Page 18 of Tripp

We chuckled. “I was always outta my league when it came to this one.” I motioned with my chin to where he sat. “He got his smarts from his mama.”

“And his looks from his daddy.” She patted my hand.

“I’ll take that.” I chuckled.

“Okay, now that I have food in me, care to talk about this case?” Phoenix interjected, pulling a notebook from the back waistband of his jeans.

“Sure. There’s not much to tell yet. I was trying to dig up anything when life threw me in a blender.” She shrugged.

We could see the uneasiness in her eyes. We would get to the bottom of this. One way or another.

Today. Tomorrow. Next week. It didn’t matter, I’d sort it out. I’d do anything to make sure she was safe.

Chapter 7

Casey

How could I forget I’d seen someone get shot?

Had I seen that though? Wasn’t there a possible body bag? God, my head was all over the place. As I flipped through the pictures I’d uploaded to my laptop, my head started to hurt.

I rubbed my temples. Maybe looking at these while we drove to the Sheriff’s Office wasn’t a good idea. Maybe I was just getting car sick?

“What’s wrong?”

I think I saw some bad shit go down, but I’m not sure I wasn’t just hallucinating or something.”

“What do you think you saw? Are you remembering something you didn’t tell us about yesterday?”

His hands tightened on the steering wheel as he navigated the small town traffic. My minivan was not as big as his Jeep, but driving a vehicle you aren’t used to can play with your head.

“Yes? Maybe?”

When the Sheriff’s Office came into sight, he relaxed. With us safe, parked in the lot, he turned in the seat to look at me.

“Close your eyes and think back to the beginning. You decided to climb that tree, to see over the wall. Start there. What did you see first? Do you have a picture to reference? Something that matches up with that memory?”

I let out a long breath, clearing my lungs, then I slowly inhaled. My eyes closed, and I followed his instructions.

“It’s easy to forget facts when your body and mind are stressed. You lost blood, the elements were toying with you. Don’t feel bad, okay, just try to remember back to that first moment.”

I replayed the events. The boxes being unloaded. The black bag. The fighting. The argument and the man pulling a gun. The flash of the bullet firing.

My eyes flew open as a gasp escaped me. “My God. He did shoot him.” Tears blurred my eyes. “How could I forget that? We need to alert someone!”

“Whoa. Hey. Deep breaths, baby. Calm your voice before you scare Penny. Okay. We’ll let the right people know. I promise.”

I looked back to where Penny sat, snoozing in her car seat. “It’s been three days!”

“Case, sweetheart, take a deep breath. You’re going to pass out if you don’t.”

“Fuck.”

My hands went over my face as I tried to get a grip on the emotions rolling through me right now. I was not proud that it took so long, but finally, I sat up fully, wiping my face.

“I’m sorry.”

“You have absolutely nothing to be sorry for.” He leaned in and kissed me softly. His touch did help me calm down a little more. “If you’re ready, let’s go inside and give everyone a rundown of events.”

---