Page 120 of Skeletons in the Closet

“Early morning? What time would that be?” Tallus asked.

“Hubert saw him at five. Willard signed in at triage at three forty. Gotta love how fast our system works, huh?”

I felt Tallus’s eyes on me and heard the unspoken words. This was it. We’d found a crucial clue. There was no way it was a coincidence. Roan was discovered by a jogger at six thirty in the morning on October thirteenth. It was suspected the studenthad been hit around two or three and had lain on the road, bleeding out for hours.

I dug the extra twenty-five Jaxson had requested from a pocket and he snapped it up with his cigarette dangling between his lips as he smiled.

“Thanks, man.”

I grabbed Tallus’s arm and spun him away, marching him down the sidewalk a few paces before I realized I was forcefully dragging him along again. What the hell was wrong with me? Why did I keep doing that?

I let go, and he chuckled, seemingly amused. “I’m right, aren’t I?”

“I think so.”

“What do we do?”

I sighed and kicked a loose pebble on the ground in irritation. “We have to take this to Doyle.”

I didn’t want to, but if Noah was involved in the hit-and-run, if it was Noah’s blood on the rag, then only the department could officially connect the dots. It was too late for an arrest since Noah was dead, but even his death made sense now, and Tallus voiced what I’d only then come to realize.

“Shit. When the police started investigating David for drugs and soliciting students, that was one thing. But when they impounded his car, Noah panicked, thinking the police knew something about their past. David indirectly told him to calm the fuck down in that email. Maybe he even went to see him and threatened him. Noah went into a frenzy.”

“The girls knew. David knew the girls knew.”

“And they tried to calm him down as well. Noah must have been scared enough to think David would come after him. Why do you think the police visited Noah?”

I rolled some ideas around but still couldn’t figure that one out. “I don’t know.”

“Drugs? Maybe Noah was involved with David and his dealings? He was high the night of the accident. It could have been a longtime partnership. It would be smart if Shore had a student helping him distribute.”

“Maybe.”

Tallus threaded fingers through his hair, then winced when it must have pulled at the stitch line. “Noah must have realized that if he was found out or connected to David, he would go to prison. There is no statute of limitations on murder, and Roan’s death is murder. They left him to die. Noah would rot in a cell.”

“So he took his own life.”

“Yeah.”

I frowned. “And Beth?”

“Noah told his girlfriend back in the day, and Olivia was best friends with Beth.”

“And secrets never stay buried.”

Tallus clucked his tongue. “David must have worried they would expose him. So he killed Beth. She must have said something he didn’t like the night they met.”

I pressed my lips together and went over it again in my head.

“You’re right. We need to call Doyle.” Tallus propped his hands on his hips. “We shouldn’t go in, though. I spoke to Quaid Valor today, Doyle’s husband. He said Doyle and Fox are trying to keep our names out of it. It could mean trouble if we show up to talk about the case.”

So that was what we did. Tallus texted his cousin to get Doyle’s number, and we arranged to meet him and his partner at nine at the all-night diner near my office.

***

Tallus and I shared one side of the booth, while Doyle, Fox, and Valor—who’d shown up too—shared the other.

Since Tallus was a better people person, I let him explain Noah’s potential involvement with David and the hit-and-run.

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