Cold Case Suspect by Kayla Perrin

Author:Kayla Perrin
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2022-06-09T15:52:16+00:00

* * *

TAVIS PULLED UP alongside Deedee’s vehicle. Deedee wound down the window, and both she and Shayla looked out at him.

“Shayla, are you heading back to your place?” Tavis asked.

“Yeah,” Shayla told him.

“I’ll be there soon. I have to check something out.” His gaze wandered ahead, and Shayla tried to follow his line of sight. The crowd was scattering, and she couldn’t see whom he was specifically eyeing.

“No problem,” she said. “See you soon.”

Tavis drove off, and Deedee started up the car and began to move. She drove carefully, as some people were walking into the street to get to their own vehicles.

“Is that how it always is?” Shayla asked. “The balloons, candles, the speeches.”

“Yeah,” Deedee said. “It’s a time for everyone to reflect and remember, and many people want to speak.”

Shayla nodded, once again feeling a wave of emotion at the thought of Hayley being cut down in the prime of her life. She wished that she could have spoken up about her friendship with Hayley and how much she’d loved her, but she couldn’t dare. Not when she was public enemy number one.

“At least I don’t think anyone really noticed us,” Deedee said. “That’s what I was worried about, and that people would give you a hard time. Like they did at the first vigil.”

“I wasn’t going to let anyone force me away this time. I needed to be there. It felt... In a way, it felt like a bit of closure. Not fully, but at least I was able to feel close to Hayley without anyone getting in my way.”

“I’m glad you got out of it what you wanted.”

Shayla had gotten some of what she’d wanted, but not all. “If you don’t mind, I’d like to go to the cemetery.”

“Why?” Deedee asked.

“I have something... I want to leave it at the grave. I think it will give me the full closure that I’m looking for.”

Deedee’s eyes narrowed as she looked at her. “What do you have?”

Shayla wiggled the fingers on her left hand. “The silver band on my pinkie. Hayley gave it to me when we were ten. It’s cheap—she won it in a gumball machine. But to me it meant the world, because she said it was proof that we would be BFFs forever. She had one too...” Shayla’s voice trailed off. “Anyway, I want to leave it at the grave for her.”

Deedee reached for her hand and squeezed. “Oh, hon. I’m so sorry.”

“I hope that as she was dying, she knew that I loved her with all my heart. She was the sister I never had.”

“I’m sure she did,” Deedee said.

“I haven’t been able to visit her grave in all these years,” Shayla went on. “I feel as though there’s unfinished business between us. Words left unsaid. So I want to say them to her. And I hope that wherever she is, she can hear me.”

“I totally understand,” Deedee said. “Absolutely, I’ll take you to the cemetery.”

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