Page 69 of What They'll Say About Us

"A relationship he denies."

"Well, as you said, of course he would deny it. He has nothing to gain by coming clean and he has everything to lose. I wonder if his wife knew about his affair. Maybe we should talk to her."

"There's no we," he countered. "You shouldn't have come here on your own. You almost lost your life in a fire last night. Why would you trust Hale not to come after you, if you think he's a killer?"

"I didn't think he would do anything to me in his office. I felt it was a risk worth taking. Obviously, my podcast has made someone very nervous. They're tying up loose ends."

"And you are a big loose end. You and your friend. Where is she?"

"In a hotel behind a locked door that hopefully no one knows anything about."

"You didn't feel like staying behind that locked door? Is your podcast worth taking possibly fatal risks?"

"It's not about the podcast. It's about Paige. I was friends with her before we became bitter rivals. Even then, I felt a gut-wrenching pain when she died. We were kids, barely twenty-one. We never thought someone our age, in our group, could die like that."

"It's rough when someone that young dies unexpectedly and inexplicably," he murmured. "I had her face in my head for a long time. I wasn't that much older than you were back then. I hadn't seen a lot of dead bodies yet."

"Last night was the first time I saw one. I can't get Detective Cabot's face out of my mind. I'm sorry you had to see your friend and mentor that way. I know that didn't feel like just the job to you."

"No, it didn't. At first, when he was face down, I had hope, but when I turned him over to administer CPR, I knew he was gone. Now, I need to know why. Our team took a lot of things out of his house. I'm going to head back to the station to see if they found anything."

"Will you tell me what you learn?"

He frowned. "I don't know."

I appreciated his honesty but not his answer. "Really? We're back to that?"

"If I feel you can be helpful, I will let you know. That will have to be good enough for now."

"Okay. Do you want your Jeep back?"

"No. I have a car. I can get it later."

"I can bring it to you at the station so you can drive it home."

"I'll text you this afternoon and we can figure it out. In the meantime, you can use it."

"Thank you. I no longer have access to my aunt's car. It burned in the fire. Do you know if there are clues as to who might have set it?"

"I know there are investigators working on it. The camera at the back of the building was disabled, and a window was broken, which was the point of entry. They're looking at cameras in the area to see if anything or anyone pops out as being tied to Paige's case or to you. In the meantime, I would take what happened as a very severe and urgent warning. They didn't burn down that building to scare you. They were hoping you wouldn't make it out."

A cold chill ran through me. "I know. But that makes me want to find whoever did that even more."

"That's the wrong reaction."

"I'm just being honest."

"I'll walk you to my Jeep. Where did you park?"

"The parking lot behind the building." I fell into step alongside him. "I'm glad you're digging into all this."

"Well, you didn't give me much choice, and after what happened to Vincent, I am all in."

I gave him a quick look, hearing the painful emotion in his voice. "Do you think you have it in you to prove that your mentor deliberately closed an investigation to keep a friend out of jail?"

"I'm not sure that's what happened. But I follow the facts, Tessa. And if that's where they lead, I'll deal with it."

"You're very pragmatic. I tend to be more impulsive and emotional," I said as we reached the Jeep.