Page 64 of Everyone Loved Her

“Yeah,” I breathed out, my eyes jumping to Garrett. His head was down, as other officers rendered aid to Brittany, shouting about the gun.

“That woman is nuts,” Blaze said quietly. “We got the news from the phone company about her phone pinging this location, and then Garrett was able to piece together that she had the gun the night Sarah was murdered. It wasn’t him. I was wrong—and she was coming for you.”

I couldn’t contain my emotions in the moment, and the tears flowed freely down my cheeks. I nearly collapsed as I took a step forward. “He saved me.”

“Yeah,” Blaze said flatly, grabbing my elbow. “But I still had to follow protocol.”

I nodded and then ripped myself away from Blaze, heading straight for Garrett. He looked up at me, just as I made it to him.

“I’m so sorry,” he said, his eyes brimming with moisture. “I had no idea?—”

I cut him off, throwing my arms around his neck. “It’s okay. You just saved my life.”

“Seems like I just made it even, since it was my fault you were down here.”

“I have a feeling she would’ve found me anyway,” I murmured into his chest, breathing in the familiar and comforting scent of him. He shifted against me, and a few seconds later, his arms were wrapped around me.

Peering over, I saw Blaze, putting his handcuffs back in place as medics raced past him to Brittany, who was now screaming profanities at officers—and subsequently confessing to everything. Garrett held me there in silence, through thechaos, not letting go until the ambulance pulled away, and we were left with just Sheriff Myers and Blaze.

“We have to get statements,” Blaze said gruffly as Garrett let me go. “We should probably head down to the station, and then we can wrap this up.”

“You’re free to go,”Sheriff Myers told me as he pushed back from the table hours later. “I’m not sure there’s enough apologies I could say to make it right, Beth. But I’m sorry that you got dragged into this mess. I’m sure they’ll want you to testify if it goes to trial for whatever reason.”

I peered into his eyes. “Yeah, I’ll be here, if that’s what they need.”

His lips turned slightly upward. “Good. I think it’d be nice if you stayed around. I’ll see you out so you can get home. Lord knows your Mom is gonna be worried about you.”

I nodded, having already sent her a text to let her know that I’d fill her in with details when I got home. I stretched my arms over my head, fatigue and a strange sense of relief flooding through my body. Standing to my feet, I then made my way out of the interview room.

The Sheriff’s office was bustling, but I noticed Blaze bent over a file strewn out across his desk. “He looks invested…”

Sheriff Myers scoffed. “Blaze is something. Kid is acting like the girl that died from a snake bite up north is actually the victim of a serial killer or something.”

“Wow,” I muttered, raising my brows. “Strange.”

He chuckled. “Yep.”

“Hmm,” was I could manage to say as Sheriff Myers led me to the front, before tipping his hat.

“I’ll see you around, Beth.” He gave me a smile, and then spun on his heels, heading back toward everyone else. I fished my keys out of my jacket pocket and pushed through the glass doors, the cold breeze biting my skin.

“Hey,” a voice called, and I turned to see Garrett, his arms folded across his chest. “You were in there a long time.”

“Yeah, well, lawyers make thorough statements,” I chuckled, as he strode toward me. He stopped short a foot or two, and we fell into a moment of tense silence. “It’s really okay, Garrett. The truth is out, and I think that’s all that mattered.” I took a step toward my car, parked next to Garrett’s black truck.

He grabbed my hand. “You know I wasn’t into Sarah, right? She’s not my type.”

I eyed him. “Yeah, I know.”

“She did tell me she was pregnant though,” he cleared his throat. “I found out one night when she was taking me home. She was worried about it, since it meant Lucas would probably want to work things out.”

“That makes sense,” I told him, just as we made it to my car. “But we can talk about all this some other day. I need to get home. My mom is probably going crazy.”

“Yeah, I bet she is,” Garrett said softly. “But one more thing…” He cupped my chin and let out a sigh. “About those loose ends…”

My face fell. “Again, we can talk about it later.”

“No. We can’t. I’m tired of waiting for later. We’ve been through two massive messes, and this one tops it all, but I need you to know that I’m done. I’m here. I’ll do it for real. You and me. If you want to take your time?—”

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