Chapter 30
Tyler
Tyler was halfway through an oil change on Monday afternoon when Robert appeared in the bay doorway. He’d been tempted to ask Robert about the change in hiking plans, but couldn’t come up with a reason that wouldn’t sound out of left field and like he was accusing Robert.
“You’ve got a visitor,” Robert said. “Joe Monroe.”
Tyler straightened, wiping his hands on a shop rag. “The journalist?”
“That’s the one. He’s in the office.”
“Did you tell him I’m working?”
Robert shrugged. “I told him you were due for a break. I’ve read some of the pieces he’s put out about this. I think he’s fair. And I know he’s a friend of Brooke’s.”
Tyler let out a breath. If Robert had played any part in Sheila’s death, he wouldn’t want an investigative reporter hanging around, would he? Tyler didn’t think so . . . unless somehow Robert was using Joe as part of the frame job.
Whether Robert was involved or not, Tyler knew he had to be careful. Journalists brought questions, speculation, and stories that twisted facts to sell papers. He had learned that when Jen died. Joe, though, was different.
As Robert had said, he was Brooke’s friend. He was part of the running club, someone she trusted. That should count for something. At least he hoped.
“Okay. Guess I’ll talk to him.” Tyler nodded, wondering if that was a good thing or a bad thing.
He hadn’t told Robert that Brooke had broken up with him.
Even though he hadn’t advertised that they’d been secretly seeing each other for weeks, he supposed Robert was smart enough to figure it out, considering what happened in Elkridge.
Surprisingly, there’d been no contact from Adam Boverman about it. Not yet, anyway.
He found Joe standing in the break room, looking uncomfortable.
“Hey,” Tyler said. “What can I do for you?”
“I need to talk to you. About the case.” Joe met his eyes. “Brooke and I have been investigating.”
The words hit Tyler square in the chest. Brooke. “Oh, yeah? When was this?”
“Yesterday. She called me. How’s the jaw?” He motioned to where Rusty had clobbered him.
“Fine.” At the moment, it didn’t hurt. Nothing on him hurt now that he knew Brooke was still investigating, still trying to prove his innocence even after their breakup. “Did she ask you to come here?” Tyler heard the hope in his own voice and hated how obvious it was.
“Not exactly. But we’ve been going through everything together—timelines, alibis, evidence.” Joe pulled out his notebook. “And I need to ask you some questions.”
Tyler gestured at the chair. “All right.”
They sat, and Joe flipped through pages of notes. “I know you were playing darts at Bronco Willie’s the night Sheila died. But darts ends around, what, ten o’clock?”
“Usually. Earlier sometimes. Later other times. Just depends on how much beer is flowing.”
“And that night?”
“Probably about ten.
“You left as soon as you were done?”
Tyler nodded slowly. “Yeah. I was tired and wanted to get home. Plus, I had plans for the next morning. You know about that.”
“One of your buddies said you took off pretty quick.” Joe looked up from his notebook. “So, you have an alibi until ten, maybe ten fifteen. Then nothing until you met Robert and Sue at eight the next morning.”
“I went home. Went to bed.”
“Alone.”
“Yes, alone.”
“They can’t pinpoint the exact time of Sheila’s death,” Joe continued. “The coroner’s estimate puts it somewhere between late Friday night and early Saturday morning. That gap in your alibi—that’s why Adam thinks it’s you.”
Tyler’s jaw tightened. “I didn’t kill her.”
Joe shrugged. “From an investigator’s perspective, you don’t have an alibi for the window when she likely died.” Joe turned a page. “And Monique—you have no alibi at all for Friday night. Your dart buddies were at elk camp. Brooke went out with Steph.”
“I was home. Alone. Again.”
“Right. So, no alibi for either murder during the critical windows. Plus, Adam is still convinced you killed your wife and son. Everyone knows you dated Sheila in high school. And there’s a rumor going around that you dated Monique too.”
“That’s not true,” Tyler said sharply. “I never dated Monique. We barely knew each other in school.”
“I believe you. Brooke’s brother said the same thing. Laughed about it, actually. Said there was no way.”
“Phil knows. We were friends back in high school. I would’ve told him if I was seeing someone.”
“But someone’s spreading this rumor.” Joe leaned forward. “That’s what doesn’t add up. Who benefits from you looking guilty? Who’s actively working to make the case against you stronger?”
Tyler thought about the note left on his truck, about the attack on Brooke, about the way evidence kept appearing that pointed directly at him.
“Someone’s framing me. I’ve thought that all along. Brooke and I have talked about it. It has to be someone who knows me well enough to make it look convincing.”
“Yeah, that’s what Brooke said too. But who?”
Hearing her name again made Tyler’s chest ache. “How is she?”
“Scared. Confused. Trying to figure out if she can trust her own judgment.” Joe’s expression softened slightly. “But she hasn’t given up on you. She called me yesterday and said she needed to know the truth. We spent hours going through everything.”
“She did that for me?”
“She did that for herself. She needs to know if you’re innocent or if she’s making the same mistake she made with Kelsey.
” Joe paused. “The mistake several of us made with Kelsey. I know Brooke blames herself, thinks that trusting Kelsey means she’s a bad judge of character, but Kelsey fooled all of us. Even me, and I don’t trust anyone.”
Tyler snorted. “Probably what makes you good at your job.”
“I’d like to think so. But anyway, about Brooke, she’s fighting for you even when she thinks staying away is safer.”
