Anonymous(44)

Taking a step forward, he leans against the other edge of my truck. “It is. Not just any person can work the codes like I can. You either have to be savvy with tech or have a lot of money and pay someone to do the dirty work for you.”

“And you can do this from your laptop?” I ask.

He nods. “Luckily, it has all I need. I’m not ready to go home just yet anyway.”

I point toward the dark blue sedan parked in front of my house. “Whose car is that? I know your truck is still being searched for evidence.”

Pulling the keys out of his pocket, he fiddles with them. “It’s my parents’ extra car. They have three vehicles, so they let me borrow it. Once everything’s over, I’m going to buy another truck. I can’t fathom the thought of driving mine, when I know Samantha’s body was in it.”

I can’t blame him there. I wouldn’t be able to walk through the front door of my house if Ellie was killed there. “I understand,” I say, running my hand over the tailgate of my old truck. “With my other truck wrecked all to shit, I had to bring this baby out. What do you say we get to work on this case?”

Bryan’s determined gaze meets mine. “Let’s do it. I figured we could make a stop at River Bend Road, at the location you ran off the side of the mountain.”

“Sounds good.” I tap the side of my truck. “I’ll drive.”

Opening the passenger side door, he looks through at me—his expression unsure—and gets in. It’s clear he knows I don’t trust him. And I’m not going to lie, having him in my truck is strange. There’ve been plenty of times where I have wanted to beat the shit out of him, especially when I found out he tried to get her not to marry me.

It doesn’t take long to get to the scene of the crime. The snow is piled up on the sides of the road from where it was scraped, so I drive over a mound to get out of the road. The guard rail is still smashed from where I drove off.

Bryan peers down the mountain and shakes his head. “Damn, man, you got lucky.”

With a loud snort, I shut my door. “No shit. The guy was standing right in the curve over there,” I say, pointing at the area. “I swerved and lost control. It was hard to see with all the snow coming down.”

Bryan walks over to the spot and looks around. “Apparently, the cocksucker had my boots and Halloween costume on. He must’ve taken the boots off me when I was drugged. And the cape was in the back seat of my truck.”

“Your truck was down the road, parked out of sight,” I add.

He meets my gaze. “Whoever did this is smart. I’ve dealt with some pretty slick criminals in my day, but this one seems to know what he’s doing.”

That’s not what I want to hear. I watch him walk around, but from the look on his face, nothing is sticking out to him. He walks back over to the truck, his expression unsure. “What are you thinking?” I ask.

We get in the truck and he sighs. “That maybe we should stop by the field. I want to see where my truck was left.”

“Are you sure this is a good idea?” I don’t want to bring up the obvious, but he’s the one who knows what to search for.

Keeping his focus on the road, he nods. “Just take me there.”

The ride is silent, and tension fills the air. Bryan’s about to see the place Samantha’s body was dumped. I don’t even want to know what he’s thinking right now. I, for one, know I’d be murderous. When we get to the area, I pull off to the side of the road.

“Your truck was right there.” I point at the exact spot. There’s a field off to the right, and you can still see pieces of the yellow crime scene tape billowing in the wind. He sees it and jumps out of the truck. I don’t bother getting out because I know he needs his space. There’s nothing I can say that’s going to make the situation better.

Falling to his knees, Bryan fists his hands in his hair and screams. I close my eyes and turn away. I can’t bring myself to watch him; it’s a personal moment. A few minutes later, he hops back into the truck and slams the door, his breathing deep and fast.

“I’m ready to go,” he growls low.

I don’t ask if he found anything, because I know he didn’t. There’s too much snow covering the ground. When we get back to the house, he gets out of the truck and I watch him walk up the driveway. He pauses with his back to me. “I’m going to work on locating those phone numbers tonight. It might take me a couple of days, if they’re well hidden.”

“That’s fine. I know you have other things on your mind right now.”

He glances at me over his shoulder, his eyes red. “I just want to get through tomorrow.”





Twenty-One





Ellie





“This place is gorgeous,” I gasp as I get out of Owen’s truck. As far as I can see, there are mountains and rolling hills, all covered in white. Wearing only a dark green T-shirt and jeans in the frigid temperatures, Owen grabs our bags and starts toward the old, two-story, gray stone house with a navy-blue tin roof. There’s a barn in the back, surrounded by wide open fields. “Did you find this on Airbnb or something?”

Owen opens the door and laughs. “Not exactly. Now hurry up, it’s cold.”