“Her sister heard from her. She’s no longer a missing person.”
My eyes widen and I stare between the two of them as Gallinger closes the folder.
“You look shocked, Special Agent Walsh.” Skov is nearly cocky with his comment.
Biting my tongue, I let the fact that she’s safe outweigh the hurt of knowing my phone hasn’t gone off. She didn’t reach out to me. Neither of them did.
“You’re lucky Evan Aldaine doesn’t remember what happened to him,” Skov says as he rises from his seat, indicating this interrogation is over.
“How’s that?” I question, not bothering to look up at him as a prick travels down the nape of my neck. I stay in my seat although the two men are standing and the door to the interrogation room remains wide open.
“My guess is that you went in to save her from shit you caused. He went with you as your backup but you couldn’t let him see whatever it was you did.”
The shit I caused … his assumption hits far too close to home.
“Maybe it’s because you went in with the intent to kill those perps,” he says and shrugs, in the nonchalant way that he has to make it seem as if the most horrid things don’t concern him, “I can’t blame you for that.” Sucking air between his teeth, he adds, “I’d have killed them too.
“But my guess is that she didn’t want you to save her, did she?” His question gets a huff from me as I stare straight ahead, ignoring both of their gazes that penetrate the most vulnerable parts of who I am. “She ran away, didn’t she? She knew this all happened because of you.”
“If it happened because of me, then how is it that her father was involved with Brass and coincidentally died just a week ago?” I dare to question him, finally meeting his gaze.
“Why don’t you tell me?” he prods, lifting a brow.
It’s easy enough to smirk at him and respond, “Why don’t you go fuck yourself?”
“The only reason I’m not worried about your ex, and I’m taking a leap there, I know. I just assume she’s your ex now …” his comment is meant to get to me, and it fucking does but I do my best not to show it, “… is because you aren’t yelling at us to find her. You know damn well she left you.”
Insecurity grips me at the back of my neck.
“You’re free to go, Walsh. If you have any information for us … be sure to drop by.” Skov’s condescension is laid on thick.
Gathering my things, I head out, hating this place. Hating every fucking thing. Shrugging my leather jacket on, I turn right to head to the parking lot and get the hell out of here. With my phone in my hand, I nearly miss Evan standing to the right of the building, a cigarette in his hand, the end of it glowing bright burgundy and smoke billowing from his mouth.
Fuck.
“Evan.” Shame keeps me from holding his gaze. Fog forms in front of my face. The temperature is only going to drop further tonight with the storm coming in. Rain washed away the snow, but what comes tonight will stick.
“I thought about calling and leaving this in a message, but then I thought maybe I could tell if you’re lying to me better in person.” Evan’s statement is a slap to my face and I deserve it.
He doesn’t owe me a damn thing after what I did to him. If I’d failed and that fucker killed me … he’d have killed Evan next.
“I’m sorry.” I say words that I know don’t fix a damn thing.
Blowing out the smoke, he drops his cigarette to the pavement, stubbing it out with the heel of his sneaker.
“You need to go in to the office—don’t tell them anything other than you want to resign.” There’s not an ounce of emotion in his tone, only an order spoken dispassionately.
“What?”
His gaze narrows for a moment, but then it’s gone. There’s no animosity, only certainty that stares back at me. “It is what it is, Walsh. You stepped out of line. We’ve known for … how long now?
“I don’t know what—”
It’s surprising how grateful I am that he silences my lies. “If you don’t resign, they’ll keep looking into it. From what I can tell, you brought that lawyer into it. You want her to go down too? End it.”
“I’m sorry.”
“You used me. For a woman.” Contempt finally shows up to the conversation.
At least I have the balls to own up to that. “I did.”
“Don’t ever come to me for anything again.” He holds my gaze as he adds, “You’re dead to me.”
My throat is tight with remorse. “Evan, I—” The knowledge that I betrayed him in the most heinous of ways keeps me from continuing.