Page 49 of Tango
Chapter 17
Tucker
Seeing Alice frantic and terrified that she’s lost another friend was the wake-up call I needed. She’s not guilty. Any shred of suspicion I had after seeing that video validated is gone. Vanished.
I doubt the woman has ever even double-parked.
She’s silent beside me as we drive the UTV to my favorite place in the world. Tango is behind us in the bed, excited to be getting out. It’s still dark, barely five in the morning, but the sun will be rising soon, and I’m hoping with it, we’ll get happy news.
Or at least, not terrible news.
The fact that Alaric still hasn’t called me back is a bit concerning, but I’m trying to remind myself that it takes time to drive in LA traffic, no matter the time of day. He’d assured me he’d go himself, and that’ll take time.
I pull the UTV to a stop beside the river that runs through our property. Then I shut the engine off so we can hear the water rushing through the riverbed. For me, the white noise is a soothing way to drown out the worries. Here’s hoping it works for her too.
Tango jumps out to explore a bit, just like he always does.
“Logan and I dated for about six months,” she says, speaking for the first time since we left the house.
I hate the bite of jealousy because it’s not at all how I want to feel. And it’s completely unwarranted. “I figured as much. Though the length of time was what I wasn’t sure on.”
She offers me a half smile. “He’s a great guy and was a fantastic boyfriend. Treated me to nice dinners, helped me move into my apartment, and bought me flowers. Aside from the jealousy he felt over Ramiro, he was the perfect boyfriend.”
“Yikes. Didn’t like the best friend? That’s a no-go.”
I get another smile out of her. “Yeah. I tried to assure him that he had nothing to worry about, and I guess I get it—I knew how Ramiro felt about me. But I couldn’t bring myself to turn my back on him. Not when he’d been there for me when I first started at the company. And Ramiro was always respectful of my relationship with Logan.”
“That’s good.”
“He was a great man.” She takes a sip of her coffee. “They both were.”
“None of this is your fault.”
She turns to me. “Until that message came in, you were going to have me arrested for murder.”
“I was thinking about it,” I reply with a grin. Truth is, I’d already made up my mind that I wasn’t going to turn her in. Even if it meant keeping something from my brothers for the first time since I ate Riley’s last chocolate Easter egg in the seventh grade. “The truth is, I believe you’re innocent, Alice. I feel it in my gut. I just don’t know how to prove it.”
“We need to stop focusing on proving my innocence and start pushing to uncover what they’re trying to hide.”
“I agree.”
“I’m not sure how we do that without getting into Web Safe, though.”
“We’ll find a way.”
Silence descends around us, with nothing but the rushing water and crickets to fill the air. Even Tango is silent as he watches the water, probably looking for shadows of fish moving beneath the surface.
“You know, I never questioned my career choice. Not even for a second. But these days, I’m honestly wishing I’d just gone into graphic design like I wanted to in the first place.”
“Graphic design?”
She nods. “I did a little on the side when I was in high school and college.”
“What made you go cybersecurity instead?”
She falls silent for a moment then turns to me, tears shimmering in her eyes beneath the bright moon overhead. “I wanted to do good in the world. Even if I couldn’t be out there fighting crime, I wanted to help.”
“Kind of seems like you’re doing both now.” I bump her with my shoulder, and she smiles at me. But that smile fades almost as quickly as it came.
