Page 61 of The Summer that Changed Everything

“What if you didn’t?”

He grimaced, obviously irritated that Ford kept pushing him to open his mind. “There’s no way it could be anyone other than McBride. Old man Matteo had McBride’s DNAunder hisfingernails. You don’t get more of a smoking gun than that.”

“But we’re not talking about Mr. Matteo—or his poor wife,” Ford said. “We’re talking aboutAurora. Two different crimes. Two different crime scenes.”

“Oh, boy!” He rolled his eyes. “She’s already got her hooks into you, hasn’t she? I was afraid of that. Officer Deacon told me he received a disturbing the peace call this afternoon, and you were involved in it.”

“Reggie Burton and I were exchanging a few words, that’s all.”

“If you were only ‘exchanging a few words,’ I don’t think the neighbor would’ve called us.”

“She must know Reggie better than you do.”

“WhatIknow is that everything was fine before Lucy got here. I told her I didn’t want her digging up the past. But apparently, she’s not going to listen to me.”

“Kevin, Darren Clark—Aurora’s own brother—saw Mick McBride at the liquor store during the time he was supposed to be murdering Aurora.”

“So what? Aurora’s body was in the river for a week. By the time the coroner saw it, there was no way to determine an exact time of death. What we had was anestimate, which means Mick could’ve killed herafterthat encounter.”

“Except he couldn’t even stand up. If he’d tried to drive inthat condition, he would’ve hit a telephone pole before he could so much as get out of the lot. His car was at home, anyway. That’s been established. And walking all the way to the Potomac while being three sheets to the wind would’ve taken two hours, which would put him there at four! He would’ve had to kill Aurora, dispose of her body and walk home by seven, which was when he got a maintenance call at the trailer park and showed up to fix a plugged toilet.”

Claxton’s eyes narrowed. “The timeline might be tight, but it doesn’t rule him out.”

“But he would’ve had to do all that while her family was out searching for her—exhaustively—and yet they never saw him?”

“You don’t get it, do you?” Claxton challenged, allowing his “nice guy” veneer to slip a bit.

“Get what?” Ford countered.

“You think just because you run a successful tech company, you suddenly know more about police work than I do. But I was on the force when this murder happened. We worked incredibly long, hard daysfor weeksto get the answers we needed to achieve justice for the Matteos and the Clarks—our local citizens, our neighbors, our friends—and I’m not going to let you take away the peace we’ve provided.”

“And tarnish the reputation of the force in the process,” Ford added drily.

Claxton didn’t back away from it; his chin jutted forward as he doubled down. “Yes! That, too!”

“Just because you worked hard doesn’t mean you got it right,” Ford said. “And the reputation of the force doesn’t matter more than the truth. Even the Clarks’ peace of mind doesn’t matter more than that.”

“The man who killed all three victims is behind bars,” he stubbornly insisted. “The fact that we haven’t had a problem since that long-ago summer proves it. The Clarks have recovered and want to leave the past in the past. And I don’twant the reputation of the police forceIrun sullied for no good reason.”

“You need to talk to Darren, Kevin.Heknows Lucy’s right about his sister. And so do I.”

“Oh, my God! I remember you had a thing for her. Is she spreading her legs for you again? Is she so good in bed you’re willing to buy into her delusions?”

Ford felt his hands curl into fists. “Get off my porch,” he gritted out between clenched teeth. “Now!”

“I’m telling you, you’re letting the wrong head do your thinking,” Kevin warned and stalked back to his cruiser.

Ford watched him drive away before going in and closing the door. When he saw Lucy’s face, he knew she’d heard everything.

“See?” she said as she came into the living room. “This was what I tried to warn you about. The community is starting to turn on you, and the longer you remain on my side, the more you’ll be cut off from all the people you know and like.”

“I don’t care,” he said. “I won’t let anyone bully either one of us.”

She gaped at him. “Even the chief of police?”

“Even him.”

“You don’t want Kevin Claxton for an enemy.”

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