Page 78 of What They'll Say About Us

"Which was appreciated. But you have to understand there are lines I can't cross."

"I do understand, Colton."

He let out a sigh. "I think I'm going to be sorry I suggested we drop my official title."

"I just want to get to the truth. And the more I know, the more I can help you. I'll be an unofficial advisor with an inside track. You can trust me to keep my promise, to keep things private. There are things I can say that have nothing to do with you, too."

"What kind of things?"

"I talk to people on my own. I can share what I've learned. But that doesn't matter. The podcast is secondary to getting Paige's killer. And it's better if we work together." I could see he wasn't convinced. "I have skin in the game," I reminded him. "I was almost killed last night. And I just spoke to Morgan, and someone found the hotel we were at. They followed her. They were watching her."

"What are you talking about?"

I opened my purse and pulled out my notes. "She got the license plate. But she couldn't see the driver. Can you run this plate?"

"Yes. But I think we need to get someone over there to check in with Morgan."

"She's not there anymore. She snuck out the back door, got a ride to a different hotel in a different location. She paid cash for the room and got a prepaid phone so no one could track her phone. I also got one, so we could communicate."

He gave me a long look. "That's good, but you're way out of your depth, Tessa."

"I know. I need your help. I can only do so much on my own. So, let me help."

"All right, but we talk before you put anything out there."

"Deal. In addition to getting this license plate number from Morgan, I also spoke to Liam, and he had a lead I think you might be interested in."

"Hold on one second," he said, sending a text on his phone. "I want to get this plate run."

"How long will that take?"

"Not long. Tell me about Liam."

"I will, but first, I want to know what you've learned about Cabot's death. I already gave you a license plate. Your turn to share. What was in his notes?"

"First, I want to say that he had notes on many of his cases, and he had a long career, so the fact that we found a page of comments on Paige's death was lucky, because he never threw anything away."

"Did he talk about Hale?"

"He said that even if Hale had had an affair with Paige, he didn't believe Hale was a suspect and that exposing the affair would only damage a good man's reputation and not lead to a killer."

"Wow," I murmured. "I'm surprised he wrote that down. He was friends with Hale, so clearly he didn't want to believe that Hale was guilty of more than adultery, but that might not have been correct."

"He should have followed up," Colton agreed. "He also noted that he'd heard about the affair from the roommate, but she wavered between whether they'd actually slept together or not."

"That confirms what Sloane told me."

"But her statement was unclear."

"Did he ever ask Hale directly about the affair?"

"It wasn't clear in the notes whether that conversation took place. These were more his thoughts about what he was learning as it was happening."

"Anything else?"

"He found your boyfriend's story to be a little thin. He thought Liam was evasive and unhelpful and wondered if you two might have conspired to get Paige out of your life."

"What?" I asked in shock. "That's ridiculous."