Falling Fast (Falling Fast #1) - Tina Wainscott Page 0,92
when he died. He could have taken off for a few days, come back, and run into someone he had a beef with.”
“True. But the sheriff has you and a tasty motive. He doesn’t have, nor is he looking for, any other suspect.” Despite her ire, she clasped his arm. “Remember what you told Cody: you did nothing wrong. Let’s go in and face the dragon.”
He gave Mia a kiss on the cheek. “Stay with Rose and Cody. Or go on back to the cottage.”
“I’ll stay here.”
He and Grace went inside.
The sheriff was standing near the front desk. “Well, well, well, looks like we have a lot to talk about. Come on back.”
Raleigh knew there was no use denying it. He banked every bit of emotion as he told the sheriff why he knew that Hank might try to molest Cody.
“You still have no real evidence, Sullivan,” Grace said.
“But I have a whole lot of circumstantial evidence, my dear. And two hours where Mr. West’s time is unaccounted for.” He flicked out his fingers as he said, “The victim allegedly perpetrated a heinous crime. You were looking for him, and I imagine you were pretty angry. And he most likely disappeared that same night. I think we’re done here.” He slapped the folder on the table closed.
Opportunity, motive, and proximity. Raleigh was screwed.
Chapter 18
Raleigh and Mia spent hours writing down everything they knew about the people on Rose’s list. Pax had questioned some of them and would continue the next day. He dragged himself out of the cottage late that night.
Cody was asleep on the couch, having cried on and off for the last bit. Mia’s heart broke for him, for the burden he bore. Just like his brother. Her heart hurt even more for Raleigh, as he and Rose speculated about people Mia didn’t know who might have had reason to kill Hank.
What she was about to speculate would be the hardest thing she’d ever had to say. Mia secretly turned on her phone’s recorder function and set it on the edge of the kitchen counter. Then she sat down at the table, catching their attention with the screech of her chair legs on the wood floor. Her eyes held Rose’s gaze as she gathered the woman’s bony, calloused hands in hers across the paper-strewn table. “You killed him. Didn’t you?”
The blood drained from Rose’s face, and she shifted her eyes away for a second.
“Mia?” Raleigh said, shock his only expression. “Did I hear you right?”
Mia fought not to move her gaze from Rose’s, holding it the way she held Rose’s hands. “Hank was celebrating Cody’s tenth birthday that night. You followed them, because Raleigh had warned that ten was the ‘magic age of enlightenment.’ You saw what he was doing and, after Cody ran off, you killed Hank in the heat of passion.”
“That’s…crazy,” Rose said, her eyes shifting from Mia to Raleigh in rapid sequence.
“Something was bothering me, and I just realized what it was. You asked Raleigh about the lake the other day. When he said George wasn’t doing anything with it, you were relieved. You talked about how sometimes fixing one problem creates others. It’s time for all the secrets to come out. Did you kill Hank?”
“Yes.” The word was barely audible, coming from her trembling mouth. She looked at Raleigh. “I did it. She’s right. I was in a blind rage, and I got into the truck with him right after Cody left. He was going to drive off and find the boy, probably try to stop him from telling anyone. When I wouldn’t get out of the truck, he drove anyway. I made him pull into an empty parking lot. I hadn’t planned on killing him. But I saw the knife lying in the center console, probably his way of scaring my son into complying—and keeping it a secret. Hank said I didn’t see nothing, that I was a crazy, stupid bitch for accusing him. He hit me.”
She touched her cheek. “Then he said he’d do whatever he wanted. When I called him a disgusting child molester, he grabbed for the knife. But I already had it, and I shoved it up into his throat. I didn’t think. I just did it.” Tears rolled down her cheeks, her eyes wide and unseeing. “He tried to wrestle it out of my hand, but my fingers were glued to the handle. It was like a cloud of rage rolled over me. I kept stabbing him. Everything