Faye and her father, possible financial troubles at Wharton, the violent actions of the former factory manager, as well as why it had been strange for Faye to be at Vito’s and driving her father’s car. She finished with a blow-by-blow of her conversation with Fallon, including a quickie lecture on the theory of microexpressions.
“Something’s not right,” she said finally. “Can you see that?”
“There are odd aspects to this, yes. But just because you don’t know the explanation doesn’t mean there isn’t one. What is it doctors say about diagnosis? When you hear hoofbeats, think horses, not zebras. Mostly what you’re telling me is that it feels wrong to you.”
“For your information, I get paid a lot of money for my feelings. My instincts are what my clients value most.”
“I don’t doubt that, Tara. I know you want to make sense of this tragedy, but—”
“You think I’m wrong. You’re placating me. Tell me this. If Bill Fallon is so innocent, why isn’t he asking the questions I am? Why isn’t he doing his job? That’s required, isn’t it, even in this corrupt little town?”
The insult irked him. “Bill Fallon is lazy and he’s got a big ego, but I doubt calling him incompetent, corrupt and a liar did much to advance your cause.”
She winced. “No. That was bad. I lost my temper. But Wharton P.D. is not the only law enforcement agency that can look into this. If he won’t do his job, I’ll contact the state police or the county sheriff’s office.”
“And they’ll likely defer to Fallon. Law enforcement entities are territorial. They have to coexist with each other.”
“So I have to find proof that he bungled the case. That means I need to do some preliminary work myself. Take pictures, gather the broken car parts, find out where the car is, get a mechanic to test the brakes and look over the engine.” Her eyes still gleamed with emotion, but her voice steadied as she outlined her plan.
“Tara, I don’t know if—”
“I’m not done,” she said. “Fallon mentioned accident reconstruction engineers. If I have to, I’ll pay for one of them to look at the crash. I’ll do whatever it takes to get the truth. You know I mean that.”
“I do.” Hearing her talk, feeling her pain and frustration, he knew he couldn’t let her fight this fight alone. “So, how can I help?”
She stared at him, clearly surprised. “You’ll help me?”
“Before you call out the cavalry or spend a fortune on experts, let’s see what you and I can find on our own.”
“Yeah?”
“I told Bill to cooperate with you. I am his boss. He won’t bend over backward, but he’ll give you something—his notes, his report, answers to your questions. When you locate the car, I can ask my mechanic to examine the engine for you if you’d like.”
“Will he know what to look for?”
“He should. Tony Carmichael is the best in town for hybrids and electrics. Auto Angels is his shop. The place just past the skating rink? I think he works on your dad’s vehicles, too.”
“That’d be great, Dylan. Really.” She sighed. “It means a lot to have some help.” Relief softened her features and erased some of her despair, and he realized he’d do all he could to help her. Her pain was his pain. Still.
“So will you do me a favor?” Dylan asked. “Next time, bring me in before you start swinging?”
She winced. “I know. I shouldn’t have blown up at him. Being back in Wharton is not good for me. I slide back into how I was...my old habits.”
“I think I know what you mean,” he said, thinking that she’d had something like that effect on him.
“You’re doing it, too? Sliding back?”
He nodded.
“Yeah. We do go back, don’t we?” She smiled, a flicker of the heat from that moment on the terrace. “We have history.”
Again he had the urge to put his arms around her, pull her close, breathe her in and go from there. But that wouldn’t help either of them. “Ancient history,” he said. The best they could manage would be to be friends. He and Candee had managed that, after all.
“Yeah,” she said, but he thought she looked sad about that.
“You have all you need here?”
“For now. I’ll come back with a camera and a tape measure to record the distance from the swerve and how far the car traveled.”
“How about I do that?” He wanted to save her another visit to this terrible place. “I’ll get Bill to