They’re not now.”
“What all did you say to them?” Jacob asks her, not even bothering with introducing himself.
She sits on her bed, her eyes narrowed. She cried at first, but now, she’s pissed. I’m not sure if it’s the fact that Cole told her he was safe or the fact that she didn’t already know he would have covered his ass. I gotta give it to the girl. When push comes to shove, she will knock your ass down.
“They asked me to start from the beginning. I told them I had just got home from a movie date.” I watch Cole’s shoulders stiffen at her words ’cause he was not the guy she was out with. And it’s my fault. I blame myself ’cause I told him to push her away. “I walked in, and they were already arguing. They brought me into it, and I said I just wanted to go to bed, and that’s when Kellan started telling me all this stuff. He pushed her down the stairs, and when I tried to save her, he threw me to the ground.” Cole’s hands fist. “Choked me. He had dropped a knife next to my head, so I grabbed it and stabbed him.” Her narrowed eyes move to Cole’s. “And that’s when they told me they had a tape. A recording with evidence on it that what I did was in self-defense but not the cause of death. He was murdered.”
“Bullshit!” he snaps. “They lied to you.”
Jacob gestures for him to quiet with his hand. “Go on.”
“Deke told them to get the fuck out. I started crying. Shelby made them leave.” She sighs.
He pats her leg softly over the blanket. “Don’t say another word to them. I will take care of it. They have all the evidence they need.” He looks at us. “What did you guys do with his car?”
We both frown. “What do you mean?” I ask.
“He was at the Lowes’ residence, so he must have driven there.”
“We never saw his car,” Cole admits.
The old man’s brows crease. “Then how did he get there?”
Cole and I look at one another. “The fuck if we know,” I answer.
“I didn’t see it either,” Austin adds. “When I pulled up, there was no other car in the driveway. Just mine.” Cole looks at me, and I can tell what he’s thinking just by his fisted hands—we’ve missed something. “Maybe Celeste picked him up and brought him back to my father’s,” she offers.
“Maybe.” Jacob agrees, but he doesn’t sound convinced.
Cole jerks his head toward the door, and I get up to follow him out. “I didn’t think about it,” he growls.
I sigh. “There was so much going on. It’s not like how he arrived there was our first thought.”
He runs a hand down his face. “We missed something. Goddammit.”
I place my hand on his shoulder. “I’ll look into it.”
He nods, then his eyes meet mine. He looks exhausted. Cole has never been someone to get a lot of sleep, but it’s catching up with him. Once he finally crashes, he’s gonna be out for days.
“I have to tell you something.” Cole sighs.