Page 101 of Wife Number One

His actions spoke louder than his words ever had.

But I had to tell the police the truth. “I didn’t see any of them following us.”

“So you have no proof Josiah or any of his colleagues were in Saint View the night Alice was murdered?”

Reluctantly, I shook my head.

Except I knew in my heart they were. I knew with every fiber of my being that Josiah hadn’t just watched us drive away, shrugged, and decided to carry on with his life.

That wasn’t the sort of man he was.

I’d wronged him, and there would be punishment for it. Josiah never left a sin to go unpunished. My chest tightened at the memory of all the punishments I’d received from him. My leg bounced uncontrollably beneath the table, adrenaline flooding my system at the memories.

The room felt too small. I wanted to get up and run. Or stand and scream. But I couldn’t do either. So I concentrated all that feeling into my leg instead.

The female detective jotted something down on her pad. “Good. Because that checks out with their alibis as well as some other information that has come to light about Alice’s death.”

“What information would that be?” Hawk asked the cops. Beneath the table, his hand came to rest on my leg.

I sucked in a breath at his touch, the heavy weight pinning my leg so it stilled.

The male detective cleared his throat. “That’s what we came here to discuss. We have other persons of interest in this case.”

“Who?” Rebel demanded.

The detective folded his hands on top of his paperwork and directed his attention to my sister. “Kyle, the young man who left with Alice and Kara for one. We haven’t been able to locate him.”

“Kyle?” Rebel asked. “That kid was so in love with Alice, I could see it from the moment he stepped foot out of the car.” She looked at me. “Do you think he had it in him? He seemed like a nice kid.”

“Unrequited love is often a motive for murder,” the female cop explained. “The boy’s parents told us he’d been quite infatuated with your sister for some time. That she’d been found in his room a few times.”

I shook my head. “No. I don’t believe that.”

“They’ve said she was quite promiscuous. They believe she lured him away from their community.”

“What?” I shouted. “That isn’t true! We had to leave. Kyle helped us. Alice never forced him to do anything. How could she? She had nothing! Women aren’t allowed anything of their own.”

The detective looked up at me. “We’ll get to the bottom of that when Kyle is located. It’s not something you need to worry about. We just wanted you to know we don’t believe it was anyone from the Ethereal Eden commune, and they’ve assured us they have no interest in where you are or what you’re doing. The message from Josiah was…” She flipped open her notebook once more to read from the scrawl written across one page. “The Lord has many paths to His kingdom, and Kara is on her own journey. We wish her all the best on her spiritual quest.”

War groaned and rolled his eyes. “Excuse me while I choke on that bullshit.”

Rebel argued with the cops, questioning where they’d searched for Kyle and how they could have no leads on a kid who had no money and no resources to survive in the world by himself. “Josiah and his cult of freaks have to be hiding him. You do know that, right? Josiah is probably the one who sent him with Alice and Kara in the first place! What if that was his plan all along? For Kyle to stay with Alice just long enough for him to report back to Josiah and—”

“Ms. Kemp,” the female detective interrupted. “Like I said, we’ll explore all those possibilities when Kyle is found.”

Rebel kept arguing, as was her nature. She was a dog with a bone when it came to the people she loved.

Hawk kept rubbing my thigh. His touch was all I could concentrate on. It was the only thing that focused me long enough to consider the words the detective had actually said. “Persons,” I said quietly.

Everyone paused mid argument and stared at me.

Hawk squeezed my leg. I wasn’t sure if he meant it as a sign of encouragement, but I took it as one and cleared my throat. “You said you had persons of interest. Meaning more than just Kyle. Who else?”

The detectives grimaced at each other, and then the woman turned back at me. “Due to the way your sister died and the marks on her body at her time of death, we have reason to consider…other suspects.”

I shook my head. “I don’t understand. What does that mean?”

The detective pursed her lips together. “I’m sorry, at this time we cannot comment further on the matter. All we have right now is circumstantial evidence, and nothing is set in stone.”

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