Page 75 of Sweet Like a Psycho (Secrets of Suburbi 2)

Damien shut it and then we both took a seat across from her.

“Violet Clark.” The captain opened up a file on her desk. “You are correct, she’s been ruled out by the FBI. However, her property has not.” She opened up another folder, pulled out a picture, and put it down in front of us. “The FBI uncovered a tooth in the woods behind Adeline’s house. They’re expanding their search throughout the entire woods, including Violet’s property. They’re still doing forensics on the tooth, but the original opinion on the scene was that it had been there for several years. Adeline only lived in that house for a few years. I’m pretty sure it’s not related.”

“What are you saying?” I knew what she was hinting at. But I didn’t want to believe the pit in my stomach. Was I the only person on the force that didn’t believe in rumors? I thought she was going to call me out for sleeping with a suspect. This was worse. This was so much fucking worse.

“The FBI is waiting it out, thinking the timeline on the tooth will change. So I think we should let the FBI have their unsolvable case. In the meantime, we have a real opportunity to close a cold case. The FBI will think they’re unearthing evidence for themselves, when really it will only benefit us. They’re going to do all the leg work and we’ll be able to take all the credit. Serves them right.” She looked so pleased with herself. “Violet Clark isn’t Adeline Bell. But that doesn’t mean she’s innocent.

“I know you’ve kept on the case without my permission, Reed. You ignored direct orders. But…in this one instance…you were right. So I’m going to let you take the lead on this cold case. You’ve earned it, she was your suspect first.” She handed me the file. “Don’t mess this up.”

I didn’t want anything to do with this case. But I grabbed the file from her. She was trusting me for the first time since I got transferred here. For just a second, I let myself think about the opportunity. But for just a second. The whole thing was ridiculous. Violet was innocent. “It’s just a tooth.” My words didn’t sound convincing, though. “It probably belongs to some kid that was out in the woods playing.”

“It’s an adult molar, Reed.”

I don’t know why I was forming a rebuttal on the tooth theory. It didn’t even matter. I had hard evidence. “She didn’t do it.” I pulled out my phone and typed J.J. Walker into Google. I slid her my phone. “Her ex-boyfriend is alive. He just changed his name when he moved to Hollywood.”

She looked disappointed. “Have you talked to him?”

I shook my head.

“Get him on the phone so he can confirm his identity. There’s still the issue of her stepfather and mother so make sure to question him about that too. I’ll let you know when I get the results for the tooth.”

I just stared at her. All I wanted to do was tell her to go fuck herself. Instead, I swallowed down the words. Being at the top of this case meant I’d at least have control over it. There had to be a way to clear Violet’s name. Getting my badge taken away from me right now would just make that harder.

She cleared her throat. “You can go.”

The folder felt heavy in my hand as I followed Damien out of the room.

“Do you want me to call the ex?” Damien asked. “I can’t believe you managed to track him down.”

“Violet tracked him down, not me. She showed me those articles this morning.”

“Trying to prove she’s innocent? That seems guilty as hell.”

I grabbed his arm and pushed him into the bathroom.

“What the hell?” He pushed my hand away from him.

I ignored him and bent down to see if all the stalls were empty. “She’s not guilty. This is a fucking witch hunt. I need to fix this. You have to help me fix this.”

“Take a deep breath, man.” He smoothed his shirt back into place. “You know I’ve just been messing with you. If you’re 100 percent sure she’s innocent, then I believe you. Just tell me what you need me to do. I've got your back.”

It was nice to know he had at least one serious bone in his body. The only problem was that I wasn’t 100 percent sure. There was no such thing as being 100 percent sure of anything. And I knew that I was too far gone to take a step back and try to see the case from a new point of view. Asking him to do anything could put his career at risk too. I just needed to ask Violet a few questions before I figured out what the best plan of action was. “I need to go talk to her. Can you cover for me?”

“You heard the captain. We’re supposed to be calling her ex to try to get some answers. Running to her and telling her about the tooth isn’t going to help anything. The best way to get her out of this mess is by solving the case. Prove her innocence.”

I didn’t want to prove anything. I wanted to pack her and Zeke up and get the hell out of town before it was too late. She was being targeted because of some stupid housewives’ gossip. A tooth found in the woods? Were they freaking kidding me? Anyone could walk around back there. I had just done it the other day.

“Right,” I said. “Starting with her ex.” I didn’t feel comfortable talking to Joel. He was a piece of shit. He’d abandoned his child to chase fame. He’d left Violet to the vultures. As much as I trusted Damien, I didn’t want anyone else to hear what Joel had to say. Because if it was bad, I needed to be the only one that ever heard it. I’d already buried one secret for Violet. I was willing to do it again if I had to. “I’ll call him as I head over.”

“What do you want me to do?”

“Go over the file.” I tossed it at him. “Try to see if there’s anything to help get her out of this.”

“You want me to stay here?” He didn’t look down at the file. “I think I should come wit

h you.”

“I need you here to tell me if they get that report back about the tooth.”

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