Roped In (Armed & Dangerous #2)(44)

He shrugged. “We don’t have any evidence proving otherwise. Hadley’s father did say he’d received threats on her life over the past couple of years, but as far as we can tell, they were all just ploys to get his money. Believe me, if this was intentional, we’ll find the culprit. Right now, we have our people gathering everything they can. As it stands, it’s being ruled as an accident . . .”

Byron’s mouth kept moving, but I couldn’t hear a f*cking thing he said.

The signs were there . . . why couldn’t anyone else see it as I did? It wasn’t a f*cking accident. My chest tightened so hard, I could barely draw in a breath. I didn’t want to feel the pain of her loss; I wanted the anger. It didn’t hurt as bad if I could focus on that. Every time I closed my eyes, I saw her face. I should’ve been there to protect her. If I’d only gotten to her sooner.

“Mr. Evans, stop!” The voice seemed so far away. I could feel arms drawing me back. There was blood dripping from my right hand and a large hole in the wall. There was a larger hole in my chest. “What the f*ck is your problem?” Byron shouted.

I collapsed into the wall and looked down at my hands. They were blurry and my eyes burned. I never f*cking cried. The cops in front of me watched my every move, as if I was going to snap.

“I’ll pay for the damage,” I said, not even recognizing the voice that came out of my mouth. I didn’t feel like myself anymore.

“Guys, back off,” Byron commanded. The cops scattered, but chose to stay close just in case. I couldn’t blame them. I was a ticking time bomb. The chief approached me cautiously and placed a hand on my shoulder. “Robert told me you two were involved. I’m sorry, I know this is difficult. But I can’t help you if you don’t calm down.”

“Tell me the rest.”

“From what we can piece together, after the crash, the car burst into flames. There didn’t appear to be a struggle to get out.”

The thought of Hadley burning to death made me sick. Swallowing hard, I nodded and blew out a shaky breath. “How fast were they going?”

“Judging by the damage, it was probably around twenty miles per hour. There were skid marks found at the scene, where they swerved off the road. You’re more than welcome to look at what we have so far. We’ve also recovered a couple of Hadley’s belongings.”

Jaw tense, I nodded. “I want to see them.”

He led me further down the hall and I stopped in front of one of the doors. I recognized the guy inside. It was Nick, and he had his arm around another female, who sat sobbing uncontrollably.

Byron nodded to them. “That’s Hadley’s agent, Felicity, and her brother, Nick. He and Hadley were involved for a time.”

“I know.” Even though it was all a ploy, I didn’t bother correcting him. It was no use. I was the last person Nick would want to see.

“All right, let’s go in here.” Byron opened the door to the next room. There was nothing in there but a table and four chairs. “Have a seat and I’ll get everything we’ve gathered so far.” I walked inside and paced the floor to keep my body moving. If I slowed down, I’d crash. A few minutes later, Byron walked in with two file folders and a box, placing them on the table. “Do you need some privacy?”

“Please,” I replied. He nodded once and shut the door on his way out.

I slid the folders toward me and didn’t bother with the box. I wasn’t ready to see its contents. I’d never been so scared to open a file in my life. Taking a deep breath, I opened the first folder and read everything from start to finish.

There were no witnesses to see what’d actually happened. I didn’t like that at all.

Pushing the folder away, I stared down at the next one containing pictures. I carefully opened it up and closed my eyes when the first picture came into view. It was of the back of the car, all black and charred from fire. Bile burned my throat as I flipped to the next picture; the backseat, with nothing but a pile of ash. To be burnt like that, the car had to have been on fire for quite a while.

Closing my eyes, I slammed my fist on the table. “Fuck, f*ck, f*ck.”

I pushed the pictures away and my hand grazed across the box. If I couldn’t look at another picture, how the hell was I going to look in the box? My body shook and I was ready to explode, but I didn’t know what to do. For the first time in my life, I was lost.

Taking a deep breath, I reached for the box and opened it. Everything was covered in a black film. There was one thing that stuck out at me above the rest. I pulled it out and wiped it off with my shirt. Gritting my teeth, I clenched the crystal so hard in my fist it drew blood. It was all that was left of the necklace I’d given Hadley; it was all that was left of her period.

The door to the room opened and Byron cleared his throat.

Lifting my head, I wiped the tears angrily away from my face. “I’ve seen shit like this for years and it’s never bothered me before.”

He took the seat across from me. “I know. My brother was shot in an armed robbery call. It was the hardest thing I’ve ever witnessed.”

How the hell could he compare Hadley’s situation to that? “Speaking of witnesses, why aren’t there any? Someone had to have seen something.”

“We’re working on it. They were in the middle of nowhere when it happened. There’s nothing we could find that would suggest foul play.”