Chapter 19
Chapter Nineteen
A t the police station, Luke sat in a small conference room that didn’t look anything like the interrogation rooms he saw on television. But then he hadn’t been arrested yet.
Yet.
Shit. What was he doing?
Protecting Kelsey. He didn’t think she’d done anything—he believed her when she said Noah had been fine when she’d left him at the park. But it didn’t look good with the texts and the bracelet. God, the bracelet. That was a damning piece of evidence. Circumstantial, yes, but they’d be able to put Kelsey at the scene—not just from the bracelet—and she certainly had motive.
What else could Luke do but protect her?
Officer Talbot, a balding guy in his late thirties, came into the room. “You may not know this, but there’s a weather camera at the park. Don’t know if it’ll show us anything from last night, but it might. With that in mind, can you walk us through what happened?” He sat down at the conference table.
Dread curled through Luke. He shifted in his chair. He needed to buy some time. He was sure Kelsey hadn’t done this, but he didn’t want her to be scrutinized by the police. Dammit, hadn’t Noah put her through enough? Still, Luke wondered what had happened. Who had killed him if it wasn’t Kelsey? And it sure as hell hadn’t been Luke, regardless of what he was trying to pull right now.
“I need to speak with my lawyer.” He cringed inwardly, certain this made the situation even worse, but not knowing what else to do.
Talbot exhaled. “Okay. You do realize you’re not under arrest at this point?”
“Yes.” Just as he knew his rights. “I still want to talk to my lawyer.”
Talbot stood. “You can make a call.”
Luke pulled his phone from his pocket. They hadn’t taken anything from him. Yet.
He was beginning to hate that word.
Talbot left, and Luke saw that he had several texts from Kelsey. His phone had been on vibrate, and he hadn’t felt it in the pocket of his sweatshirt. She was on her way to the station with Aubrey Archer.
No need to call an attorney, then.
He didn’t respond to Kelsey. What could he say? Anything he typed and sent would be used against them.
Against them? Did he really think it would come to that? He set the phone on the table and dropped his head into his hands. He didn’t know anything. And he didn’t know when he would.
After what felt like an eternity but was maybe a quarter hour, the door opened and Aubrey came into the room. She sat down next to Luke and gave him an encouraging smile. “Hey, Luke. Nice day to be at the police station.”
He narrowed his eyes at her, and she raised her hand, palm up. “Sorry,” she said. “Bad attempt at levity. Listen, I’m not a criminal defense attorney, but let’s see if you really need one. Can you tell me what happened?”
Luke had tried to come up with what he would say. If he told the truth, she’d know that he was innocent of anything—including using the rock in self-defense—and she’d simply relay that to the police. Wouldn’t she?
He tried to calm the storm raging through him. “Where’s Kelsey?”
“She’s out in the waiting room. We thought it best if I came in and talked to you first.”
Or did Kelsey just prefer not to see him because she thought he’d killed her ex? He supposed that was proof that she hadn’t done it. Wait, did he really think she had? He realized he kept going back and forth. Logically, rationally, he knew she hadn’t. But emotionally, he didn’t know. He could see how she would do whatever necessary to protect herself against Noah. Assuming it was self-defense.
Fuck, his head was doing a number on him. He needed to talk to her. Now.
“I need to talk to her first.”
Aubrey frowned. “I’m not sure that’s a good idea. This is serious, Luke. You admitted to killing a man.”
“No, I admitted to hitting him in self-defense.” Which he hadn’t done either. “Please get Kelsey.” He stood abruptly. “Never mind. I’m not under arrest. I can do what I want.”
Aubrey rose. “No. I’ll get her.” She gave him a wary look before leaving the room.
Luke paced as he waited for Kelsey to arrive. She walked in and slowly closed the door behind her. They stared at each other across the length of the table with maybe six feet between them.
“Should we sit?” she asked. Her voice sounded distant, unfamiliar.
“Sure.” Luke sat down in the chair at the end of the table. She did the same. It was as if all the intimacy of last night had never happened.
“Luke…” She looked down briefly. When her gaze shot back up, he thought he saw moisture, and her cheeks started to flush. “Why would you go after Noah?”
“I didn’t.” He sounded harsh and didn’t mean to. Forcing himself to take a deep breath and push some of the anxiety away, he tried again. “I didn’t go after him. I just said that.”
“To protect me?”
He nodded.
“Do you think—do you think I killed him?”
“No.” But it was clear she’d believed that he had. And why wouldn’t she when he said he was trying to protect her? “At least not on purpose.”
“I told you he was fine when I left him.”
“You’ve told me all sorts of bits and pieces and not very willingly, I might add.” He ran his hand through his hair, feeling as though his control was completely slipping away. He grasped it tightly, as if his life depended on it. “I just want you to be honest with me. Please be honest with me.”
She said nothing for a moment. He watched her swallow, then rise slowly to her feet. She walked the length of the table and pulled out the chair next to his. He pivoted, resting his arm on the table, using that connection as some sort of lame way to ground himself despite feeling as though the wind of anguish might sweep him away.
