Falling Fast (Falling Fast #1) - Tina Wainscott Page 0,82

and she’s more than trustworthy. But you put her in a real tight spot.”

Cody shook his head. “How? I don’t understand.”

But Mia did. “Your father did a terrible thing to you. Or tried to. And you went to Raleigh. And the next day your father disappeared. He was probably murdered around that time. If the police find out, they’ll know Raleigh had a good reason to kill Hank.”

And he did. Because if Raleigh had warned Cody, then he knew firsthand what his father was capable of….

Raleigh’s eyes met hers, a sharp understanding between them.

Cody shook his head. “But he was already gone when Raleigh went to talk to him.”

“I know that’s true, but that’s only Raleigh’s word,” Rose said gently. “The sheriff might not believe him.”

“I wanted to kill him,” Raleigh growled. “At least cut off his balls, something I should have done long ago. But I never saw him again.”

“They’ll think I killed him!” Cody whispered, his voice thick with tears. “ ’Cause I was the last person who saw him!”

Rose put her hand on his cheek. “No, baby, they won’t think that. You’re only a boy. No way could you have stabbed a man to death.”

“Who did?” Mia asked. “I mean, who had reason to?”

“Hank made a lot of enemies,” Rose said. “Women like me that he ditched. Some he borrowed money from, made a lot of promises he never intended to keep. There are boyfriends and husbands of those women. People he wrote bad checks to. Hell, there are at least a hundred people who had reason to kill him.”

“But they want me,” Raleigh said in a low voice.

“Grace is going to get the charges dropped,” Mia said, covering his hand with hers. “They don’t have enough evidence.”

“They want to close out the case. An unsolved murder looks bad for a town that’s trying to grow. Locking me away for it makes it nice and tidy. A family matter, no danger to the public.”

He was right. Mia had watched enough news shows about men convicted on flimsy evidence. Serving decades before some champion of justice uncovered tenuous evidence and forced eyewitness testimony. Even then, the wheels of justice turned ever so slowly.

“There has to be a way to clear you,” Rose said before Mia could utter the same words. “I’m going to make a list of everyone who wanted a piece of Hank.” Rose grabbed a pen from the table, and the notepad on which Mia and Raleigh had been tracking their progress. “His women. Loan sharks. A guy he’d had trouble with during one of his stints in prison. And I’m giving it to the sheriff.”

“What about the guy who owns the lake?” Mia asked. “Would he have any reason to kill your father?”

“None that I can think of. Like a lot of people, George had no respect for the man. But besides the fact that he’s about seventy, five-foot-seven, and weighs about two hundred fifty. In other words, he’s not exactly in shape to stab a man to death.” He shook his head. “Feels awful, hoping someone I know has a reason to kill my father.”

“God, I didn’t think about it that way,” Mia said. “George has been good to you. I feel awful.”

“You were just looking for a way to save me,” Raleigh said. “Did the real-estate agent ever call?”

“Yes.” Mia didn’t want to say it, but she had to. “He canceled. Said he had a lot of listings right now.”

Raleigh only nodded in a See, I told you way. Dammit, she couldn’t argue.

“I’ll make some calls tomorrow,” Mia said.

“My half of this house is going to my attorney’s costs if this goes to trial.” Defeat saturated his voice. “But first we have to sell it.”

“It’ll work out.” Mia knew he didn’t believe her. Not that she could blame him. Her optimism sounded forced to her ears.

Cody started crying. “I’m sorry, Raleigh.”

“It’s not your fault. Dad’s murder had nothing to do with you, okay? Or what happened.”

Cody nodded, but he looked about as convinced as Raleigh did.

Rose scribbled furiously, name after name, with some motive or another after the dash. Finally, she slammed the pen down. “Lookit. At least twenty names. Come on, Cody. We’re going to the sheriff’s office. You can stay in the car,” she added at his terrified look. “I’m just going to run this in.”

After some hugs and more hollow reassurances, the two left. Raleigh stared at nothing for a few moments, his mouth in a tight line. Finally, he met