listen to it?” I demand. That’s the last thing she needs to hear. She’s already lived it once.
“They haven’t got that far. Deke is in there with her right now—”
“Take him your phone.” I interrupt her.
Becky and I are running out the back door. We’re in my car before his voice snaps through my speakers. “Cole.”
“What the fuck is going on?” Now I’m glad I left him there with her. “Do they expect her to listen to that fucking tape?”
“I think so.” He sighs, and my Bluetooth picks up the conversation. “They mentioned that she stabbed him. And by the amount of blood loss they found in the house, they said he would either be dead or in an ER.”
“So?” I snap, flying down the road. Becky remains silent in the passenger seat.
“So they’ve called all surrounding hospitals, and he’s not a patient anywhere.”
I glance in my rear-view mirror, making sure I’m not about to get pulled over since I’m doing twenty over the limit. “They think he’s dead.”
“Pretty much. Austin’s eyes went wide with fear when they said that was their conclusion. You could tell the cops know what we did, and they think she knows what we did. So he told her they knew it was self-defense because they heard the tape … and she just lost it. I mean, hell, the bastard has been dead for four days now! They have to know they aren’t gonna fucking find him!” he whispers harshly.
I look over at Becky, and she’s looking straight ahead out the windshield and a tear runs down her cheek. Deke just told on himself. She knows I lied to her, and that I didn’t kill Kellan on my own.
“I’m almost there. Let me talk to her.”
“Cole?” Austin’s broken voice comes on seconds later.
My chest tightens. “Hey, sweetheart. I’m on my way back. Don’t say anything else until I get there. I’m gonna call my father’s attorney.” I kick myself for not already doing it, but I didn’t think they would go to her. The recording should have been enough for them to wrap up the damn investigation.
“What? Why?”
“It was self-defense, Austin. They can’t—”
“No, Cole.” She interrupts me. “I don’t care about that. They have it on tape.” She begins to cry again. “Kellan told me that he watched me burn Jeff’s body.” Becky’s head whips over to look at me. “The car we stole …”
“Austin …”
“And that your final dare was to kill Bruce.” She sobs. “They know everything. You can’t come back up here. They’re gonna … arrest you.”
I ignore Becky, knowing she’s thinking what the fuck? “Babe, listen. It’s all okay. The one we gave to the police isn’t the original copy.”
“It’s not?” She sniffs, trying to calm her sobs.
“No. Bennett altered it. They know nothing.”
After a long moment of silence, she whispers, “Okay.”
“Let me talk to Deke for a second.”
“Yeah?” he asks, coming on the line.
“Don’t let them in her room. I’m on my way.” I hang up and look over at Becky. She arches a brow at me. I just shrug. Motherfucker! “Well, you wanted to know.”
She turns to look back out the windshield. “When Deke came to my house yesterday, I asked him about Kellan. I had a feeling you had killed him because it was strange he wasn’t around and then how things went down with Shane at the hospital. Deke informed me he had spoken to him that morning.” She sucks in a long breath. “Which would have been hard to do, considering the two of you killed him three days before that.”
Fuck!
CHAPTER ELEVEN
DEKE
THE DOOR FLIES open to Austin’s room, and Cole enters followed by his attorney. “Where are they?” Cole demands.
“They were right outside her door.” The cops may have allowed her a few minutes to gather herself, but they didn’t go far.
“They’re not now.”
“What all did you say to them?” Jacob asks her, not even bothering with introducing himself.
She sits on her bed, her eyes narrowed. She cried at first, but now, she’s pissed. I’m not sure if it’s the fact that Cole told her he was safe or the fact that she didn’t already know he would have covered his ass. I gotta give it to the girl. When push comes to shove, she will knock your ass down.
“They asked me to start from the beginning. I told them I had just gotten home from a movie date.” I watch Cole’s shoulders stiffen at her words because he was not the guy she was out