Reckless Fate (Hollows Garage Book 5), page 34
And it was Mark. At the very least, he cared about his job and would take this seriously.
He waved to the seat across from his desk before he pulled off his gun and a handful of keys from his pocket. He looked at me, flustered, as he threw the keys into a drawer along with the gun. The keychain flashed in the light, and it made me wonder if he was already seeing someone to have a keychain like that.
“How have you been?” he asked.
“I’ve been better. You?”
“I’ve been better,” he said.
“Seeing anyone?”
His hand tightened on the pen he had poised to write, and his eyes narrowed. “After we broke up two weeks ago? No. Unlike some other people, I don’t go fucking around immediately.”
My eyebrows jumped, and I sat back a little further in the chair. “It’s not like I went out and found the first guy off the street to sleep with him. I’m sorry, but I’ve always loved Kye. There’s nothing wrong with you, Mark. I just can’t help who I love.”
“Right.” His jaw tightened, and he took a deep breath before continuing. “Look, this isn’t about us. It’s about what happened tonight. I need us to focus on that.”
I nodded, feeling a pit of guilt in my stomach. I knew what I did wasn’t the greatest, but I couldn’t help it. “Okay. And I am sorry.”
He sighed, running a hand through his hair. “I need you to tell me everything you remember about tonight. Any detail, no matter how small, could be important.”
I recounted the night’s events as clearly as I could, from the moment I arrived at the diner to what I did after. Mark scribbled notes furiously, his face a mask of concentration.
When I finished, he leaned back in his chair, tapping his pen against his notebook. “Did you notice anything unusual about Mia before tonight? Any strange behavior or comments?
I shook my head. “No, not really. She seemed fine the last time I saw her. She did dye her hair recently, which is drastic, but that’s about it.”
“And you’re sure you don’t know anything about her personal life? No ex-boyfriends, enemies, anything?
“I told you, she didn’t talk much about herself. I know she had a roommate and maybe a boyfriend, but she was pretty private.”
“She didn’t tell you anything about her boyfriend? Nothing at all?”
“Not really. Just that she would see him once or twice a week, but didn’t say much otherwise. Do you guys know anything?”
“Nothing yet. Where was Kye that day?’
My eyebrows furrowed as I looked at him. “With me? Why?”
“All day?”
“I mean, I was at the apartment for a while with Bailey while he was at the garage, and then I met up with him there.”
“And was anyone else with him at the garage?”
“I’m sure one of the crew was there at some point. I don’t know who exactly, though.”
“So one of his closest friends will be the only one to give him an alibi for the hours when Mia could have been killed?”
“One of them, or me.”
He was already standing up with a shake of his head. “All the people who would gladly lie for him if needed.”
“What does Kye have anything to do with this? He barely knew Mia.”
“We have reasons to think Kye could be involved, Daisy.”
“How?”
“Because the last person Mia called was Kye, twenty minutes before she was killed.”
FIFTY-FOUR
DAISY
Two days went by without a word from my dad or Mark about Mia.
Or trying to arrest Kye.
I tried to keep busy, but Carly had shut down the diner, not knowing when it would reopen. I think she was even thinking about moving it completely now.
I had spent every day with Kye. Either at the apartments or at the garage. But until they found out who killed Mia, he didn’t want me out of his sight, and I wasn’t inclined to fight him on it. There wasn’t a single part of me that thought Kye did it. As ruthless as he could be, he wasn’t going to kill some random girl for no reason.
I still hadn’t asked him why Mia had called, though. I couldn’t bring myself to wonder why he would have.
Kye had gone out today, doing a few errands for us so I could stay home with Bailey. Part of me knew I would be fine if I went with him, the other part was still scared to go out of the apartment. Someone had been after me. The tires, the break-in, and the worry that Mia’s hair was blonde kept bothering Kye, which quickly bothered me.
He had said more than once that he worried they thought it was me, which meant me being under the equivalent of house arrest was fine with him.
I also couldn’t figure out what else they would have on Kye that would really make them think he did it.
My foot tapped as I looked at my phone again. Kye hadn’t said anything, which hopefully was a good thing. I couldn’t wait any longer, though. I needed answers now, and I was sick of waiting. I couldn’t sit here in silence, waiting to see if I would be attacked next or if Kye would be arrested.
I grabbed my keys and Bailey, heading down to Fox and Ash’s apartment.
