Page 111 of Shattered By the Currents

A few minutes of silence passed before Ryan broke it. “This probably isn’t what you want to hear, but this feels eerily similar to?—”

“Don’t say it. This is nothing like what happened with Margaret.”

Not entirely true. He’d stormed down to the station for her too. He’d gone in to fight for her and refused to leave for hours. Only Margarethadcommitted the crimes she’d been accused of. Something she’d only admitted to when the evidence was stacked against her.

But Raven was innocent. There wasn’t a part of him, not a single fucking fraction of his soul, that suspected she held an ounce of guilt.

He wasn’t making the same mistake as last time by putting Raven in the same category as his ex.

The door to the station opened a second time and finally, Ward stepped in.

The sheriff frowned at them. “What are you…” He sighed. “I can’t tell you anything about the case.” He shuffled into his office, a paper bag with The Pancake Bar logo across the front.

Both he and Ryan stormed inside after him.

Ward dropped the bag onto the desk. “Boys?—”

“Why was she arrested?” Connor growled.

Ward lowered into his seat. “I told you, I can’t?—”

Connor slammed his hands on Ward’s desk. “You’ve let us in on cases so we could help you before. Let us help you now and get her the hell out of here. She’s innocent.”

“You’re too close to this.”

“So imagine how hard we’ll work to clear her name and find the real killer,” Ryan said from behind Connor, a hell of a lot calmer.

Ward huffed as he leaned back in his seat and crossed his arms over his protruding stomach. “This is a pretty open-and-shut case. Apart from the fact that Raven and Lottie very publicly disliked each other, we found Lottie’s murder weapon. Raven’s prints were on it.”

Connor frowned. “That’s not possible.”

“It is. There were also traces of blood from a Sampson Pritchard on the knife. He was a young man who was found stabbed to death in North Dakota. His body was only located a few days ago, but he was close to Raven Price too. It appears your Raven is a killer.”

The son of a bitch. Xander had used the same murder weapon. “Where did you find it?”

“The murder weapon? Ferris found it outside the community center.”

Connor’s eyes narrowed. “Wouldn’t you have already searched there after Lottie’s death?”

“Well, yes, but my boys obviously missed it.”

Connor laughed, but it came out sharp and edged with anger. “It was planted after the fact.”

Ward shook his head. “No. Who would?—”

“Youknowwho. Her ex.”

“I told you. There’s no evidence that?—”

A deep voice in the hall pulled Connor’s attention away from whatever Ward said next.

He knew that voice. And the asshole had no right to be here unless he was in cuffs.

Connor stormed out, ignoring Ryan’s call for him to stay. The second he spotted the fucker coming out of an interview room, Connor saw red.

He grabbed Xander by the collar of his shirt and threw him into the wall. “Youdid this.”

Xander’s shock shifted into a cocky brow lift. “Don’t know what you’re talking about.”