Page 85 of Trapper Road

“Did you feel like he was a credible threat to you and your family?” Diakos asks.

I almost laugh. “Not even a question,” I say without hesitation. “After my conversation with Leo, I have no doubt he would come after us if he could.”

“How do you feel about the prospect that he could be dead?”

I hadn’t even thought about what his death meant for me and Gwen. With him gone, that’s one more threat eliminated. A weight lifts from my shoulders. “Pretty damn glad I have a solid alibi.”

He smiles. “I can imagine, especially given the police report he recently filed against you.”

This stops me cold. I frown. “Police report?”

“For communicating threats.” He pulls another paper from the file and slides it toward me. “A pretty minor offense — only a misdemeanor. More than likely the cops would have filed it away and never thought twice about it.”

I glance at the date. It was filed a couple of days ago. According to Leo, I called him and threatened his life. He claimed to have a recording of the call which he played for the police. Apparently I screamed at several points and called him an asshole and bitter and spiteful. They noted that I told Leo I would come for him any way I could.

I try to think back to our actual phone conversation. I don’t specifically remember saying those things, but it wouldn’t surprise me if I had. I was pissed off and Leo was threatening my family.

I’m about to explain that that wasn’t how the conversation went, that Leo was the one threatening us, but I think better of it. Because suddenly a thought occurs to me, one that I should have considered well before now. But I’d been too upset over the thought of Leo in our house to put the pieces together.

If the blood belonged to Leo, and it was enough that no human could survive that amount of loss, that meant someone killed him. And Detective Diakos just handed me evidence that I’d been threatening him. It doesn’t matter that it’s bullshit, or that I had nothing to do with this. Gwen and I have had enough experiences with false accusations to know how little it takes to convince others of someone’s guilt.

“I have an alibi,” I say again.

He nods. “You mentioned that.”

I try to read his expression, to see if he believes me. The guy has an amazing poker face. I remind myself that Kez sent him to talk to me. She wouldn’t have done that if she thought I might be in trouble. She’d have warned me.

Diakos flicks through a few more pages in his folder. “About your alibi, we checked into it.” He passes several pages across the table, several of them grainy black and white photos. “We pulled the security camera footage from the hotel and have the timestamps of you coming and going that night. We also checked your cell phone location, and it shows you being in near the Reyne University campus the whole evening.”

I feel a massive wave of relief at having my alibi verified. “Makes sense, since that’s where I was.”

He says nothing, just pulls out a few more photos and hands them across to me. They’re grainy close-ups of my license plate. “That your car?”

I take a closer look. They’re not the best pictures as they look like they were taken at night, but my plate is still readable. What I can see of the bumper looks like mine as well, down to the well worn trailer hitch and the scratch along the paint. “Looks to be.”

His expression doesn’t change. “I’m sure you’re aware of the concept of automated license plate readers,” he explains.

I nod.

“Good. Well, we ran your plate through the system and got several hits. All of the locations being what you’d expect driving from Reyne to Stillhouse Lake.” He shows me a map with several spots marked with an X.

“Yeah, last night,” I tell him. “That’s the route my daughter and I drove once Kez called.”

Something in him shifts, making me suddenly uneasy. Gone is the casual, laid back twenty-something just having a conversation with a friend. In its place is someone shrewd, someone who came into this interrogation room with a plan and has executed it exactly as intended.

“Actually,” he says. “The license plates hits are from the night before. The night forensics thinks Leonard Varrus was attacked in your house.”

I go instantly cold. There’s no way that’s possible. “It’s got to be an error. I was on campus most of the night.” I flip through the photos, finding the ones from the hotel security camera. I hold them up. “See, this proves it.”

“It proves you left the hotel at nine and returned after three in the morning,” he says evenly. “That’s six hours. It takes two hours to make the drive between Reyne and Stillhouse Lake, especially if you’re speeding. Which you were given the timestamps on your license plate captures.”

The blood drains from my face. He’s saying I no longer have an alibi. He’s saying it looks like I might have been involved in Leo’s murder. I know I should shut up. I’m in deep shit and anything more I say could just make it worse. But I can’t help myself. “I didn’t do this.”

His poker face slips, and underneath, I see genuine regret. “Unfortunately, Mr. Cade, the evidence suggests otherwise.”

25

GWEN

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