“Hey, I have to run out for a few minutes. Would you mind watching Bailey for a bit?”
Ash smiled. “No problem. You okay to go alone, though? Jax is here if you want a driver.”
“You know what? That would actually be great, if he doesn’t mind.”
Jax walked out from the kitchen behind her. “Not at all. Carly’s taking a nap, and I have nowhere to be. Where are we going?”
“The sheriff’s station.”
“Okay. Maybe I mind a little.” He smiled, still grabbing his phone and keys. “Kidding, but can I wait in the car?”
We pulled up to the station, and I hopped out.
“Call me immediately and I will come in.”
“Hopefully, no one but the receptionist is here. Can you call me if any of the sheriff’s cars pull up? Maybe even stall them?”
Jax grinned. “That, I can absolutely do.”
I headed inside, waving to the receptionist, who was on the phone.
“My dad,” I whispered, walking past her towards his office. It wasn’t like me coming here was out of the ordinary, exactly. I came around even less now that I wasn’t dating Mark, but no one seemed to care when I would come by before. I doubted the older receptionist would care now.
I slipped into my dad’s office, moving fast to flip through all the folders on his desk until I found the one for Mia.
There were pages and pages of notes, each one more scribbled than the last, and I wasn’t getting much out of it.
Another folder marked with my name caught my attention and I pulled it out of the stack. It was from when my tires were slashed and the house was broken into. I flipped through it quickly, not finding much. I almost shut it, but a photo of a knife caught my eye.
I recognized the wooden handle, the small engraved skull near its base.
It was Mark’s knife.
Did that mean Mark slashed my tires?
And if he slashed my tires, was he also the one that broke into my house? I flipped through the papers again, not finding any evidence that it could have been Mark, but I had wondered why someone broke in and didn’t actually take anything. I had been under the impression that I caught them mid break-in, but now I wondered if it was Mark. What had he been looking for?
I went back to Mia’s folder, my heart racing and palms starting to sweat. I looked for any notes about her hair being blonde, but didn’t find anything. Mark didn’t take any notes of me saying that or my dad commenting. I looked out the window, my thoughts moving too fast now.
Was Mark even capable of murder?
He had never raised his voice or gave me any indication he would be violent, and what could Mia have done to push him to that?
I read more, making out a comment that my dad had made. “How did the killer lock up?” It was scrawled off to the side, and the realization hit me hard.
The keys Mark had with him that night weren’t his. I had wondered why he would have a sparkly keychain, but he didn’t. They were Mia’s.
The thundering of my heartbeat filled my ears, making it too hard to listen if anyone was coming, but there was one more thing I needed to check.
My hands shook as I pulled out my phone, finding Kye’s contact and hitting it open before flipping to the phone log my dad had printed. Lucky for me, he hated computers, so there were hard copies of everything now.
My hand trailed down the page until I got to the one he circled. The last call Mia made, which was noted as Kye’s number. I looked between my phone and the page. It wasn’t Kye’s number. I hit Mark’s name next—it wasn’t his either.
That didn’t explain why they thought it belonged to Kye, though.
Jax
A sheriff’s here. Stalled as long as I could. Get out of there.
Daisy
Coming.
I took a few photos of the pages first, making sure to get as much of the important things as I could before slamming the files shut and running out.
I passed one of the sheriffs as I walked out the front.
“Have you seen my dad?”
“Last I knew, he was going to arrest someone for the murder. Can’t tell you much more than that.”
My stomach dropped, and I picked up my pace. I ripped open the door to Jax’s car, already yelling before I was inside.
“Go! We need to find Kye. I’m pretty sure Mark killed Mia and now he’s going to pin it on Kye.”
FIFTY-FIVE
DAISY
I had called Kye five times as Jax headed towards the garage, but he never picked up.
“I’m going to kill him. Why is he choosing now not to answer my calls?”
“Maybe he’s a little tied up.”
“Is that supposed to be a joke about getting arrested? Are you thinking this is funny?”
“No,” he said fast. “No, I just make jokes when I’m stressed. I can’t help it,” he said, nearly laughing. “I swear I’m not happy about this.”
“You’re laughing!”
“Not on purpose,” he yelled back.
I sat back, calling Kye again. “Fine, joke all you want, but drive faster. I don’t know what Mark’s plan is. If he wants to pin all of this on Kye, he could do anything to him.” Panic welled until my chest hurt. “Can you please go faster, Jax? What if he tries to arrest Kye? Or worse, kill him?”
