Page 76 of Kept in the Dark

Trey sighed and eyed Hailey. “He kind of has an alibi.”

Her eyes rounded. “Me?”

Gavin and Carter looked at Hailey curiously. Though Sara wanted to clue them in, it wasn’t her story to tell. She had learned her lesson earlier. Her sister was clearly traumatized from the incident and Sara understood that feeling more than anyone. She wouldn’t betray her again like she had with Trey, even if it had been for Hailey’s own good.

Trey nodded. “He said he was with you when your mother was killed.”

“I thought he hated you?” Carter said. “Why would he be with you?”

Hailey looked at the table and inhaled. “Long story short, the night my mother died, my car broke down and Ryan saw I was alone. He attacked me and nearly beat me to death.”

Trey clenched a fist instinctively.

Gavin’s eyes round. “I had no idea.”

Hailey shrugged. “I’ve tried my best to keep it a secret.”

“That’s rough shit. I’m sorry,” Carter said. Hailey simply nodded.

Sara wanted to kill Ryan, but she didn’t think that would be a good idea seeing as how she was trying to prove she wasn’t a murderer, though the night was still young. However, it looked like Trey might have beaten her to it. She didn’t notice the blood on his knuckles until now, which hadn’t been there earlier. She hoped Trey got Ryan good.

“But he wasn’t with me when my mother died,” Hailey said quickly. “Her time of death was 10:42 pm and Ryan found me around 9:45 pm. I remember the time because I was planning to walk home, and it was almost past curfew.”

“How did no one see you being attacked?” Carter asked.

“I ran into the orange groves across the street to hide. If anyone drove past, they probably would have assumed it was just two broken-down cars parked on the side of the road.”

Sara scrunched her brow. “So, Ryan wasn’t with you when Mom died?”

Hailey shook her head. “No. My car broke down around 9:35 pm and Ryan got to me around 9:45 pm. The whole thing wasn’t long, maybe ten minutes, so he would have left around 10:15 pm at the latest. Mom died around 10:40 pm.”

Sara hadn’t even considered Ryan as a suspect. But he definitely had motive and opportunity since, according to their father, no one was home with Morgan when she was killed. Except Sara, he claimed. She always thought it was peculiar that he had that knowledge since he said he wasn’t home either.

“What do you think, Trey?” Gavin asked.

Trey didn’t answer immediately. When he did, he said, “I think we have reason to suspect him, but I’m not completely sure. He's really erratic and that makes it hard for me to know what’s true and what’s a lie.”

No surprise there.

“What if he had help?” Carter asked.

The room fell silent as everyone turned to Carter. He said, “What if David helped him? Or maybe even his mother? It could explain another link between the two cases.”

Trey tilted his head, thinking, and then said, “It’s worth looking into.”

Sara rubbed her temples, feeling a headache coming on. Gavin reached out and took her hand. Her internal alarm shrieked, and she quickly pulled away, embarrassed. Again, Gavin wasn’t bothered by her reservations.

“What now?” Gavin asked.

Trey looked at Sara. “I called your friends that were with you that night but could only get a hold of Thomas. I want to see if they saw anything when they dropped you off and why none of them came forward when you were arrested.”

She picked at a spot on the table. “What did he say?”

“He agreed to talk with us tomorrow afternoon.”

Sara wanted to vomit. She wasn’t sure she could even look at Thomas again. Though she had been sober for the last thirteen years, she didn’t know if she could keep her demons at bay if she saw him again.

But she would go.

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