kind of figured you’d be expecting a blow-by-blow account.”
Adam gave me a tight smile. “Elliot already filled me in.”
“Oh,” I replied. “Um, does that mean he told you, uh, everything?”
I felt a little conflicted. I mean, yeah, I realized Adam was paying the man, but Elliot Hoffman was still my attorney. What about attorney-client confidentiality and all that?
Adam must have guessed my thoughts, because he exhaled loudly and said, “Maddy, if you want to stay out of jail, it’s imperative I stay abreast of all the developments.” I sensed a flash of annoyance as he finished speaking, but he put his arm around me nonetheless and kissed the top of my head. Maybe I was just imagining things.
When we reached the first row of cars in the parking lot, I halted, suddenly realizing we had no transportation. “Wait,” I said. “How are we supposed to get home?”
Adam had said Hoffman picked him up at Cove Beach and drove them both to the police station here in Harbourtown. Or so I assumed. In any case Hoffman was gone, leaving us with no options. Then again I knew Adam had cars at his disposal here on this side of the water too. So who knew?
“You drove here with Hoffman, right?” I asked, looking for clarification as we resumed walking.
Adam shot me a sheepish grin. “Uh, not exactly.”
I frowned, and he amended, “Well, I was with Hoffman most of the way. He did pick me up at Cove Beach.”
I was so busy looking at Adam—trying to figure out what he was intimating—that I hadn’t noticed we’d stopped at a burgundy car—a burgundy BMW. My burgundy BMW. What the hell? Detective Mitchell had driven me to the station; I’d left my car at Billy’s. How could it be parked here?
I turned to face Adam and asked that exact question, my tone wary. “How’d my car get here, Adam?”
“I had Elliot stop at Billy’s so I could pick it up for you. I didn’t think you’d want to go anywhere near that place after what happened there.” I cringed at the fresh memory and nodded in agreement. “So we stopped there, got your car, and then I followed Elliott the rest of the way here.”
“But…the keys,” I asked, feeling for and finding the clear outline of the key fob in my bag. “How’d you get it started?”
I was stumped. Surely hot-wiring foreign imports was not among Adam’s many talents. Although I doubted much would shock me at this point.
“Yeah.” Adam raked his fingers through his hair. “About that…”
“Adam,” I warned.
“I had a spare key made for your car,” he confessed with no hint of apology.
God, this man continued to drive me mad, but I was too exhausted to get into it with him. I let it slide, even though it had been a very intrusive thing to do. Whatever, though. I had bigger things to worry about.
Adam produced the said spare key—complete with key fob—and unlocked the doors. Rolling my eyes, I got in on the passenger side and sank down into the seat. I leaned my head back and closed my eyes, listening as Adam slid into the driver’s seat, a rustle of fabric against leather. And then the key turned in the ignition, the engine coming to life.
Adam’s warm hand descended to my own chilled ones that I held clasped together in my lap. “Everything is going to be fine,” he reassured me in a soft voice. “The police have nothing. It’s all circumstantial bullshit.”
With my eyes still closed, my breathing hitched as I said, “Adam, nothing is fine. Someone ended up dead today, because of me.”
Adam was quiet, so I opened my eyes and shifted in my seat so I could meet his gaze, unreadable in the limited illumination of the instrument panel.
Honesty, I had to be honest. Hoffman may have filled him in on the details of the interrogation, but there were still things Adam didn’t know. I needed to remedy that.
I cleared my throat. “Jimmy called me yesterday while you were out of town. I spoke with him for a few minutes.”
Adam’s expression twisted into something I couldn’t discern. “Is that why you went back to Billy’s?” he asked sharply. “Is that why you broke your promise, Madeleine?”
I winced because I knew this was the elephant in the room. Or in the car, as it were. I’d broken my promise. But look at what had happened. I’d certainly paid a high price.