“Why would he kill Kye?”
“Why would Mark, the guy that just killed a girl, kill Kye so that it’s easier to blame it all on Kye so he can still go run for sheriff?”
He shifted again, the car picking up more speed. “Okay, point proven.”
We turned onto the road of the garage, the red and blue lights already visible.
Jax pulled the car to a stop at the road, and I was already taking off across the parking lot.
Three of the sheriff’s cars were there, and I could see Kye’s car barricaded in against the garage.
The rest of the crew was standing near an open garage door, the shock so clear on their faces.
“When did they get here?” I asked, running up next to them.
“A few minutes ago. They are arresting Kye for killing her,” Quinn said, the tears mumbling her words.
“What?”
Then I saw it. Mark walked over to Kye, who was calm and unmoving, until Mark grabbed him, ripping him backwards and pulling out handcuffs. Kye jumped back. The cuffs had to be his worst nightmare.
“No. I will go, but you are not handcuffing me.”
“You killed a girl. Like hell am I not handcuffing you. Now hold still or you will be on the ground.”
Kye’s eyes widened and nostrils flared. I knew it was taking everything in him not to fight back, and I didn’t know if he could handle being handcuffed, especially by Mark.
I pushed past the crew to my dad. Every part of me was a screaming mess of emotions, but one broke through.
I had to protect Kye. I sat around doing nothing the last time this happened, and then Kye disappeared. I couldn’t let it happen again.
“Stop. Stop this right now. You know he didn’t do it.”
I couldn’t stand to see Kye like this. His eyes squeezed shut, and I knew it was because of how Mark was grabbing him, handcuffing him, leaving him defenseless to whatever Mark wanted.
“Mark has found evidence that he did it,” my dad said. “I’m sorry, Daisy.”
“Mark found it? The same Mark who has been stalking me? The one who slashed my tires, broke into my house, and I’m pretty sure killed Mia? That’s the one who happened to find evidence against the guy I left him for?”
“What are you talking about, Daisy?”
“I’m talking about the knife that slashed my tires belonging to Mark, and why someone would break into my house to steal nothing, and that the phone call to Mia before she was killed was not Kye.”
“What phone call?” Kye asked. “I didn’t even know Mia.”
“They have a phone call twenty minutes before she was killed and they say the number belongs to you, but I checked. It doesn’t.”
His eyebrows jumped up and mouth fell open. “Did you think it did?”
“No, of course not, but I kind of had to check to help you not get arrested.”
He smiled, taking one small step away from Mark.
“What do you mean it isn’t Kye’s number? Mark ran it and showed me the printout. It’s attached to Kye’s name. Did you break into my office?”
“I walked in. I didn’t break in. And it isn’t his,” I said.
“He probably just has a second phone you don’t know about,” Mark said.
“Then call it,” Kye said. “Call the number. The phone would either be on me or in my car.”
“Maybe you hid it,” Mark said.
“I didn’t know you two were coming. Why would I hide it?”
“Is this all a setup?” Mark asked. “Are you playing some stupid game so that your new boyfriend doesn’t get arrested?”
He reached for Kye, slamming him down onto the car, even though he had already been handcuffed.
I headed towards my dad, his eyes following me as I walked to his side.
“No,” I said, grabbing his gun out of his belt before he even knew. “Let him go. Kye isn’t getting arrested because you’re too damn lazy to do your job. I don’t care if you don’t like Kye. He didn’t do it, and there is plenty of proof to show that.”
“Daisy, stop! Stop!” my dad yelled.
“Daze, please, you’re going to get hurt,” Kye said.
I held up the gun, comfortable enough to use it after years of learning with my dad.
“Uncuff him,” I said, keeping the gun trained on Mark.
My dad was yelling behind me, but I ignored him.
“Daisy, I am not uncuffing him. Do you know what he did?”
“I know what you did, and you will not blame him for it. Take them off. Now.”
Mark pushed harder down on Kye, but he didn’t flinch, his eyes locked on mine. “You don’t know what you’re talking about, Daisy. You’re trying to protect a murderer.”
“I know it was your knife, Mark, and I know you killed Mia. I saw her keys,” I shouted, feeling the burn of tears in my eyes. “I’m not going to let you do this. Kye didn’t do anything wrong.”