Without words, she took his hands in hers. Her touch was cold, but her gaze was warm. “I’m so sorry. Noah has always done a number on me. Seeing him last night made me feel like I did when I was with him. Alone. Powerless. Scared.”
For a brief moment, Luke wished he had killed the bastard.
“After I left the pub, I couldn’t think. When you hit him, all I could see, all I could feel , was Noah hitting me.”
Luke’s heart cracked. “Oh my God, Kelsey.”
She squeezed his hands. “It’s okay. I mean, it’s not okay, but it’s not you. I don’t blame you. It just is what it is, and, like everything else to do with that asshole, I have to work through it and figure it out. I understand why you hit him, and I’m not mad at you for that. Just like I wouldn’t be mad if you felt like you had to hit him with a rock in self-defense.”
Relief stole through him, but it was short-lived. “I didn’t. But someone did.”
“So it seems. But it wasn’t me. He followed me to the park and got out of his car to talk to me. I was sitting there with my window open just trying to deal with all the crap in my head. I listened to him for a minute or two, and I said I was leaving. That’s when he grabbed me.” She let go of Luke’s hands and encircled her left wrist with her right hand. “He must’ve got my bracelet. I didn’t even realize. Anyway, I left and I didn’t look back. I drove straight to your house, and I was there all night.” She took his hands again. “Just as I know you were there too. Which I will tell the police. There’s no way I’m letting you confess to something you didn’t do.”
He scooted to the edge of his chair and lifted her hand so he could press a kiss to the back. “I don’t want you to have to go through an investigation. What if they think they have enough evidence to arrest you?”
She shrugged. “I don’t know. But the truth will come out. They’ll find out that neither one of our fingerprints are on that rock.”
Luke let out a humorless laugh. “Except mine are. I stupidly picked it up when I found Noah.”
She winced, and her eyes grew wide. “Oh no.”
“It’s still circumstantial. And there’s a video—Talbot told me—from a weather camera. Hopefully it will show that neither one of us did anything.”
She slumped, and he saw the relief flooding her gaze. “Then what happened to him?”
“I have no idea, and I honestly don’t care, so long as it doesn’t affect us.” He recalled her reaction at the library, her tears. “But I suppose it does,” he said softly. “You seemed pretty upset.”
Her lips curved up, not quite forming a smile. She let go of his hand and leaned forward as she touched his cheek. “I was. Noah was a big part of my life for a long time. I had to learn to grieve the loss of my hopes and dreams with him. And now that he’s truly out of my life forever, I can do that in a way that I couldn’t before. I think.” She shook her head. “I don’t know. I need to call my therapist.”
“So you don’t miss him?”
She looked horrified. “God, no. I mourn the loss of the man I thought he was, the man I wanted him to be, the man I suppose I was hoping he could rehabilitate himself into. I do feel bad for his family. This whole ordeal has been awful, and for it to end this way is very sad.”
Luke could agree with that. “You have the kindest, most generous heart of anyone I know.”
She laughed again, but it was dark and hollow. “You might not think that when I tell you a part of me is glad he’s gone.”
He cupped the back of her head and kissed her. “Not at all. I think you’re human and amazing.”
She tipped her forehead against his. “I love you.”
He massaged her nape. “I love you too.”
The door opened, breaking them apart. Officers Talbot and Hendricks came inside and stood at the other end of the table.
“So what the heck are you both doing here?” Hendricks asked, looking bemused. “We looked at the video and saw quite a show.”
Luke let go of Kelsey’s neck and held her hand tight.
Talbot set his hands on his hips. “Miss McDade, the video shows Putnam talking to you at your car. We could see that he reached in through the car window. Then you backed up and left. He spent the next several minutes pacing around the parking lot and waving his hands. He looked quite agitated.”
“I’m fairly certain he was drunk,” Kelsey said.
“Good to know, though the toxicology report will tell us for sure,” Hendricks said. “He started walking along the edge of the parking lot, at the top of that steep slope down to the river. Then he fell over the edge.”
Relief exploded inside Luke. “He fell on the rock?”
“That, or he fell and then you went and hit him with a rock. Are we really going to find your fingerprints on it?”
Some of Luke’s apprehension returned. “I’m afraid so. But only because I picked it up when I found him. I saw the blood and just touched it without thinking. Sorry for messing with your crime scene.”
The officers exchanged looks. “Well, we can’t see what happened after he fell, but once we process everything, we should be able to confirm what happened. In the meantime, we’d like it very much if neither one of you left town.”
“No problem, Officers,” Kelsey said. “Ribbon Ridge is my home. There’s nowhere I’d rather be.”
Luke sent her a sidelong glance, and she’d turned to smile at him. They looked at each other with love. “Same here,” he said.
Talbot inhaled sharply. “All right, then. You can both go whenever you’d like. But Westcott?”
“Yeah?”
“Don’t pick up bloody rocks or go off hitting guys in bars, okay? It doesn’t look too good. Even when the guy’s a felon.”
