Chapter 18
It felt like something was sitting on Noah’s chest. Weighing him down. Stopping the air from moving in and out of his lungs.
Rhett was dead. Not just dead—murdered in their damn park.
By who? And why? Just to scare off Addie?
No. You didn’t murder someone just for that, especially not someone Addie wasn’t even close to. There was more to it than driving a person out of town.
His gaze shifted to Addie. She and Jules sat on a large rock beside the parking lot, on either side of Cass, who’d been crying since they’d found Rhett.
Addie was just as pale. Really fucking pale.
He wanted to get her home and away from this, but Jesse and his team were still inside and hadn’t questioned anyone yet.
“What a fucking mess,” Colt said under his breath, staring at the cabin.
“I don’t know what the hell’s going on. I thought Rhett was the threat.”
“There’s obviously someone else,” Colt said quietly. “Maybe someone he was helping?”
“Until he became a liability.” That was the most likely scenario. But who could he have been helping? And how did Addie pose a threat to this person simply by living in Amber Ridge? Noah looked toward the door. “Jesse isn’t going to be able to tell us much.”
“Yeah. Not with it being an open murder investigation.”
The wounds on Rhett’s front flashed back in Noah’s mind. “There were a lot of stab wounds. Makes me think it was a crime of passion. Maybe he didn’t intend to kill Rhett. Or maybe he did, then Rhett pissed him off and he got too excited.”
“I thought the same. There were also defensive wounds on Rhett’s hands.”
“He didn’t expect the attack. Which means he trusted his attacker.”
Deputies knelt outside the cabin, investigating the ground. He already knew what they were looking at—blood. Noah had scanned the area before Jesse and his team had arrived. There’d been a few other drops throughout the cabin. “He wasn’t killed in there.”
“Nope. But he wasn’t killed out here either—there’s not enough blood.”
“So they drove him here.”
“And accessed the cabin through the window because the lock was easier to break.”
“Opened the front door and dragged him through to the kitchen,” Noah finished.
“But then relocked the front door and went back out through the front window.” Colt’s brows flickered. “That’s a lot of work just to relocate a body.”
Noah’s back teeth ground together. “He wanted Addie to find it. That was the whole point. Scare her. Push her to get out of Amber Ridge.” He looked back over at Addie. Her arm was still around Cass, and the anxiety on her face…fuck, it gutted him.
“We need answers,” Colt said under his breath.
Jesse stepped out of the building and headed straight toward them, his usual smile nowhere to be seen. “We’re going to start interviewing everyone,” he said as he got closer.
Noah nodded. “The sooner we get this over with, the sooner I can get Addie home.”
“My deputies will interview you guys. I’ll start with Cass.”
Noah was one of the last to be interviewed, and he was so ready to get the hell out of there that he barely paid attention to the questions.
“You were the first to get to the park today,” the deputy said. “Is that right?”
Noah nodded as he watched Addie, who was now standing with Jules. They’d both already been questioned. “Yeah, I got here at six.”
“And you were alone?”
“Yes. I didn’t see the body because I didn’t go into the cabin.”
The deputy wrote something down. “Is it true you threatened to murder Mr. Ferdinanze last week?”
Noah’s gaze swung to the deputy, the question catching him off guard. “What?”
“You publicly accused him of putting his hands on Miss March and then threatened to murder him. Is that correct?”
“Who told you that?”
“I need you to answer the question, Mr. Hayes.”
“I said, ‘Get out before I murder you.’”
The deputy wrote something down. “Is it also true that you’ve assaulted Miss March more than once?”
Noah flinched. “Where are you getting your information?”
“That’s not relevant. I’ve been informed that you put your hands around her throat. You also shoved her. And you threatened to hit her. So you have a record of violence. Is that correct?”
Noah didn’t just flinch this time, it was a whole-body jerk. Because it was true. All of it. And when said out loud like that, it made him feel like the scumbag he sometimes thought he was. “That has nothing to do with this.”
“That’s not what I asked you. I asked you if it was true.”
“Yes,” Noah growled between gritted teeth. “But it’s out of context. I would never intentionally hurt her. And I didn’t kill Rhett.”
“But you do suffer from flashbacks from your time in the military, during which you lose control, right?”
Where the fuck was he getting this information? “That has nothing to do with Rhett’s murder. This interview’s over.”
He turned and moved toward his car.
“Mr. Hayes.”
He ignored the deputy, and from his peripheral vision, he saw Jesse look up from where he was talking to another officer before calling for him.
“Where are you going?” Jesse called.
“Unless I’m under arrest, I’m leaving.” He went straight to Addie, who was looking at him now, concern on her face.
She met him halfway across the lot. “Are you okay?”
“I’m going to head home.”
“I’ll go with you.”
A part of him wanted to say no. Because the deputy had been right. He’d done all those things. And it made every fear about Addie not being safe with him, every doubt about whether he should be with her, come to life.
She pressed her palm to his chest. “Noah—”
“Come on. Let’s get you home.” He pressed a hand to the small of her back and led her toward her car. But even touching her made something inside him want to retreat. To pull back. To put as much distance between them as possible to keep her safe from him.
“You’re not safe,” her father growled. “You’re coming home, now.”