“Shut up, Daisy. This is not your business.”
“What keys?” my dad asked.
“Mia’s keys. I thought it was strange that Mark suddenly had a sparkly keychain, and then I saw your note in the files. You didn’t find out how the killer locked the door. Mark took her keys with him, and I saw them the night it happened, when we went to the station.”
Mark’s face twisted with rage, veins pulsing at his temples. “I found the keys in Kye’s car today. I didn’t have them that night.”
“Yes, you did.”I remembered the call and pulled out my phone. I had written the number down, and I entered it. “How about I solve this and call that number right now?”
“She is lying for him,” Mark said.
I hit the call to connect, and as soon as I saw the panic in Mark’s eyes, I knew my answer.
He did it.
Everyone went silent, the faint ringing of a phone filling the air.
My dad was already following it, heading straight for Mark’s car.
Kye smirked. “Forgot to plant the evidence first, Mark?”
Mark picked up his head, slamming it back down onto the car. The crew started yelling, but I stepped closer, the gun still raised at him. Kye groaned, but his eyes were still open, and I hoped that meant he was okay.
My skin crawled for Kye. Every time he told me how he had been hit and beat was burned into my mind, and the pain of being touched now.
My dad held up the phone, the shock on his face almost making me feel bad for him.
“I didn’t mean to kill her,” Mark yelled out. “I thought it was Daisy. When I came up behind her, she freaked out. I was just going to try and talk to you more about this. She was fighting and screaming so loud that I threw her down to stop her. She hit her head.”
Everyone was silent, waiting to see if he would say more.
“I don’t get it, Daisy. We had it planned. Everything was working out. We were together, I was winning my campaign, your dad likes me. Why? Why would you leave all that for someone like him?”
“Because I love him,” I said. My voice sounded far away, even to my own ears. Was he really saying that he accidentally killed Mia because he thought she was me?
“But why?” he screamed now. “What is he going to give you that I couldn’t? Why would you want to give up everything we had for a guy who can’t even stick around? Why do you think you can run around spreading your legs and come back to me when he leaves you again?”
He raised his gun, pointing it at me, and everything froze, my world crashing down with the realization that he could kill me right now.
My dad screamed in the background, but I couldn’t make out what he said, everything sounding like I was underwater.
He waved to the seat across from his desk before he pulled off his gun and a handful of keys from his pocket. He looked at me, flustered, as he threw the keys into a drawer along with the gun. The keychain flashed in the light, and it made me wonder if he was already seeing someone to have a keychain like that.
“How have you been?” he asked.
“I’ve been better. You?”
“I’ve been better,” he said.
“Seeing anyone?”
His hand tightened on the pen he had poised to write, and his eyes narrowed. “After we broke up two weeks ago? No. Unlike some other people, I don’t go fucking around immediately.”
My eyebrows jumped, and I sat back a little further in the chair. “It’s not like I went out and found the first guy off the street to sleep with him. I’m sorry, but I’ve always loved Kye. There’s nothing wrong with you, Mark. I just can’t help who I love.”
“Right.” His jaw tightened, and he took a deep breath before continuing. “Look, this isn’t about us. It’s about what happened tonight. I need us to focus on that.”
I nodded, feeling a pit of guilt in my stomach. I knew what I did wasn’t the greatest, but I couldn’t help it. “Okay. And I am sorry.”
He sighed, running a hand through his hair. “I need you to tell me everything you remember about tonight. Any detail, no matter how small, could be important.”
I recounted the night’s events as clearly as I could, from the moment I arrived at the diner to what I did after. Mark scribbled notes furiously, his face a mask of concentration.
When I finished, he leaned back in his chair, tapping his pen against his notebook. “Did you notice anything unusual about Mia before tonight? Any strange behavior or comments?
I shook my head. “No, not really. She seemed fine the last time I saw her. She did dye her hair recently, which is drastic, but that’s about it.”
“And you’re sure you don’t know anything about her personal life? No ex-boyfriends, enemies, anything?
“I told you, she didn’t talk much about herself. I know she had a roommate and maybe a boyfriend, but she was pretty private.”
“She didn’t tell you anything about her boyfriend? Nothing at all?”
“Not really. Just that she would see him once or twice a week, but didn’t say much otherwise. Do you guys know anything?”
“Nothing yet. Where was Kye that day?’
My eyebrows furrowed as I looked at him. “With me? Why?”
