Total pages in book: 72
Estimated words: 74501 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 373(@200wpm)___ 298(@250wpm)___ 248(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 74501 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 373(@200wpm)___ 298(@250wpm)___ 248(@300wpm)
Hank shot her a grin and Eddie gave her a big, white smile.
“What about who the Stephens family saw go in and out?” Georgie asked. “Canvassing other neighbors? Is anyone recognizable as persons of interest to the police?”
“You’d be surprised how little detail people have about things they’ve seen, even things that don’t sit right with them, when it comes down to that detail being important,” Hank shared.
“So no luck with that,” she surmised.
“Sadly, no,” Hank confirmed.
“So everything leads to a dead end.”
“Everything leads to the neighbor,” Eddie corrected.
“She’s just not talking,” Georgie said flatly.
No one answered that because they’d already been over it.
“What does she do?” Georgie asked.
“She manages a restaurant,” Hank answered.
“Who owns the restaurant?” Georgie asked.
Hank smiled a respectful smile and told her carefully, “Those leads have been followed and there’s nothing there. If there was something hot, it wasn’t uncovered when it should have been, and it’s gone cold. The detectives on this case are solid and they did the work. I hate to admit it, any cop does, but even if this was my case, I’d keep the file on my desk, but I’d have no choice but to move on.”
“Same,” Eddie grunted. “And not just because we’re partners.”
“What’s her risk here?” Georgie kept pushing.
“Her risk?” Hank asked.
“Giving a false report to the police,” she stated. “And since it’s likely she knows this man, let him in, and is covering for him, abetting a crime. Because it’s a crime, yes? Even if Carlyle’s dad forced entry, he didn’t do it for nefarious reasons, so a crime was committed. One that’s punishable.”
“There would be discussion about that if it was a lovers’ spat that he interrupted and they mistakenly shot him, thinking he was an intruder,” Eddie said. “But how this is looking like it actually went down, it’d be hard to stick murder one on them. Though, if the prosecutor got creative, and there was something dark they’re hiding, darker even than her covering for a lover, or other, that something being the reason she’s not talking, they could get murder two and she could get hit with false reporting and accessory.”
“So if this guy is found, and if she’s found out, they’ll go down,” Georgie concluded.
“If the evidence is there, the prosecutor doesn’t screw it up, no deal is struck, yeah,” Hank confirmed.
Georgie then looked to Dutch and there was a light burning so bright in her eyes, he felt it scorching his skin.
But it didn’t hurt.
It was beautiful.
“How’s the kid?” Eddie asked.
Dutch tore his attention from Georgiana and looked to Eddie. “Not good.”
“I can imagine, seein’ his dad like that,” Eddie murmured.
Dutch’s blood ran cold.
It was Georgiana this time who wrapped her hand around his wrist, but it was like a phantom touch, his focus was hyper-alert on Eddie.
“Seein’ his dad like that?” Dutch asked, his voice sounding funny to his own ears.
Choked.
He felt both Eddie and Hank’s attention sharpen on him but that was phantom too.
He was staring at Eddie like taking his eyes off the man would mean he’d forget how to breathe.
“Yeah,” Eddie said slowly.
“Carlyle saw his father dead?” Dutch pressed.
“Dutch, honey,” Georgie whispered, squeezing hard at his wrist.
He ignored her.
“Followed his dad,” Eddie said carefully. “Didn’t you know?”
Oh Christ.
Followed him?
“Followed him…how?” Dutch forced out.
“His mother tried to stop him, but he followed his dad to his neighbor’s. He spoke to the police at the scene, said his dad was down by the time he got up there. He wasn’t dead. When the police got there, the kid was still pressing on the wound, but it was too late. The carotid was hit. The man was gone,” Eddie shared.
Dutch dropped his head and stared at his lap.
“You didn’t know that?” Georgie asked gently.
“No,” he said to his lap.
Carlyle watched his father die.
And his father watched his son watch him die.
“Dutch,” Georgie hissed urgently.
They’d shared that moment when they both knew life was over.
Carlyle’s life as he knew it, with a good man who was a good dad in his home, raising him up, molding the man he’d become.
And his dad knowing he’d never see that man because his life was just over.
His body jostled and he came to seeing Georgie semi-crouched beside him. She had a hold on his leg and his neck, and she was shaking both.
“Look at me, baby,” she whispered.
“I’m all right.”
“Okay, then humor me by looking at me for a sec, okay?”
He slid a hand along her neck and repeated, “I’m all right, Georgie.”
She gave him a good once over, took her time, and only when she was satisfied did she let him go and resume her seat.
Dutch cleared his throat and gave the men his attention. “Sorry.”
“Understandable,” Hank replied.
He felt Georgie now in hyper-focus, but on him, and he made a show of forking into his burrito.