Page 60 of A Little Bit Whiskey
“He says he got the smoking gun during the last search.”
“That’s bullshit.” She scanned the room. Fred stood in the back corner. In fucking uniform. When did he do that? Asshole. “Excuse me.”
Eddy curled his fingers around her forearm. “Don’t do it.”
“Let go of me.” She jerked her arm free and marched—more like wobbled in her high heels—toward Fred. Nothing was going to stop her from having words with her boss. She reached up and grabbed the pendant as if to give her luck. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?”
Fred lowered his chin. “Excuse me?”
“You can’t arrest Weezer. That’s wrong.” She held the pendant so tight she worried it might break.
Fred’s face hardened. He narrowed his eyes. “We’re not having this discussion here. Actually, we’re not having it all.”
She dropped her hand to her side. “Oh, yes, we are. I might not have seen all the evidence, but I know a few things.”
His jaw dropped open. His gaze went from her necklace to her face and back to her necklace. His eyes widened with a hint of recognition.
He knew what it was. He’d seen it when they pulled her mother’s body from the shallow grave.
“I don’t have time for your antics right now,” he said behind tight lips. “You’re too emotionally involved. I want you to stay out of this and Eddy is in deep shit for telling you anything. Don’t you dare warn anyone. Get out of here. Let me do my job.” He turned on his heel and left her standing there.
She dug into her purse and quickly sent a text to the River family. Yeah, she wasn’t going to stay quiet. Once that was done, she raced off after Fred. That conversation was far from over.
Fred had slinked out the side door, leading toward the path that went to the vineyard.
But he wasn’t alone. He had Anna with him—more like he was dragging her down the path.
What the hell?
God, she wished she weren’t in heels.
Her first instinct was to race to them and continue confronting Fred until she got her answers. But she didn’t like the way he manhandled Anna. She’d never seen that before. Anna ruled the roost.
It had always beenyes, dear, whatever you want, dear.He cowered to her and gave her whatever she wanted. He almost never raised his voice to her and he never laid a hand on her.
Ever.
This seemed over the top, and most certainly out of place.
She slinked up the side of the path, hiding herself in the trees. She needed to get close enough to them so she could hear their hushed voices without being seen.
“Have you seen Tamsyn tonight?” Fred asked Anna.
“I have and I can’t believe she didn’t take the bait. That she didn’t immediately call you when she found the necklace. Maybe she doesn’t remember it was her mother’s.”
Holy shit. Tamsyn swallowed. She needed backup. And fast. She fumbled with the clasp on her purse, finding her phone, and she texted Eddy, giving him her location.
“Why didn’t you tell me you did that?” Fred held Anna by the shoulders and shook her.
“You told me to plant things in the house. I did that.”
“Not the necklace. Never the necklace. She was wearing that when she disappeared. It was on the body when we recovered it. And seriously, Anna. A shallow grave? On the winery? I told you to let me handle that. I told you I would take care of everything and now I’ve got to clean up your mess. Again. If you had listened to me and let me deal with moving the body and everything else, this wouldn’t be such a shitshow.”
Tears burned a path down Tamsyn’s frozen cheeks. She stepped from the shadows. “You killed my mother. You moved her body and tried to frame the Rivers. Why?” She stood ten paces away, staring at the two people who had told her they wanted to be a family. That they loved her like their own.
Nothing in her world made sense.
Fred spun on his heel. He drew his gun.