Luke saluted. “Yes, sirs.”
The cops shook their heads at him, Hendricks with a faint smile, before they turned and left.
Luke stood, pulling Kelsey up with him. “Shall we go?”
“Yes, please.”
“Where? Do you want to go to your apartment?”
She looked at him as if he’d lost his mind. “To your house. Home .”
Emotions roiled through him, but he clung to the one he wanted to feel most—love. He kissed her again before escorting her out.
When they got home, Kelsey was beyond exhausted, but she asked Luke if they could invite her grandmother over. Kelsey had weathered so much on her own, and now that she had family close, she wanted to embrace it.
Luke hadn’t minded at all. They’d also decided to include Cam since Brooke had texted to check on Kelsey multiple times since the incident at the pub the night before.
After running to the market to fetch supplies, Kelsey threw together a salad and some scalloped potatoes while Luke roasted a pork loin. As she set the table, she realized it was the first time they were entertaining as a couple. She smiled at the thought.
Brooke and Cam arrived first, with an excellent bottle of wine, naturally. Brooke hugged Kelsey tight. “I’m so sorry to hear about everything that happened.” Her brow creased as she rubbed Kelsey’s shoulder.
Kelsey knew that Luke had talked to his brother after they’d gotten home and given him the scoop. “It’s been an exhausting day.”
Luke answered the knock on the door and welcomed Gram and George inside. Gram went straight for Kelsey and wrapped her arms around her. “Are you all right, dear?”
Kelsey had spoken to her briefly, just saying that Noah had come to town and died in a freak accident. Kelsey and Luke both hoped that all the testing the police were doing would confirm that he’d simply died in the fall. Neither could imagine anything nefarious happening in—or that close to—Ribbon Ridge.
“I’m doing fine, Gram.” Surprisingly so. Luke’s strength and support were like a balm to her soul.
“It helps to have Luke, doesn’t it?” Gram glanced over to where he stood with George, taking his jacket.
Kelsey was unable to stifle a smile. “Did you read my mind?”
Gram chuckled. “When one is newly in love, it’s particularly easy to spot others in the same situation.” She kissed Kelsey’s cheek.
“Wine?” Cam called from the kitchen where he was pouring out the pinot noir he’d brought.
“Absolutely!” George went to the island, where Cam had set out the glasses. George waited until everyone had grabbed a glass before raising his and toasting, “To family.”
They all chimed in and clinked their glasses together, then Kelsey began the nerve-racking task of recounting the sequence of events from when Noah had shown up at the pub.
When she’d finished, Gram shook her head. “Such a shame. I can’t imagine why he thought it was a good idea to come down here.”
“I think he was hoping there was still a chance for us,” Kelsey said, feeling sad. “It is a shame because he was getting help. I really hoped he’d pull himself together.”
Luke put his arm around her waist. “You are a saint.”
Everyone agreed, and then they sat down to dinner. Luke opened two more bottles of wine, and by the time they were finished eating, the mood had lightened. Brooke helped Kelsey tidy up the kitchen while everyone else adjourned to the living room.
“So where do you go from here?” Brooke asked as Kelsey closed the dishwasher and set it to run later.
“First, I call my therapist tomorrow morning.”
Brooke smiled encouragingly. “Good start. What about you and Luke?”
“Nothing’s changed.” Actually, that wasn’t necessarily true. The love she felt for him had only intensified. There was still a bit of fear in the back of her mind, but she accepted that there was risk in anything worth having. “I’m in love with him, and I hope we’re together for a long time.”
Brooke grinned. “I hope you’re together forever! If you get married, we’ll be sisters-in-law!”
Kelsey laughed. “I suppose so. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves.” She was quite content to stay the current course and see where it took them.
Later, after everyone had gone home, Kelsey snuggled back up against Luke in bed. The exhaustion she’d managed to keep at bay swept over her, and she couldn’t keep her eyelids open.
He wrapped his arms around her and held her close to his warm chest. “Kels?”
She didn’t open her eyes. “Mmm?”
“Maybe now isn’t the best time to ask, but I’d like you to stay here permanently. If you’re ready.”
She was suddenly quite awake. Rolling in his embrace, she opened her eyes and looked up at him. Though it was dark, she could just make out his features. “I think I am.” Her answer surprised her as much as him—if the subtle rounding of his eyes meant that he was surprised. And she thought it did. She curled her arm around his neck. “Did you think I’d say no?”
“I thought you’d at least say you needed to think about it.”
“I don’t. I’ll give notice on my crappy apartment tomorrow.” Happiness unfurled inside her, and she had to giggle to let it out before she exploded.
“Is that joy because you’re giving notice or because you’re coming to live here?”
She tugged at the hair at his nape. “It’s joy because of you. Because of what we’ve found together. Because of what the future has in store.” She pulled his head down and kissed him. “I love you so much.”
“And I love you.” He kissed her again, and she knew that nothing in her life had ever felt so right.