Page 57 of Everything She Feared

“I gave her a necklace.” Tanner blinked and looked to the sky. “The breakup destroyed me. I loved her and wanted her back. I would’ve done anything to get her back, to make her see I wasn’t cheating.”

“Why is none of this in the signed statement you gave to Detective Grotowski?” Pierce said.

“Tanner,” Benton said. “It’s a crime to give a false statement.”

Tanner’s face whitened.

“It was all so personal, so embarrassing,” he said. “Anna had just died. I was messed up.”

The detectives gave him a few seconds.

“How would you characterize Anna’s mood or demeanor after she broke up with you, believing that you’d cheated on her with Shelby?” Pierce asked.

Tanner shook his head at the memory.

“Pissed at me. Angry with me. Heartbroken, I guess.”

Pierce cued up a photo on her phone and showed him.

“Is this the necklace you gave Anna?”

Tanner looked at the photo of Katie’s necklace with the tiny gold heart.

“Yeah, that looks like it.”

“Did she like it?” Pierce asked.

“No, she was too pissed off. She didn’t want it. She wanted me to take it back, but I told her she had to keep it because I was so sorry.”

“What happened?”

“I don’t know. She must’ve given it to Katie, the girl she babysat. I’m pretty sure I saw her wearing it at the funeral.”

“Alright, we’re almost done,” Pierce said. “Where were you on the morning Anna was killed?”

Tanner licked his lips.

“Home, sleeping in. I only had late-afternoon classes.” He shook his head, fighting tears. “This whole thing’s so messed up. I just wanted Anna to know the truth—I just—” He turned away, rubbing his eyes.

Pierce and Benton waited until he’d regained some composure.

“Thank you,” Pierce said.

As they walked away, they heard a key fob’s chirp and turned to see Tanner resume work, moving a car toward the service bay doors.

When they returned to their SUV, walking to either side, Benton stopped to talk to Pierce over the hood.

“I really don’t know where you’re going with this, Kim. This was a tragic accident. We’re done. We’ve got cases backing up.”

Pierce met Benton’s gaze and self-doubt flared in a corner of her mind.

Is he right? Am I pushing it too far because this is my first case? Am I trying to prove something? No. That’s not it. Every instinct tells me something about this case just doesn’t sit right. I’ve got to do this by the book.

“I don’t think we have the full picture of what really happened, Carl. I think Tanner was holding back on us. Maybe Katie, too. I’ve got an unsettling feeling about all of this.”

Benton cursed under his breath, then said, “Evidence, Kim? There was nothing on Katie’s phone. Nothing anywhere else. No solid evidence.”

“That’s true.So far.Earlier this morning I was looking at the forensic stuff from the scene, the video inventory they took.”

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