Page 81 of The Wicked

What the hell?

28

SARA

This couldn’t be happening.

There was a dead guy on my portico. My boyfriend had just shot him. And then Parker had shown up waving a pistol and nearly shot Garrett because he thought he was an intruder. I’d had to jump between them and scream at my stupid dumb cousin to drop the gun, and honestly, they should ban those things because they were freaking dangerous.

Luca and Colt had arrived along with every single other deputy from the Coos Bay Sheriff’s Department and the sheriff himself, who didn’t know much about policing but who knew plenty about press coverage. We had lawyers, we had reporters, and we had nosy neighbours, but luckily, they were all being held beyond the cordon set up around the estate. Angela had texted me twice, and I’d ignored her both times.

The worst part was that now they’d separated us. Garrett had been taken somewhere for questioning, Parker too, and I’d been told to stay in the living room at the big house while the deputies searched the grounds, just in case there were any other psychos lurking outside. At least they’d let Brooke stay with me.

“Was it him?” she whispered.

“Who?”

“The guy from the Peninsula? The one you were worried about?”

I shook my head. I’d caught sight of the body after the drama with Parker, and although part of the head was missing, the one remaining eye had stared unseeing at the night sky. It hadn’t been the monster. Or at least, notthatmonster.

“I didn’t recognise him.”

Neither did Garrett; he’d told me that much before he was taken away.

“Do you want me to make you a drink? Coffee? Hot chocolate? Water?”

“Just water.”

I’d gotten dressed in a hurry, and there were still pieces of candle wax flaking off from under my sweater. Earlier, going to sleep covered in the stuff had seemed sexy, but now it was just more evidence of how truly screwed up my life was. I nudged a few red fragments under the table with a foot.

“How long do you think this will take? Garrett didn’t do anything wrong. He was only protecting me.”

“There’s a bunch of procedures they need to follow. Luca said we’re not meant to talk about what happened.”

“We were asleep. Garrett didn’t start this.”

Brooke gave my hand a squeeze. “I know, sweetie.”

An age passed before Colt came back with a deputy I didn’t recognise in tow. I’d thought Sheriff Newman might put in an appearance, but he was probably outside courting the media and making sure the photographers got his good side.

“Are you up to answering some questions, Sara?”

Did I have much choice? “I’ll do my best.”

“Can you start by talking us through what happened?”

I took a deep breath and started from the beginning. The motion alerts, Garrett’s concern, the shots. Parker’s ill-timed appearance. I suppose at least he’d shown up. Either EJ slept like the dead, or he hadn’t cared two hoots about my welfare. As for the twins, they’d run onto the scene in pyjamas after the cops arrived, gone slack-jawed when they realised Garrett Dorsey was there, disappeared, and come back ten minutes later wearing make-up and designer clothing.

“The intruder didn’t enter the pool house at all?” Colt asked.

“No. I mean, I didn’t hear him come in.”

“I only ask because there appear to be some kind of restraints attached to the bed?”

My cheeks burned, and Colt wouldn’t meet my gaze. “Those are mine.”

“Right, uh, okey-dokey. So, moving on… Over the past several weeks, have you received any other alerts at night from the motion detection system?”

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