Chapter 32
Chapter Thirty-Two
Shelby strolled across the gym floor. She did a double take when she saw Chase at the squat rack. “Hey, you’re here.”
“I’m here.”
“I heard Conrad Decker is being transferred to West Oaks custody soon.”
Chase loaded another plate onto each end of the barbell. “I wouldn’t know.”
“Your suspension is such bullshit. So what if you broke a few rules? You found the real murderer. But this can’t last long. There’s no way.”
“I guess we’ll see.”
“Okay, what’s wrong with you? Everyone’s saying how you were right all along about Ruby being innocent.
They’re lining up outside the chief’s office to protest your suspension.
And you’re sitting here looking like somebody pissed in your protein shake.
You’re ready to give up? Not going to fight for what’s yours? ”
Chase didn’t say anything, but he felt his scowl deepen.
“All right,” Shelby said. “Outside. This is an intervention.”
Chase grabbed his bag and followed Shelby to the parking lot.
The past few nights that he’d stayed at his house, he’d barely slept. He missed Ruby’s presence beside him. Her warmth and her small sighs while she dreamed.
He’d been lying awake instead. Staring into the dark.
And during his days at home, he’d had nothing better to do than sit and think.
Wondering about too many things.
“What’s up?” Shelby asked.
Chase sat on the curb. “Some details about the case against Conrad Decker are bothering me.”
“What do you mean?”
“Why didn’t he get rid of the murder weapon?”
Shelby held out her hands. “Hell if I know.”
“But think about it. The guy dumped that towel with Mickey Waverley’s blood in the trash can behind Cakes ’N’ More. Which turned out to be a bad idea. But then why keep the murder weapon? Why not get rid of that, too?”
Shelby shrugged. “He was worried it would get discovered.”
“Really? In the whole LA basin, he couldn’t find a place to stash it besides his car?” Which hadn’t actually been a Kia. Chase assumed Decker had stolen the Kia and dumped it, but he couldn’t prove it.
“Sometimes criminals are stupid. We can’t explain everything they do.”
“But here’s something else. I keep going over what I heard Decker and Peele saying the night of the fight. Decker never actually said he killed Waverley. Or that Peele ordered it.”
Shelby squinted at him. “What’s your point?”
“Decker said that something about Waverley’s death could lead back to him and Peele. But what? It doesn’t have to be that they killed him.”
“So now you’ve joined the guy’s defense team? You think Decker is innocent?”
“No. Decker had something to do with Waverley’s death. Peele did too, even though we’re having trouble tying him to it. But what if somebody else has these same thoughts, and the case against Decker falls apart, and the DA decides to blame Ruby again?”
“The prosecutor dismissed her charges.”
“But it was ‘without prejudice.’ That means if the case against Decker tanks, they could turn around and charge her again. If I can poke these holes in their case, so can someone else.”
“Shit. You’re spiraling about this. It’s all so far-fetched.”
He shrugged. “You asked what’s wrong with me. There it is.”
“So you’re still worried about Ruby. I get it.” Shelby sat on the curb beside him. “But I doubt those lingering mysteries in the Waverley case fully explain your pissy mood. What else happened?”
“I’m not living with Ruby anymore.”
“That explains some things. Why not?”
“Because we caught the real killer, and our marriage doesn’t need to keep going.”
“Is that why you’re coming up with reasons Decker won’t be convicted? So she needs to stay married to you? You want to keep playing the hero?”
Chase scowled.
“Okay! I take it back. Calm down.” She bumped her foot against his sneaker. “So, Ruby kicked you out? That’s a good reason by itself to be upset.”
“She didn’t kick me out. I…left.”
“Oh.” Shelby had drawn the word out, layering it with all kinds of judgment. “It was a premature ejection of sorts?”
“Never say that again in my presence.”
Shelby snorted. “Men can be so sensitive.”
Chase had been second-guessing his decision to move out every day since it had happened. He’d gone to Ruby’s apartment for dinner and to play with Haley, and each visit, he’d longed to stay the night.
But that might’ve given away what he was really feeling. That he wanted to stay a lot longer. Maybe even forever.
“You might’ve jumped the gun on moving out, but I understand your reasoning. You knew the marriage would end anyway, so you just ripped that bandage clean off.”
“Pretty much. Didn’t help that we started having sex, and I wanted the marriage thing to be real. Stupid as that sounds.”
“That does sound really stupid. You have a masochistic streak I didn’t know about?”
She wasn’t saying anything that hadn’t already passed through his mind.
“I’m sorry,” Shelby said. “For what that’s worth.”
“Thanks.”
“But are you completely sure there’s no chance? She doesn’t feel the same?”
“We were friends with benefits. I admitted I had a crush on her, and she laughed it off. Even if she hadn’t, what would we be doing? We can’t stay married. We’ve never even dated each other.”
“But you could try dating each other, like normal people.”
Chase had thought about that, too. But she didn’t want to end up with a cop. Didn’t want to end up with him.
“It wouldn’t work out.”
“So you’re determined to be miserable. That’s what I’m hearing.”
He shot a finger gun at her. “You solved it.”
“Detective, here I come.” Shelby rested her elbows on her knees. “I’ve known you since the academy, and you’ve never been serious about anyone like you are about Ruby. You married this girl. Nearly sacrificed your career for her.”
“Nearly?”
“Shut up, you’ll get it back. But after all that, you’re not willing to take the risk of just telling her how you feel?”
“Ruby and I are close friends now. I don’t want to lose that. If I want even more, if I ask for too much—”
“Since when is loving someone asking too much? If anybody has earned the right to be happy, it’s you. Did somebody break your heart? Someone left you, messed you up, and you can’t get over it?”
“And now I’m done talking about this.” Chase stood up and grabbed his bag.
“Chase, come on.”
“I have a wedding to go to.”
“Another wedding?”
He smirked. “For someone else. Not me.”
Ruby would be there, and the whole event would remind him that their marriage would be over soon. That it had never been real in the first place, except on paper.
“Fine,” Shelby said. “You’re so much fun to be around at the moment. You’ll have a blast.”
“Oh, I will. This is exactly how I want to spend my evening.”
“Better than pouting by the squat rack.”
Chase didn’t respond. Instead, he headed for his car.
Did somebody break your heart?
Fuck that. He wasn’t some broken kid, waiting for his mom to come back. For one, that would mean he saw some unconscious parallel between Ruby and his mother, and that would be gross.
It was also ridiculous. Ruby wasn’t like his mom. Ruby was devoted to her child.
If anything, Chase was afraid to become his dad. Someone who sucked away the life of everyone around him, taking far more than he ever gave back. Chase would never be like that.
He loved Ruby, and that meant setting her free. Letting her go.