Impact (Suncoast Society #32)(45)

“It’s still an ongoing investigation. We suspect someone in the same gang as her ex-boyfriend might have done it. We’re reviewing film footage.”

It felt hard to breathe. Tilly remembered this sensation. The last time she’d felt it had been when she discovered Cris had left.

Before that, when she found out her mom died.

She stared at her lap. “What?”

“Is there someone we can call for you? Would you like me to call Mr. Guerrero? You and your husband and Mr. Guerrero were all listed as next of kin on her forms.”

Tilly focused on breathing. She suspected she wasn’t far from passing out, from the way her blood rushed in her ears.

“Dead? Are…are you sure? Are you sure it’s her?”

“I’m sorry, ma’am, but yes. We are.”

Somewhere in the kitchen, she heard Loren talking, fast, low tones that brooked zero resistance, before she was at Tilly’s side again.

“Landry and Cris are turning around and coming back. They said they’ll be here in about twenty minutes.”

When Katie let out a little fussy cry, again Loren came to the rescue. “I’ve got her. You, stay.”

Tilly relaxed back into the couch and tried to process this.

Normally, Tilly was the one everyone came to in a crisis. The one everyone relied on. It was mostly her nursing training in those cases, a calm detachment she could hold on to because while she loved her friends, it wasn’t technically her crisis. She could deal with it because she had to.

This was her crisis.

A crisis almost of her own making.

“Why would someone attack her?” she finally asked.

“We don’t know for sure yet.” Detective Rogers wore a practiced sympathetic expression Tilly wanted to smack off his face.

Instead, she balled her hands into fists, her fingernails digging into her palms, and held on tight.

“We think,” he continued, “it had something to do with our investigation into Monroe Cord. He and his brothers are in a gang. Her testimony was going to prove vital in making sure they were finally put away for good. We were building a solid drug trafficking case against them and others in the gang. Including fingering individuals we didn’t have info on before now.”

“You used her,” Tilly whispered, horrified as the realization sank in. “You probably promised her you’d put in a good word with the judge to recommend her release in exchange for her testimony, didn’t you?”

“I can’t comment on an ongo—”

“Didn’t you!” she screamed.

Only the sound of Katie letting out a wail filled the condo. The uniformed officer shifted position, as if to make sure he was between Tilly and the detective, but he didn’t speak.

The detective looked very uncomfortable. “We made her certain assurances in exchange for her full and ongoing cooperation, yes.”

Tilly slumped back against the couch. “Son of a bitch,” she whispered. “You were going to strong-arm her, which wasn’t necessary in the first place because she wanted to set things right to get back to her baby. You strong-armed her, and now she’s dead because you couldn’t f*cking protect her!”

The detective had gone from looking very uncomfortable to looking like he wanted to be anywhere but right there. “She was supposed to have been housed alone in a cell in a more secure unit until her hearing next week,” he said. “Apparently over the weekend there was a mistake made and she was put in a lower-security section due to a shortage of bed space.”

“Where someone from the gang recognized her as a snitch and took her out.”

He didn’t answer.

He didn’t have to.

Tilly closed her eyes. “Fuck.”

Loren walked out, the baby in her arms. “Honey, why don’t you take Katie back to your bedroom for a little while, okay? I’ll talk to them and wait here until Cris and Landry get back.”

Tilly sat there, her mind whirling, her anger seething.

Her guilt boiling over.

“Tilly,” Loren sharply snapped, bringing Tilly’s attention to focus on her friend. “Honey, get up, and take the baby. Go back to your bedroom.”

Automatically, Tilly found herself standing and heading over to Loren, where she handed Katie off to her. Tilly cradled the baby against her as she slowly made her way to the bedroom and closed the door behind her.

Staring down into Katie’s face, Tilly realized something else.

She wasn’t sure how she could face this little girl when she was older and explain this to her. How could she live with the guilt of the things she’d thought about Sofia?

Sofia could have turned her life around once she was released. Could have gotten an education.

Could have been there for her daughter.

Tilly didn’t even have any pictures of Sofia she could give to Katie when she was older. None she’d want the girl to see. Only pictures of Sofia looking beaten and half-dead from her bruises and injuries.

Not even a video with her mom’s voice on it.

Tilly stretched out on the bed, the baby already soothed by her touch.

That’s when Tilly closed her eyes and wept.





Landry knew fear. He’d faced it head-on—literally—when he’d tried to kill himself. A lesser version of it during his cancer treatments, both times, when he realized he had so much to live for and didn’t want to die.