Addie lowered her head into her hand, the phone feeling heavy as she ran her gaze over the bed sheet. She’d wanted time before telling her parents, but Rhett’s murder would be on the news and she’d prefer they found out from her.
She’d expected the conversation to be bad…but this was worse. “I haven’t changed my mind about staying here.” She closed her eyes against the string of stern words from her father and the pleas from her mother that followed.
“Addie, darling,” her mother said, sounding desperate. “We just want you safe.”
“I know. I want to be safe too. And I will be. This person murdered someone. They had to have left some evidence, and Jesse will find it.”
“That someone was killed in your office,” her father pushed, a mixture of fear and rage in his voice. “They wrote you a message in the guy’s blood.”
Her stomach rolled. “I know. I saw it. But I haven’t been hurt. Not once. I’m living with Noah, who’s a former Marine. Colt, the other owner at the park, is also a Marine. Jesse, our town sheriff, was special operations in the military. I’m as safe as I can be.”
“You’d be safer here with us,” her mother pushed.
She swallowed before saying her next words, knowing her parents wouldn’t like them. “I’m not running back to Bozeman scared. I’m sorry if that isn’t the answer you want to hear, but it’s not going to change. I’m going to go now. But please remember, I’m safe.”
“For now.”
She sighed at her father’s words. “I’ll call again tomorrow. I love you both.”
Not doing what they asked felt so foreign to her.
But even if she did want to heed the threat and get out of Amber Ridge, there was no way she’d go home.
This person had killed someone. And there was no guarantee they’d just disappear because she made the one-hour move back to Bozeman.
If she left, she’d go somewhere far away.
But she wasn’t going anywhere.
Her gaze lifted to the closed bedroom door.
Where was Noah? It was getting late, and he’d spent the entire day since getting home avoiding her. He’d even gone so far as to eat dinner at a different time because he’d needed to “chop wood.” Wood! That wasn’t a time-sensitive task—there was a ton of wood piled up at the back of the house.
She needed to find out what was going on, and she needed to find out now.
Quickly, she climbed out of bed. He wasn’t in the living room. Or the kitchen. She checked every room off the hall.
Nothing. Where the heck was he? Outside again?
She opened the back door and, yep, that was where she found him. His back was toward her, and he was doing pull-ups on a bar that was bolted into two wooden poles. He was shirtless and the muscles in his bare back visibly strained.
Any other day she’d probably have fixated on how good those muscles looked as they worked. But today? Today she was worried. Something was wrong. Had Rhett’s death scared him more than she’d assumed?
She moved outside and stopped beside him. “Hey.”
He dropped from the bar and pulled out an ear pod. “Hey.” He scanned her body like he was checking for injury, and it made a shudder roll down her spine. “Are you all right?”
No, she was far from all right. But that had nothing to do with finding Rhett this morning. “I just spoke to my parents.”
“How’d it go?”
“Shocker, they want me to go home.”
Something crossed his face. It came and went so quickly she couldn’t place it.
He lifted a capped bottle of water. “Do you want to go home?”
How was that even a question? “No. This is my home. Amber Ridge. And I want to be here with you.”
He drank the water, his expression unreadable.
She tilted her head. It felt like there was a barrier between them. A wall she couldn’t push through. Why?
“What’s going on with you, Noah? I know what happened today was…God, it was awful. But I don’t understand why you’re avoiding me.”
“I’m not.”
She could have laughed. Or maybe a half laugh escaped, because his focus shot up.
She lifted a brow. “Really? Is that why I’ve barely seen you all day? Why you couldn’t even eat dinner with me?”
A few seconds of silence passed while his gaze shifted between her eyes. “I just want you to feel safe.”
“I do feel safe. With you.”
His frown deepened.
She stepped forward. “What aren’t you telling me?”
“I don’t blame you for telling them.”
Okay, now she was really confused. “Telling who what?”
“You told the deputy about my flashbacks.”
She frowned. “No, I didn’t. Why would I do that? They have nothing to do with what happened today.”
He studied her for a moment, like he was trying to work out whether she was telling the truth. “You’re sure?”
“Of course. Did someone else say something?”
“The deputy who interviewed me mentioned it. He also brought up how I threatened to kill Rhett.”
She gasped. “He doesn’t think—”
“I don’t know. But when you put it all together, it doesn’t look good.”
She touched his chest. “Jesse knows you. He knows you wouldn’t actually kill Rhett.”
“I don’t care about that anyway. Right now, I just care about you. Us.” His hands went to her hips. “If you ever decide that you want to be with someone else…”
“Someone else?”
“Someone younger. Someone who doesn’t come with a shitload of trauma. That’s okay.”
“You think we get to choose who we love?”
His fingers tightened on her hips. “Love?”
“Yeah. I’m falling in love with you, Noah. And you don’t have to say it back. But you do need to understand that I’m not going anywhere. I feel safe with you.” She stopped and swallowed. “But if us being together is affecting your business or slowing down your progress in therapy—”
“No. I don’t care about the park right now. I care about you and your safety. That’s it.”
“Good. Then there’s no problem.”
There was still something in his eyes. Maybe a flicker of doubt? But before she could mention it, he lowered his head and kissed her. And just like that, every worry, every whisper of uncertainty inside her, just faded away.