“All day?”
“I mean, I was at the apartment for a while with Bailey while he was at the garage, and then I met up with him there.”
“And was anyone else with him at the garage?”
“I’m sure one of the crew was there at some point. I don’t know who exactly, though.”
“So one of his closest friends will be the only one to give him an alibi for the hours when Mia could have been killed?”
“One of them, or me.”
He was already standing up with a shake of his head. “All the people who would gladly lie for him if needed.”
“What does Kye have anything to do with this? He barely knew Mia.”
“We have reasons to think Kye could be involved, Daisy.”
“How?”
“Because the last person Mia called was Kye, twenty minutes before she was killed.”
FIFTY-FOUR
DAISY
Two days went by without a word from my dad or Mark about Mia.
Or trying to arrest Kye.
I tried to keep busy, but Carly had shut down the diner, not knowing when it would reopen. I think she was even thinking about moving it completely now.
I had spent every day with Kye. Either at the apartments or at the garage. But until they found out who killed Mia, he didn’t want me out of his sight, and I wasn’t inclined to fight him on it. There wasn’t a single part of me that thought Kye did it. As ruthless as he could be, he wasn’t going to kill some random girl for no reason.
I still hadn’t asked him why Mia had called, though. I couldn’t bring myself to wonder why he would have.
Kye had gone out today, doing a few errands for us so I could stay home with Bailey. Part of me knew I would be fine if I went with him, the other part was still scared to go out of the apartment. Someone had been after me. The tires, the break-in, and the worry that Mia’s hair was blonde kept bothering Kye, which quickly bothered me.
He had said more than once that he worried they thought it was me, which meant me being under the equivalent of house arrest was fine with him.
I also couldn’t figure out what else they would have on Kye that would really make them think he did it.
My foot tapped as I looked at my phone again. Kye hadn’t said anything, which hopefully was a good thing. I couldn’t wait any longer, though. I needed answers now, and I was sick of waiting. I couldn’t sit here in silence, waiting to see if I would be attacked next or if Kye would be arrested.
I grabbed my keys and Bailey, heading down to Fox and Ash’s apartment.
“Hey, I have to run out for a few minutes. Would you mind watching Bailey for a bit?”
Ash smiled. “No problem. You okay to go alone, though? Jax is here if you want a driver.”
“You know what? That would actually be great, if he doesn’t mind.”
Jax walked out from the kitchen behind her. “Not at all. Carly’s taking a nap, and I have nowhere to be. Where are we going?”
“The sheriff’s station.”
“Okay. Maybe I mind a little.” He smiled, still grabbing his phone and keys. “Kidding, but can I wait in the car?”
We pulled up to the station, and I hopped out.
“Call me immediately and I will come in.”
“Hopefully, no one but the receptionist is here. Can you call me if any of the sheriff’s cars pull up? Maybe even stall them?”
Jax grinned. “That, I can absolutely do.”
I headed inside, waving to the receptionist, who was on the phone.
“My dad,” I whispered, walking past her towards his office. It wasn’t like me coming here was out of the ordinary, exactly. I came around even less now that I wasn’t dating Mark, but no one seemed to care when I would come by before. I doubted the older receptionist would care now.
I slipped into my dad’s office, moving fast to flip through all the folders on his desk until I found the one for Mia.
There were pages and pages of notes, each one more scribbled than the last, and I wasn’t getting much out of it.
Another folder marked with my name caught my attention and I pulled it out of the stack. It was from when my tires were slashed and the house was broken into. I flipped through it quickly, not finding much. I almost shut it, but a photo of a knife caught my eye.
I recognized the wooden handle, the small engraved skull near its base.
It was Mark’s knife.
Did that mean Mark slashed my tires?
And if he slashed my tires, was he also the one that broke into my house? I flipped through the papers again, not finding any evidence that it could have been Mark, but I had wondered why someone broke in and didn’t actually take anything. I had been under the impression that I caught them mid break-in, but now I wondered if it was Mark. What had he been looking for?
I went back to Mia’s folder, my heart racing and palms starting to sweat. I looked for any notes about her hair being blonde, but didn’t find anything. Mark didn’t take any notes of me saying that or my dad commenting. I looked out the window, my thoughts moving too fast now.
Was Mark even capable of murder?
He had never raised his voice or gave me any indication he would be violent, and what could Mia have done to push him to that?
