Page 78 of Claws and Feathers

“What accident?” Cooper repeated. He wasn’t getting an explanation fast enough. He stepped towards Ryan, his voice frayed. “Your parents’ car accident?”

He nodded slowly.

“How is that related to this case? I saw the accident report. They hit a tree. They were DOA,” Cooper said.

“Fuck.” Ryan resumed his pacing, pulling at his hair. “You saw the accident report my grandmother wanted you to see.”

Cooper froze. His blood turned to ice in his veins. His eyes glazed over. “What are you saying?”

Ryan Stone faced Cooper. “My sister was there,” he said, his voice clipping, his eyes going wide. Something about him changed. He became lighter. Secrets carried a heavy burden, a heavy weight, and Ryan had been holding onto his for twelve long years. “Abby was driving.”

Chapter Twenty-Two

The words sank in slowly, like water struggling against a clogged drain. Cooper’s heartbeat was in his ears, in his throat. The hollow beats echoed all around him, pounding in his head, making him spin. They were not the words he’d been expecting to hear. Cooper McAllister had considered hundreds of scenarios, some twisted, someabsurd, but never this. He’d never consideredthis.

Cooper managed to find his tongue. “I don’t understand. No one has that kind of power,” he said, his mouth dry, his thoughts scattered, his balance off-kilter.

Ryan was distraught. He began to sweat as he brushed his hair back from his forehead. “Cecily Stone did. She had the original accident report altered – she said it would ruin Abby’s life. Her future.”

“Abby never told me any of this.” Cooper ran both of his palms over his face. He’d had bombshells dropped on him before, but this one was doing a number on him.

“No… she wouldn’t have,” Ryan said, staring off across the room. “She doesn’t remember.”

“What?” Bomb number two was hurled at him, ricocheting off his skin, and leaving him breathless. “How is any of this possible?”

“God, it’s all a fucking mess,” Ryan acknowledged breathlessly. He was tugging at his hair, his cheeks turning pink and his eyes wild. “Abigail was in a coma for two weeks. When she woke up, she didn’t remember the accident. The doctors said it was post-traumatic amnesia, but I don’t think anyone expected her to forget…forever.”

“Weren’t there witnesses?” Cooper pressed.

Ryan set his jaw as he regarded Cooper. “I’m sure she paid off the officers at the scene, just like she paid me off. She handed me a fat check, told me to leave, and made mepromiseI would never tell Abigail the truth.” Ryan walked over to the opposite wall and punched it. His chest was heaving, his body rigid. He stared at his tattered knuckles, lost in a moment – lost in another life. “I resented my grandmother for choosing my sister over me. I resented Abigail for killing our parents. I resented myself for letting that woman buy my silence, for being a goddamncoward. I resented the fucking world.”

Cooper listened and absorbed and processed, and floundered for something to say. When his mind finally clicked back on, he wondered hesitantly, “Was it… an accident?”God, he couldn’t fathom the possibility that she was drinking or under the influence of something. It was too much. It was too heavy.

“No one knows what really happened that night, but I know my sister was clean and clear-headed when she left the house,” Ryan told him. “But my parents are dead, Abby has no memory of the incident, and who the hell knows what my grandmother covered up?”

Cooper began to tread around the coffee table as he pieced the puzzle together. There was one more piece he needed to fit, so he reverted to his original question: “Who is Christopher Larkin?”

Ryan went white again. He fidgeted with his tie and tapped his shiny shoe against the floor. His eyes drifted from Cooper, and he breathed in a cracked breath. “There was another vehicle involved.”

Bomb number three.

Tick. Tick.

Fuckingboom.

Cooper felt the debris slice right through him, cutting him deep, making him bleed out.No, no, no.This wasn’t real. This couldn’t be real. He reacted without thinking and stormed over to Ryan, furious with him, furious that he’d conformed to a world of lies, justfurious. Cooper grabbed him by the tie and tugged him towards him, snarling against his face. “Who is Christopher Larkin?” he repeated, this time with malevolence dripping from his words. He needed toknow. He needed to hear it.

“He was the other driver!” Ryan pushed himself free, stumbling backwards with his head in his hands. Emotion overtook him and he threw his arms into the air. “But Jesus, this was twelve years ago – I never connected the two events. I couldn’t possibly.”

Cooper pinched the bridge of his nose, reeling in his anger, and trying to calm his tension.Yes, this was twelve long years ago. If Larkin were indeed Abby’s captor, why would he wait over a decade to seek revenge? What would make him snap so violently? Whattriggeredhim?

“Wait here,” Ryan said, breaking through Cooper’s addled thoughts.

Ryan disappeared up the winding staircase, and Cooper made his way back to the sofa, collapsing onto the cushions with a winded breath.Abby.She didn’t know. She didn’t know the truth about her parents’ deaths –holy hell, it would destroy her. As wretched as this coverup was, as repulsive and unforgivable as it was, there was a small, aching part of Cooper that understood why Cecily Stone did what she did.

If that woman loved Abigail like Cooper loved her, he fucking understood.

Ryan returned with a box in his hands. He dropped it down onto the coffee table, rattling the glass surface. “This is my grandmother’s. I like to call it her box of secrets. It has everything in here pertaining to the accident – Abby’s medical records, news articles, bank statements.” He sighed, reaching inside and pulling out a manilla folder. Ryan flipped through the loose pieces of paper and pulled out a black and white photograph. “This is Larkin. Is he… your guy?”

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