Page 94 of The Secrets She Keeps

“I think we destroyed her. The TSP. Kimball. Wilson.Me.” Even including himself in that list with those two bastards. But that was where he belonged.

He would never forget the bruises on her face.

Or the way she looked in that video, the way she soundedas she told one of Daniel’s closest friends in the world that Daniel made her sick and that he had used her. That Daniel didn’t care if she lived or died as long as he got what he wanted in the end. Thelookon her face as she’d basically collapsed in Mac’s arms—it would haunt Daniel forever.

And he didn’t know how to make it right.

“How do I make it up to her, El?”

Elliot just shook his head. “That’s for you to figure out. But for now—I have people on scene of the warehouse fire. In the morning, I want you down there. See what is left. It is expected to burn for a few days, though. It might take us a while to get inside. Heather is the only one who can give us something to go on right now. And that isn’t happening at the moment.”

“What is on that zip drive she had?”

“I still have people trying to extract the data. People I trust.” Elliot looked at him, a hard expression in his green eyes. “It won’t be entered into evidence until that is finished.”

“Haldyn?” She was still on medical leave, but she was at the Barratts’ place. Probably worrying herself sick over her closest friend in the world. Jarrod was with her now. Jarrod had taken a month’s leave to take care of her. They probably only had a few hours before Haldyn showed up to get Powell herself.

“Haldyn and Gabby. Brynna’s there to help if needed. Haldyn signed off on it. She’ll enter it into the system after the drive is duplicated. We have clear chain of custody established. A TSP detective turned it over to an attorney on film, who turned it over immediately to me. Mac didn’t have time or opportunity to alter it. So it’ll hold up in court. But with the way things have been disappearing…”

“Heather’s clothes?”

“I sent them to the lab with Dom personally.”

Daniel nodded. Then asked the question he hadn’t wanted to ever have to ask. “Were there any signs of sexual assault? Any…DNA?”

“Nikkie Jean said no signs of rape or sexual assault. But Heather has some definite bruising on her chest. Heather told Nikkie Jean they ‘didn’t hurt her that way again.’ Her exact words to Nikkie Jean. But they were planning to—she said asmuch, and Powell said so, as well. We will have to wait for Heather to wake before we get more details.”

“Will she be able to give a statement?” Daniel asked. He was itching to get back out there. Where he could watch over her. The Barratt-Handley guards on each end of the hall just didn’t feel like they would ever be enough.

“I don’t know. It depends. She was definitely in shock in the video. Traumatized, after years of being traumatized by the TSP.” Elliot’s fury and disgust was there in his eyes, on his face. “I’m not sure she will be able to give us anything at all. We’re not going to push her, either, Dan. We just aren’t. Nikkie Jean believes that if we push her now, Heather is going to shut down completely. That woman is on her last reserves. I don’t want to be the one to shove her off that ledge.”

“We need to know what happened. How else are we going to catch these bastards?” Daniel fought the frustration. Every time they came close to getting somethingto go on—everything was destroyed.

And it cost more and more each time.

“We’ll know more in the morning. When Heather wakes. I want to be there when she’s interviewed.”

“I’ll be here. I owe her that much.”

And so much more.

64

Trey was so damnedfurious he wanted to rip the men around him apart. But he couldn’t do that. They were already watching him like he’d let them down. Like it was his fault Spencer and Bryce were dead.

Instead of that bitch Heather’s. It was her fault those guys were dead.

She’d killed them both.Fucking Heather Coleson.

What kind of bitch could kill a man six inches taller than she was and a hundred pounds heavier, with nothing more than a box cutter and a pipe, then knock out a guy even bigger? They hadn’t been able to get Bryce out of there in time. They just hadn’t.

Trey would neverforget how it had hurt to make the decision to leave a guy behind to die in the very fire they had started. But he’d had to. Bryce was too damned big to get out of there like that.

He’d made them leave Bryce behind.

Now, every time the rest of them looked at him, the knowledge was in their eyes. They were blaming him now. Treywouldn’t call Bryce a friend or nothing, but they had worked together for more than ten years.

Spencer had been dead long before the fire ever got Bryce. Because of Fucking Heather Coleson.

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