Page 114 of Her Wild Coast Refuge

“What did Hayden say when you confronted him?”

“That it wasn’t him.”

“What do you think?”

“I know his voice.”

“Why did it make you think Hayden knew who killed her?”

“The way he was talking. It was like he knew her secrets. Or at least, he knew enough.”

Seth and Hunter exchange a look. “We found Hayden yesterday,” Hunter says. “He’s dead, Lexie. Overdose.”

I close my eyes and force a breath from my lungs. “That’s awful.”

Hunter puts his arm over my shoulder, and I fall against him. “I’m sorry.”

Even though Hayden hurt me in the past, it doesn’t mean I ever wished something like this to happen.

“He’d been using. One of his Maverick’s teammates saw him buying smack at a bar and reported it to the coach. Next day he was kicked off the team.”

I huff another long breath. “He was so talented. If only…”

Hunter squeezes my shoulder and kisses the side of my head. “Yeah.”

Seth is frowning at his laptop screen. “Terrilynn doesn’t have an uncle.”

Hunter releases me. “She was in foster care. Could it be a foster parent or someone in her foster family?”

“Yeah,” Seth says while typing. “I’ll try to get more out of Heidi, but she’s refusing to talk about Zach.”

I blink. “Zach? What’s he got to do with this?”

Seth’s jaw tightens.

“Zach and Terrilynn were in foster care together.”

“Yeah, they were close.”

“We found evidence linking Terrilynn to the vet clinic fire.”

I gasp. “What? That’s…why would Terrilynn—”

Seth taps the table with his thumbnail, grimacing. “We were hoping you could help us find a link.”

“Would Terrilynn destroy the clinic so Zach’s family would get the money?”

“I like that better than Zach as our arsonist,” Seth says.

“Zach would never do something like that.”

Hunter crosses his arms. “We need to know who Terrilynn might call an uncle. Foster parent? Family friend?”

“Agreed,” Seth replies, as if I’m suddenly invisible.

“What about Zach?” I ask.

“Until he uses a credit card or gets arrested, I doubt we’ll find him.”

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