I read more, making out a comment that my dad had made. “How did the killer lock up?” It was scrawled off to the side, and the realization hit me hard.
The keys Mark had with him that night weren’t his. I had wondered why he would have a sparkly keychain, but he didn’t. They were Mia’s.
The thundering of my heartbeat filled my ears, making it too hard to listen if anyone was coming, but there was one more thing I needed to check.
My hands shook as I pulled out my phone, finding Kye’s contact and hitting it open before flipping to the phone log my dad had printed. Lucky for me, he hated computers, so there were hard copies of everything now.
My hand trailed down the page until I got to the one he circled. The last call Mia made, which was noted as Kye’s number. I looked between my phone and the page. It wasn’t Kye’s number. I hit Mark’s name next—it wasn’t his either.
That didn’t explain why they thought it belonged to Kye, though.
Jax
A sheriff’s here. Stalled as long as I could. Get out of there.
Daisy
Coming.
I took a few photos of the pages first, making sure to get as much of the important things as I could before slamming the files shut and running out.
I passed one of the sheriffs as I walked out the front.
“Have you seen my dad?”
“Last I knew, he was going to arrest someone for the murder. Can’t tell you much more than that.”
My stomach dropped, and I picked up my pace. I ripped open the door to Jax’s car, already yelling before I was inside.
“Go! We need to find Kye. I’m pretty sure Mark killed Mia and now he’s going to pin it on Kye.”
FIFTY-FIVE
DAISY
I had called Kye five times as Jax headed towards the garage, but he never picked up.
“I’m going to kill him. Why is he choosing now not to answer my calls?”
“Maybe he’s a little tied up.”
“Is that supposed to be a joke about getting arrested? Are you thinking this is funny?”
“No,” he said fast. “No, I just make jokes when I’m stressed. I can’t help it,” he said, nearly laughing. “I swear I’m not happy about this.”
“You’re laughing!”
“Not on purpose,” he yelled back.
I sat back, calling Kye again. “Fine, joke all you want, but drive faster. I don’t know what Mark’s plan is. If he wants to pin all of this on Kye, he could do anything to him.” Panic welled until my chest hurt. “Can you please go faster, Jax? What if he tries to arrest Kye? Or worse, kill him?”
“Why would he kill Kye?”
“Why would Mark, the guy that just killed a girl, kill Kye so that it’s easier to blame it all on Kye so he can still go run for sheriff?”
He shifted again, the car picking up more speed. “Okay, point proven.”
We turned onto the road of the garage, the red and blue lights already visible.
Jax pulled the car to a stop at the road, and I was already taking off across the parking lot.
Three of the sheriff’s cars were there, and I could see Kye’s car barricaded in against the garage.
The rest of the crew was standing near an open garage door, the shock so clear on their faces.
“When did they get here?” I asked, running up next to them.
“A few minutes ago. They are arresting Kye for killing her,” Quinn said, the tears mumbling her words.
“What?”
Then I saw it. Mark walked over to Kye, who was calm and unmoving, until Mark grabbed him, ripping him backwards and pulling out handcuffs. Kye jumped back. The cuffs had to be his worst nightmare.
“No. I will go, but you are not handcuffing me.”
“You killed a girl. Like hell am I not handcuffing you. Now hold still or you will be on the ground.”
Kye’s eyes widened and nostrils flared. I knew it was taking everything in him not to fight back, and I didn’t know if he could handle being handcuffed, especially by Mark.
I pushed past the crew to my dad. Every part of me was a screaming mess of emotions, but one broke through.
I had to protect Kye. I sat around doing nothing the last time this happened, and then Kye disappeared. I couldn’t let it happen again.
“Stop. Stop this right now. You know he didn’t do it.”
I couldn’t stand to see Kye like this. His eyes squeezed shut, and I knew it was because of how Mark was grabbing him, handcuffing him, leaving him defenseless to whatever Mark wanted.
“Mark has found evidence that he did it,” my dad said. “I’m sorry, Daisy.”
“Mark found it? The same Mark who has been stalking me? The one who slashed my tires, broke into my house, and I’m pretty sure killed Mia? That’s the one who happened to find evidence against the guy I left him for?”
“What are you talking about, Daisy?”
“I’m talking about the knife that slashed my tires belonging to Mark, and why someone would break into my house to steal nothing, and that the phone call to Mia before she was killed was not Kye.”
