Page 66 of One Cut Deeper

There isn’t any edge to the sheriff’s voice, no hint at condemnation or outrage. He might as well have asked me where I shop for groceries. “Sort of. I’ve spent every night here since, but I wouldn’t say I’m living here. These are his things.”

I’m his thing. His possession. But they won’t understand that.

“Do you know what business he’s involved in?”

“He said he’s a troubleshooter for Doctors Without Borders.” Truth. Maybe not all of the truth, but I don’t have to say more if they don’t ask. “I found some pictures in his bedroom the first time someone tried to break in.”

“Wait, the first time? Deputy, do you have anything on that?”

Deputy Daniels flips through his notes. “No sir. That wasn’t mentioned in the first interview.”

“My first night here, Sheba growled at the back door. Charlie called me because the motion sensors went off but the inside alarm never went off.”

“But you don’t know who or what it was?”

“No. No one got in. When Tasker approached me outside the college building, I assumed it was him.”

“You saw this man Tasker twice, right?” Deputy Daniels scans his notes. “Christmas Eve, near here. And then a few days later.”

“Yes.”

“And you haven’t seen him since?”

“No.”

“Do you think he’s the one who broke in New Year’s Eve?”

I open my mouth but hesitate. I want to say yes. So badly. I want it to be simple. Even now, even though Charlie is gone, and I’m alone, I can’t disobey him. I can’t lie.

I try again and finally whisper, “No.”

“Why not?”

Tears trickle faster down my cheeks. “Because he knew about Sheba. She tried to get him at the college. He saw how mean she gets when someone’s trying to hurt me. Why would he then try to break in and let her bite him?”

“Do you know who else might want to hurt you or Mr. MacNiall?”

“No idea.”

Sheriff Cutler nods and shares a long look with his deputy. “I’m going to ask you some difficult questions now, Miss Killian.”

I sniff my nose and swipe my cheeks. “Okay.”

Deputy Daniels steps into the kitchen and gets me a paper towel. Grateful, I wipe my eyes and nose.

“Would Mr. MacNiall want to hurt you in any way that isn’t consensual?”

“No.” I say it with all the conviction and belief in my heart. He already had the perfect opportunity to kill me. He held a knife to my throat while he fucked me. But he took exquisite care to give us both the danger and pain we wanted without ever making me think I was taking my last breath. “He’d never hurt me like that.”

“You’re sure?”

“Absolutely. I don’t know what’s going on, but I know that.”

“He left you,” Deputy Daniels says. “He abandoned you. Are you sure you can trust him?”

I press the paper towel to my face and hide my eyes for a moment. I suck at hiding my emotions, and I don’t want them to see my raw feelings reflected in my eyes. Rage that he’s gone. Desperation. My overwhelming need for him, my weakness, all my dirty laundry.

I don’t wantthemto know. Not if I can help it. Finally I get a damper on some of that tumult. I push it down, down into the broken heart of me that he owns. And I lock it there, for him, when he returns.He promised.

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