Chapter Forty

Alex

I pulled the car to a stop in the hospital parking lot and stared up at the hospital building. It had been two days since Warner had almost fried his brains out, trying to ruin the opening of Ice’s Brew Pub. We thought that was the end of the mystery, but the more we learned, the less we knew.

According to Chief Klune, Warner was definitely responsible. A search of his apartment turned up evidence from most of the attacks on the brewery. Photocopies of Lake’s signature used to falsify order forms, schematics for our electrical box and the old bottling system, and print outs on how to create a controlled fire. But his computer turned up the worst evidence. Warner wasn’t working alone.

His computer held dozens of emails from a conspirator. At first, they simply urged him to act based on his anger over Melissa rejecting him. At one point, he’d tried to stop, but whoever was part of this had threatened to turn him in if he didn’t keep working to take down the brewery. All the emails came from an IP address hidden under layers of heavy encryption, and the chief wasn’t sure when or if they’d ever be able to trace them back to their origin.

“Well, if I want to know who’s really responsible, the answers are in there.” I nodded toward the door.

I walked into the lobby where Walsh, Lake, Melissa, and Anthony waited for me. Damian was there as well, standing a bit off to the side as if he couldn’t decide if he was with the group or not. The past two days had been a delicate dance of avoiding him while not being obvious about it. As much as I wanted to run into his arms and bury myself in them, I couldn’t afford that luxury. He was only here temporarily, and I needed to keep my guard up if I my heart was going to survive.

Chief Klune came around the corner with some detective I didn’t recognize. The minute Warner had become suspect number one, his brother had stepped down from the case. He was dealing with his own issues, knowing he missed the signs of his own brother being responsible.

“Lake, girls.” Chief Klune shook hands all around. “This is Detective Morris. He’ll be handling the investigation from here on out. He’ll also be in the room so that anything said can be used to secure further warrants and hopefully track down the bastard responsible. The sooner, the better. The whole department is sick over this.”

Lake gave him a pat on the shoulder. “I think the whole town will sleep better once this is done.”

The chief nodded and turned the floor over to Detective Morris.

“I’m Sean Morris. It’s nice to meet you all. Sorry it’s under such awful circumstances.” His soft voice had a slight southern accent. Not an Aspenridge native, then. No wonder Lake didn’t know him. “Which of you is Melissa?”

Melissa raised her hand, and Anthony took a step closer to her, wrapping his arms protectively around her waist. My skin tingled with the memory of Damian touching me that way.

Sean nodded. “How are your acting skills?”

Melissa swallowed nervously, and her neck took on a fine shade of pink.

I stepped forward and put a hand on her shoulder. “Melissa, I love you like the sister I never had, but you are the world’s shittiest poker player. You couldn’t tell a lie if the world depended on it. The only reason you and Anthony got away with a fake relationship is because you fell head over heels in love with him. How about you let me take this one?”

Detective Morris gave me a questioning look. “I’m not sure that works. Melissa is Warner's unrequited love so he’s more likely to give up information to her than the best friend. No offense.”

“We haven’t met yet.” I held out my hand. “I’m Alexandra Nichols. Daughter of Brittney Boone-Nichols. Perhaps you’ve heard of her?”

The detective nodded with a glazed-over look in his eye. Perfect. What better way to convince my heart I was over Damian than throwing myself at another man? Even if it was pretend.

I moved behind him and ran a hand down the side of his face as I pushed my body flush with his back. “I have no idea why Melissa didn’t jump at the chance to date you. Any girl would consider herself lucky to find a catch like you, Warner. Any girl.” I moved my hand down the detective’s chest, and he stiffened up like cardboard. “I’m any girl. We could be together, but first, we need to prove to everyone that this wasn’t your fault. We just have to find the person who made you do those things I know you didn’t want to do.”

Stepping away, I smiled knowingly at Morris’s shocked expression. Living with a pack of liars had its advantages.

From the back of the group, I could swear I heard Damian growl, but his face was blank. Wishful thinking.

“It’s not the most conventional tactic, but it’s worth a shot.” Sean rubbed at the back of his neck. “He refuses to speak to anyone on the force, and Mayor Murdock brought in a lawyer from out of town who keeps telling him to keep quiet. This might be our only shot.”

“Then it’s a done deal.” I took a deep breath to calm my nerves. Brittney Boone-Nichols might be my mom, but that didn’t mean I had her confidence.

Morris led us around the corner to the bank of elevators and up to the third floor. I pushed myself into the corner as far from Damian as I could get. This close, I couldn’t trust my hands not to reach out to him. Not when I could really use the steadying calm of his hand in mine.

We made a mass exodus from the elevator, the seven of us flowing out like we’d ridden in a clown car. The hallway was calm. Morris nodded at the two women behind the nurse’s station. One of them came scurrying around the counter.

“Detective Morris,” she purred, twirling the stethoscope around her neck where her scrubs dipped to reveal a hint of cleavage. “I wasn’t expecting you. Your partner is already inside.”

“What the...” Morris turned to stare down the hallway just as a familiar man left one of the rooms.

I took a step away from the group. “Vincent?”

He stopped, turned toward me, his eyes widening in alarm. “Alex.” He gave me a tight, fake smile.

“What are you doing here?” I asked.

Lake stepped up next to me. “That’s not Vincent. That’s Roger from Mountain Brews.” She looked at me like I’d gone crazy.

But I hadn’t.

“Were you just in room 329?” Detective Morris called from the back of the group. “That room is off limits to unauthorized visitors.”

Vincent froze for a second, his face pale and his eyes wide. The stillness erupted with the sound of alarms coming from the room behind Vincent and the nurse’s desk behind us. Staff flew into action, but no one moved faster than Vincent. He turned and sprinted to the other end of the hallway.

Before I could say another word, Damian flew by me, running faster than should be normal. He hit Vincent in the back and wrapped his arms around his waist as they both sailed off their feet to the floor.

“Holy shit.” I ran to where the two of them tangled on the floor, but Damian yelled for me to stay back.

Detective Morris helped Damian hold Vincent down while he cuffed Vincent’s hands behind his back.

I leaned against the wall and stared at the chaos around me. Just how deep did this rabbit hole go?