Page 45 of Stay in Your Lane!

Everett perked up. “But it’s possible they haven’t, so if we snuck in and?—”

“That’s commonly referred to as breaking-and-entering,” Colin said through his teeth. “And even if you were to find a way to legally obtain whatever’s inside—which would require explicitpermission from whoever now owns the place—it wouldn’t be admissible as evidence because the scene is no longer secure.”

Everett’s shoulders dropped. “Well, fuck. And the cops on the scene just… didn’t bother to collect any of it or document it.”

“Not when they were going to dismiss it as a suicide,” I said. “And… I mean what if it isn’t just the cops who are trying to cover up a murder?”

Both Everett and Colin eyed me.

I squirmed in the scrutiny. “We know Ricky was on the Chief’s shit list because he was with his daughter. Definitely some motive there. But if Ricky was a dealer who decided to get out of the game, what if the people he knows are trying to keep him quiet? Like they’re afraid he’s going straight enough that he’ll roll on all of them?”

Colin got even whiter. “That’s… That’s kind of what I’m afraid of here. Ricky had enemies in two very different factions. When both the Chief of Police and the narcotics rings cross you off their Christmas card lists, things can get… dangerous.” He looked pointedly at me. “And that also goes for people trying to investigate the death of someone who was taken off those Christmas card lists. I’m not telling you that I don’t want justice for Rick Leighton, okay?” He shifted nervously. “But I also really, really don’t want to get called out to a scene where my brother and his boyfriend were found in shallow graves.”

The prickle of fear that went down my spine almost made me skip over where he’d called Everett my boyfriend. I wanted to mention that, no, he wasn’t, but all things considered, it just didn’t seem like the most important part of that sentence.

“I’m not his boyfriend,” Everett said, since we were apparently on similar trains of thought. “I mean, not yet. We’re not—the point is that I’m here because we’re trying to figure out what happened to Ricky.”

I blinked, caught off guard by what he’d let slip.

My brother grabbed the reins before I could think too hard about it, though. “Look, I know you guys want to figure this out. I do too. No matter what he was involved in, Ricky deserves justice, same as anyone else. But I don’t want the two of you getting caught in whatever crossfire there is.”

“So areyougoing to investigate it?” I challenged. “Because if you start doing things officially, someone’s going to find out and shut you down.”

Colin chewed his lip. “Maybe that’s what I need to do, then.”

“Huh?”

“Maybe I need to start making some official inquiries—act like I got an anonymous tip, and I’m just doing my due diligence by following up. See who gets twitchy and tells me to drop it.”

“You don’t think that’ll put you in danger?” Everett asked.

“I doubt it.” Colin shrugged. “If I’m just being the super shiny good cop who’s innocently following up on a lead, and then I back down when I’m told, no one will come after me.”

“But you’ll back down when you’re told,” I said.

“Pfft. Of course not. I’ll just say that’s what I’m going to do.”

Relief swept over me. My brother was in. He was taking a huge risk and sticking his neck out, knowing there were quite possibly cops or cartels involved—both, knowing our luck.

We weren’t in this alone. We were going to find justice for Rick Leighton.

And maybe while Colin tugged at some threads, Everett and I could dive deeper down this shoe impression rabbit hole.

CHAPTER 13

EVERETT

It was late after Colin left. Really late. Like,I’m-going-to-be-super-sad-in-the-morning-when-I-have-to-get-up-at-seven-to-work-holy-shitlate. But even knowing that, I really didn’t want to leave. Partly because Colin’s revelation about the dangers behind getting involved were freaking Kyle out, even though he tried to hide it. I got it. It wasn’t nice to think about your family being hurt, and this was clearly the family member he got along best with. Of course he was worried. Of course he wanted him to be safe.

The other reason I didn’t want to leave was because…well…

“Would you actually consider being my boyfriend?”

Kyle looked up from where he’d been knitting his fingers together, his eyes wide behind his glasses. “What?”

Huh. Had I non-sequitured him? Or maybe I was just rushing things. “I mean, can we date?”

“I…kind of thought we were already dating.” Kyle pointed to the cat grass. “Or do you bring that sort of thing to every friend’s house when you come over?”

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