“What phone call?” Kye asked. “I didn’t even know Mia.”
“They have a phone call twenty minutes before she was killed and they say the number belongs to you, but I checked. It doesn’t.”
His eyebrows jumped up and mouth fell open. “Did you think it did?”
“No, of course not, but I kind of had to check to help you not get arrested.”
He smiled, taking one small step away from Mark.
“What do you mean it isn’t Kye’s number? Mark ran it and showed me the printout. It’s attached to Kye’s name. Did you break into my office?”
“I walked in. I didn’t break in. And it isn’t his,” I said.
“He probably just has a second phone you don’t know about,” Mark said.
“Then call it,” Kye said. “Call the number. The phone would either be on me or in my car.”
“Maybe you hid it,” Mark said.
“I didn’t know you two were coming. Why would I hide it?”
“Is this all a setup?” Mark asked. “Are you playing some stupid game so that your new boyfriend doesn’t get arrested?”
He reached for Kye, slamming him down onto the car, even though he had already been handcuffed.
I headed towards my dad, his eyes following me as I walked to his side.
“No,” I said, grabbing his gun out of his belt before he even knew. “Let him go. Kye isn’t getting arrested because you’re too damn lazy to do your job. I don’t care if you don’t like Kye. He didn’t do it, and there is plenty of proof to show that.”
“Daisy, stop! Stop!” my dad yelled.
“Daze, please, you’re going to get hurt,” Kye said.
I held up the gun, comfortable enough to use it after years of learning with my dad.
“Uncuff him,” I said, keeping the gun trained on Mark.
My dad was yelling behind me, but I ignored him.
“Daisy, I am not uncuffing him. Do you know what he did?”
“I know what you did, and you will not blame him for it. Take them off. Now.”
Mark pushed harder down on Kye, but he didn’t flinch, his eyes locked on mine. “You don’t know what you’re talking about, Daisy. You’re trying to protect a murderer.”
“I know it was your knife, Mark, and I know you killed Mia. I saw her keys,” I shouted, feeling the burn of tears in my eyes. “I’m not going to let you do this. Kye didn’t do anything wrong.”
“Shut up, Daisy. This is not your business.”
“What keys?” my dad asked.
“Mia’s keys. I thought it was strange that Mark suddenly had a sparkly keychain, and then I saw your note in the files. You didn’t find out how the killer locked the door. Mark took her keys with him, and I saw them the night it happened, when we went to the station.”
Mark’s face twisted with rage, veins pulsing at his temples. “I found the keys in Kye’s car today. I didn’t have them that night.”
“Yes, you did.”I remembered the call and pulled out my phone. I had written the number down, and I entered it. “How about I solve this and call that number right now?”
“She is lying for him,” Mark said.
I hit the call to connect, and as soon as I saw the panic in Mark’s eyes, I knew my answer.
He did it.
Everyone went silent, the faint ringing of a phone filling the air.
My dad was already following it, heading straight for Mark’s car.
Kye smirked. “Forgot to plant the evidence first, Mark?”
Mark picked up his head, slamming it back down onto the car. The crew started yelling, but I stepped closer, the gun still raised at him. Kye groaned, but his eyes were still open, and I hoped that meant he was okay.
My skin crawled for Kye. Every time he told me how he had been hit and beat was burned into my mind, and the pain of being touched now.
My dad held up the phone, the shock on his face almost making me feel bad for him.
“I didn’t mean to kill her,” Mark yelled out. “I thought it was Daisy. When I came up behind her, she freaked out. I was just going to try and talk to you more about this. She was fighting and screaming so loud that I threw her down to stop her. She hit her head.”
Everyone was silent, waiting to see if he would say more.
“I don’t get it, Daisy. We had it planned. Everything was working out. We were together, I was winning my campaign, your dad likes me. Why? Why would you leave all that for someone like him?”
“Because I love him,” I said. My voice sounded far away, even to my own ears. Was he really saying that he accidentally killed Mia because he thought she was me?
“But why?” he screamed now. “What is he going to give you that I couldn’t? Why would you want to give up everything we had for a guy who can’t even stick around? Why do you think you can run around spreading your legs and come back to me when he leaves you again?”
He raised his gun, pointing it at me, and everything froze, my world crashing down with the realization that he could kill me right now.
My dad screamed in the background, but I couldn’t make out what he said, everything sounding like I was underwater.