Tyler stood and walked to the small window overlooking the parking lot of the hardware store next door. A customer was loading something into their trunk. He glanced at the craft store across the street, where Monique used to work.
“I’ve been thinking about who might want to frame me and why. Honestly, I have no idea.” He turned back to face Joe. “There’s this game warden— ”
“Yep. Henry Ayers. He’s on my list. Who else should be on it? That’s the question. Let’s work through it. Who knew both victims?”
Tyler thought about mentioning Robert, but it still didn’t feel right. Yesterday he almost had himself convinced Robert was having an affair with either Sheila or Monique, but he still hated to believe that, hated to make any accusations that might come out and cause trouble for Robert or Sue.
“Half the town.” He shrugged. “They’ve both lived here practically forever and worked locally. Everyone knew them.”
“But who knew them well? Who had access to them? Who could get close enough to kill them without raising suspicion?”
“Again, half the town. You’ve lived here for a while now, right? You know how this place is.”
“I’ve only been here since February, but yeah, I’m beginning to realize how it is. You went to school with them. Both Brooke and Phil said they had a bit of a reputation. Very cliquish.”
“Cliquish? I don’t know about that. They weren’t very nice to people sometimes. I’ll admit, I never thought much about it. It was high school. Who cares?”
“Brooke said there were a few others in their group. Do you remember any of them?”
“I don’t know. Maybe.” Tyler thought back, trying to recall faces and names.
“There was another girl—Stacy something. A few others, maybe. I think they were cheerleaders. Not Monique. She wasn’t.
But Sheila and the others were. I knew them, but we didn’t hang out much outside of school.
And I don’t know much about what happened while I was gone. ”
“What about conflicts? Did Sheila or Monique have enemies?”
“It was high school,” Tyler said bluntly. “Everyone had conflicts. Raging hormones and all that. They made life difficult for people they decided weren’t worth their time, targeted kids who didn’t fit in.”
Joe made a note. “So potentially a lot of people who might hold grudges.”
“Yeah. But enough to kill them all these years later? That doesn’t even make sense.”
“People have killed for less.” Joe tapped his pen against the notebook. “What about more recently? Any conflicts you know about?”
Tyler thought about the conversation at the bank. Sheila mentioned getting together with old friends. She’d been friendly, normal, like they were just people who used to know each other.
“Sheila wanted to organize a reunion of sorts,” Tyler said. “She mentioned it to Edi and me. Said we should all get together, listen to music, have drinks.”
“Did that happen?”
“No. She died before anything was planned.”
Joe wrote something down. “Who else was she planning to invite?”
“Monique, probably. I think she mentioned her. A few others, but I didn’t recognize any of the names. She wanted to get the old gang back together.”
“Was Edi part of the old gang?”
“No, not really. She graduated the same year, but they weren’t friends.”
“But Sheila invited her to the reunion?”
“Maybe they’re friends now? Have I mentioned we all left high school behind a long time ago?”
“You’ve mentioned you left high school behind. But I’ve heard there are several people in this town who were a big deal in high school and think they are the same big deal years later, when they aren’t.”
“Huh?”
“Someone told me Sheila pretty much peaked in high school. Her life had been a train wreck since then, but she hadn’t seen it. She still thought she was the popular girl.”
Tyler thought about when he talked to Sheila at the bank. He could see that, he supposed. But it still made little sense.
They talked for another twenty minutes, going through connections and possibilities.
Nothing concrete emerged, but patterns started forming.
Both were victims from the same high school crowd.
Both were killed after Tyler returned to town.
Both were connected to him through rumor or fact in ways that made him look guilty.
“Someone knows you,” Joe said finally. “Knows your history, your routines, your connections. They’re using that knowledge to set you up.”
“But why?”
“That’s what we need to figure out.” Joe closed his notebook. “Brooke and I are going to keep digging and look for connections we’re missing. I’ll interview people who knew Sheila and Monique. Maybe the three of us should work together?”
“You think she would? Want to work with me, I mean.”
“I can ask her. You have any plans tonight?”
Tyler didn’t even try to hide his smile. “Nope.”
“Let me reach out to Brooke and see what she thinks. You guys can come to my place. I’ll grill some burgers. We’ll go over everything together and see what comes up. Maybe I’ll see if her brother wants to join us. He seems to have his finger on the pulse of the community.”
Tyler chuckled. “You make it sound like Phil’s nosy.”
“He does hear all the buzz at the print shop.”
“It’d probably be good to bring him in on this,” Tyler agreed. “One thing I do know, we need to be careful. Whoever’s doing this has already killed twice. And I’m positive Brooke was attacked because of this. I don’t want her getting hurt again.”
“We’ll be careful.” Joe stood. “But we need more evidence. More proof. Right now, we have questions but not answers.”
Tyler walked him to the main entrance. “Thank you. For helping. For believing me.”
“Thank you for talking to me. For what it’s worth, I think Brooke made a mistake breaking up with you. She’s scared, and I get that. But you two are better together than apart.”
After Joe left, Tyler stood by the door, staring at nothing.
Brooke was still fighting for him. Still investigating. Still trying to prove his innocence, even though she’d ended things.
He’d agreed to the breakup because he thought it’d keep her safe, thought distance would protect her from whoever was targeting him.
But Joe was right. They were stronger together.
Right now, he had work to finish. But tonight, thanks to Joe, he was going to see Brooke.