Page 125 of The System

Dylan nodded and said, “And then, she was killed?”

“I guess.”

“With your knife?”

“My knife?”

“Yeah. See, I was looking into this case because we’re trying Marin May for it, too, thanks to your statement, and I came across the old evidence box that no one had looked at in over a decade. I run the cold case squad here, so I got to crack it open after you gave us your statement. Did you know that the person who killed your girlfriend left the murder weapon there? It looks like they tried to wipe their fingerprints away and maybe just tossed it to the ground before they fled the scene.”

“No, I–” Theo cleared his throat. “I didn’t know that.”

“Well, they missed a spot, and we found it.”

“Missed a–”

“A fingerprint. On the hilt. Do you know what a hilt is?”

“What? No, but I don’t give a shit.”

“Okay. Well, there’s a partial print there, and I’ve sent it away for comparison.”

“Was there a print on the hilt?” Kieran asked.

“Nope,” Kevin replied.

“You found a fingerprint?” Theo asked.

“Yeah,” Dylan said. “And you know, with advances in DNA, I bet we’ll be able to find some of that, too.”

“That is true,” Kevin noted. “Dylan found the knife yesterday. She already sent it for testing, but that’ll take weeks to get back.”

“So, here’s what I think we should do next,” Dylan continued. “I think we should start being honest with one another. I’ll try to see what kind of help I can get for you, but you have to tell me the truth.”

“What truth? I fucking told you the truth.”

“Theo, she wasn’t your girlfriend, was she? She was just some girl you knew from the foster home.”

“I told you–”

“You wouldn’t have a girlfriend because you were in love with Marin May.”

“I fucking told you to stop calling her that!” He yelled.

“Why, Theo?”

“Because she’s not his. She’s mine! Marin is mine. She always has been and always will be.”

“She got him,” Kieran said with a smile on her face.

CHAPTER 36

“Marin Smith belongs to me,” Theo said as he stood up.

“Sit down, Theo. We’re just talking here. Tell me what you mean,” Dylan said calmly and motioned for Theo to sit back down.

“Look, I wanted Marin, okay? I wanted her, and my entire life, I never got anything I wanted.” Theo sat.

“What do you mean by that?” Dylan asked, sounding more like a therapist now than a detective.

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