Death and Her Devotion (Rogue Vows #1)(27)

She wanted to smack each of them in the head.

“Someone blocked both doors before starting the fire,” Stevie told the friends. Two fire engines arrived, and Zane stepped away to talk to the firemen.

“The doors were blocked?” repeated Spider. “Cyndee,” he said in a disgusted voice. “What the hell is she thinking?”

Toby didn’t say anything. He swayed, his half-open eyes indicating his drugged state.

All three of them would have slept through the fire, Stevie knew. Smoke inhalation would have overpowered them before they were coherent enough to realize what was happening.

Fury rocked through Stevie. Cyndee tried to murder them.

Crashing sounds thundered as the roof collapsed, creating an eruption of flames and sparks. The group backed farther away from the disaster.

Stevie couldn’t pull her gaze from the inferno. We could be investigating three more murders.

It would be a long time before Cyndee had custody of her daughter again.





Two hours later the three friends slumped in the tiny meeting room at the police station. The fire was out, but the real estate office and nearly all their belongings were a total loss. Zane felt bad for the trio. They’d had a run of bad luck and now looked like dogs that’d been beaten and abandoned by a dumpster.

But he wanted straight answers.

“The three of you told us that Chase drove off after all of you went to bed that night,” Zane started. “You admitted you’d all had a bit to drink, but that everything was fine until you discovered his body the next morning. Do I have that part of the story right?”

Three heads nodded.

He looked at each one of them. Spider and Josh met his eye, but Toby wouldn’t look up from his lap, where he methodically picked at the hem of his T-shirt. After the fire he’d appeared more stoned than the others, but he’d perked up and been fully alert during the last hour. Zane saw no problems with interviewing him now.

Stevie stood up. “Can you come with me for a minute, Josh? You too, Spider.” The three of them left the room.

Zane’s heart was heavy. He and Stevie had agreed to separate the three guys before bringing up the video. He hadn’t liked Toby’s lack of eye contact after his statement, and clearly neither had Stevie. They’d planned to first show the phone video to Josh, but instead she’d hustled him and Spider out of the room, and Zane agreed with her choice.

Something was up with Toby.

“I’m going to show you something, Toby,” Zane said to the young man. He held out Cyndee’s phone, steeling himself for his reaction.

“What . . . ,” Toby’s voice trailed off as he watched.

On the phone, Josh screamed at Chase and the other men’s voices chimed in.

Air rushed out of Toby’s lungs, and he hunched in his chair, trying to fold in on himself. His gaze was glued to the screen and his pupils dilated.

He’s terrified.

“I need to talk to my brother,” Toby muttered.

“Why?” asked Zane.

Toby’s head slowly moved back and forth, his focus still on the video. “Did someone at the campground film this?”

“Something like that.”

“Josh,” he said under his breath. “I need to talk to him first.” The young man’s face turned red, and sweat appeared on his upper lip. He ran a hand across his forehead, avoiding Zane’s gaze.

“Before what?” Zane heard the sounds of Chase driving off and stopped the video.

Toby burst out of his seat toward the door and tripped over a chair leg. Zane jumped and caught him by one arm as he fought for balance.

“Let me go!” Toby shoved Zane and broke out of his grip, stepping backward and eyeing him in terror.

“Go where?” Zane asked calmly, knowing Toby was losing control. I’ve set him off. The young man was in flight mode. Panting and wide-eyed and thrashing his arms.

“Get out of my way,” he shouted. Toby lunged to one side, got a grip on a heavy storage box, and flung it toward Zane’s feet. Zane sidestepped and grabbed Toby’s arm again as the young man threw himself at the closed door.

Zane wrenched Toby’s arm behind his back and crushed his body weight against the man, pinning him against the door.

“You’ve got to let me go!” His shout was wet with spit and tears.

Zane held him immobile. “That video was from the night Chase died, wasn’t it?”

Racking sobs answered him.

“What happened when Chase came back to camp that night?”

More wet sobs.

“Did you see him when he came back?” Zane leaned harder into his back. “What did you say to him, Toby? Were all of you still angry with him?”

“He’s . . . he’s . . . always screwing around!” Toby spit out. “He risks everything when he does it. His career, our jobs! He’s going to ruin it all!”

The hair on Zane’s arms started to rise. He knew he was seconds away from getting the truth about what had happened to Chase Ryan.

“When he came back, he was bragging about banging some girls. Spider and Josh had gone to bed, but I was still up.”

“Then what happened?” Zane held his breath. He felt Toby’s lungs expand as he sucked in a deep gasp of air, one side of his face squashed against the door.