Beyond Doubt by Molly Black

Author:Molly Black [Black, Molly]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Molly Black
Published: 2023-04-03T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

"I didn't know you were cops," Tyler said. "I swear."

Reese brushed sand from her ear, her lips pressed together in a skeptical frown as she regarded Tyler, who sat across the table from her in the Bellmoor Police Department's interview room. After returning to the department, she had changed into a spare set of clothes she kept there for such a situation, while Clay had retrieved a duffel bag from Tyler's skiff so that Tyler could change into dry clothes as well.

Drying her hair, however, was a different matter entirely. It clung wetly to her neck like a cold snake, and she wished the room were a few degrees warmer.

Clay snorted, clearly unconvinced by Tyler's excuse. "Really?" he asked. "What about when we said, 'This is the police?' That didn't tip you off?"

Tyler opened his mouth to speak, then seemed to think better of it and closed it again. He sank back into his seat, his worried eyes darting about as if searching for an exit.

"The more you lie to us," Reese said, "the more difficult this will be for you. You might as well come clean now and save yourself some trouble."

Tyler frowned at the table. He seemed to be debating what to do—either that or trying to come up with a good lie.

"Okay, okay," he said, resigned. "I figured you were here about the lighthouse murder. That's what it is, right?"

"What do you know about it?" Reese asked.

Tyler shrugged. "Just the obvious. A man was found dead there last night."

"And you thought we'd suspect you because you're the groundskeeper?"

He nodded. "That, and past events as well."

Reese blinked at him. She didn't know what secrets might lie in Tyler's past, but she didn't want him to know that, so she decided to take a shot in the dark.

"Your criminal history, you mean," she said.

He nodded, pressing his lips together grimly.

"Why don't you tell us about that?"

"Where do I start? It's a tired old tale—kid grows up in a bad neighborhood, no father figure in his life, falls in with the wrong group of people and keeps going down the wrong path." He shook his head. "It's not a proud story."

"Then give us the highlights," Clay said.

Tyler grunted. "Highlights? More like lowlights. It started out as petty theft—a pack of cigarettes here, a comic book there—and before I knew it, I was the getaway driver for my two buddies when they held up a liquor store. I got five years for that. After I got out, I stayed out of trouble for a while, but then I fell in with the wrong people again and got caught up in a drug deal. That earned me another five years."

Tyler hung his head, his expression that of a man who knew he had made some serious mistakes.

Reese could see the pieces of the puzzle coming together. According to Tyler, he had been in the wrong place at the wrong time, and his past was coming back to haunt him. She felt

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