3. Luke #2
“What’s going on? You said something to Jules?” Reid asked.
I glanced around the room. Wyatt and Reid obviously knew about the affair since they were the ones to tell me.
The lack of surprise on Wes’s face was to be expected.
Wyatt and Wes were best friends. Hell, Wes was one of my good friends too.
It was only in our capacity as an officer of the law and a private investigator that things could get heated.
“Yeah. But first…” I leveled a glare at Wyatt. “Why the hell are you here instead of home with your fiancée and baby?”
“They wanted to keep Maeve overnight. Her blood pressure was kind of low, so they are monitoring her. They kept Veda with her but kicked me out.”
“They kicked you out?” The anger that was already at the surface surged on Wyatt’s behalf.
“Technically, Maeve kicked me out. Apparently, my taking care of her and making sure she was comfortable was considered ‘fussing over her.’ Dad’s got Jane for the night, so I came by here to brag about my kid to Wes.
” Wyatt nodded in Wes’s direction, a giddy smirk on his face.
He was bouncing with endorphins, a proud father.
“So, what happened with you?” Reid asked.
Wyatt’s smirk dimmed with the change of conversation. Wes raised his brow, waiting for my answer.
“You were right. She admitted she’s seeing someone else.”
“What the fuck,” Wyatt growled.
“That’s fucked-up. I can’t believe she would do that to you,” Reid said.
“She tell you with who?” Wes’s low voice rumbled.
“Nope. She told me she needed to talk to him first. Must want to be the one to tell him she’s pregnant before he hears it from someone else.” I cracked the beer can open and pulled a long sip. A beat or two of silence followed my words before all hell broke loose.
“Holy shit.” Reid’s soft words echoed through the garage.
“Fuck,” Wyatt yelled. “I cannot believe that bitch.”
“Hey,” I warned him. Defending Juliet was the last thing I wanted to do, but respect for women wasn’t limited to only those I liked at the moment.
“Sorry. Onetime pass, brother. But that’s fucking ridiculous.”
“You want me to find out for you?” Wes asked.
“No. Yes. Fuck, I don’t know.” My head was swimming.
On the one hand, I really wanted to know who was fucking my wife.
This was a small town, and Juliet’s refusal to tell me his name meant that I probably knew the fucker.
But on the other hand, did it really matter?
Whoever that piece of shit was who fucked someone else’s wife, he wasn’t the one who stood at the altar making promises of forever. “No. Just leave it be.”
Reid pushed further down on the couch, making room for me to sit. I told them about what happened when I got home. Our fight, her admission of the affair, the bomb that she was pregnant.
“What are you going to do?” Reid asked.
“I don’t know. Get a divorce. I know that much, but that’s about where my plan ends,” I sighed, resting my head against the back of the couch.
“Maybe it’s for the best, brother. You weren’t happy,” Wyatt treaded carefully.
My chest ached, despite the fact that he was right. “I don’t want to talk about this anymore,” I said.
They moved the conversation on to something else, but I wasn’t listening.
My mind was spinning. It wasn’t even the affair, necessarily.
It was the lack of respect, the betrayal of the life that I thought we were building.
Maybe I still needed more time to process, but right now, sitting on Wes’s couch, I didn’t feel heartbreak or devastation.
I was sad. I was angry. I was resentful.
But shouldn’t I feel the sharp pain of a broken heart?
Maybe Juliet was right. Not that I had given my heart to someone else, but had I actually given it to Juliet, my wife, at any point?
“Redmond’s arrest was a big deal though.” Wyatt’s words captured my attention .
“Yeah, it was. Nice work, Detective Wilder.” Reid slapped me on the shoulder.
“Thanks. Monroe and I have been putting the case together for weeks. It was nice to finally get the guy behind bars where he belongs.” I smiled, pride filling my chest.
Wes sat back in his chair, his bearded chin raised high. “You don’t feel the least bit guilty about putting the wrong guy in jail?”
What? We all knew Ryan Redmond was guilty of Alana Karrigan’s murder. The whole town knew it. “What are you on about? We don’t put innocent men in prison for the fuck of it, Winters. We have a solid case backing us up. What would even make you think that?”
“I talked to him. He claims the police have evidence that would have exonerated him, but somehow, it didn’t. Funny how it just disappeared, and all of a sudden, the police’s narrative fits the evidence they do have.”
“Fuck off, Wes. What evidence? We aren’t hiding any evidence. If I had something that proved Ryan was innocent, I would have reviewed and analyzed it and crossed him off our list. He’s guilty.”
“He says he isn’t.”
“They all do,” I shouted.
“How well do you know Monroe? You trust him?”
“With my life. Every day. Why?” My voice held a note of steel. Matt and I were partners from the beginning on this. If he knew something, I would know about it. What was Wes trying to insinuate?
“I have my eye on him. Mr. Pretty Boy All-American is hiding something. I know he is.” Wes sat forward, his elbows braced against his thighs.
He looked at me for a long minute without breaking eye contact.
“I’ll tell you this now since you’ll find out soon enough anyway.
I’ve been contracted by the Redmonds to prove Ryan’s innocence.
They’re serious, and I believe them. Ryan didn’t kill Alana.
And in my opinion, your partner or someone at the station already knows that. ”
“No chance. Matt’s not a dirty cop. No one at the Calla Bay Police Department is conspiring to cover up for a murderer.
This isn’t some primetime TV drama, Wes.
Redmond killed the girl, and he’s trying to get away with it.
They’re looking for you to provide enough reasonable doubt, but you’re not going to find it. This case is rock solid.”
“We’ll see about that.”
“I never liked Monroe, anyway,” Reid grumbled. I nearly forgot he and Wyatt were in the room still.
“That’s just because he hit on Claire before you had the balls to,” Wyatt chimed in.
He wasn’t wrong. Matt had been charming Claire at our family Christmas party last year, and Reid one-upped him with the most obscene mistletoe kiss.
Helped kick his butt in gear and finally ask the woman out though, so really, he should be thanking the guy .
“Matt’s one of the best cops on the force. I’ve worked alongside him for years, and never once has his integrity been questioned. You’ve got the wrong scent, Winters.”
The only good thing about this debate with Wes was that it took my mind off my marriage troubles, at least for a minute.
But now that I was ready to get out of here, I had no idea where I was going to go.
I wasn’t going back home. There was absolutely no way I would be able to share a bed with Jules, and if she thought I was going to take the couch, she would be sorely mistaken.
Reid and Claire’s place only had one bedroom, so the couch would be the only option there.
My best friend, Sebastian, was an option, but then I would have to talk about Juliet’s affair again, and I was maxed out on conversation for the day.
Wyatt had enough on his plate, but he did have an empty house, last I knew.
“Wy, you have anyone staying at your old place?” I asked him. He owned a home before he and Maeve got together. Claire had stayed there for a few months after an incident at the motel in town, where she had been staying.
“It’s all yours, brother,” Wyatt said, pulling a key off his key chain and tossing it to me.
“Thanks, man. Appreciate it.”
I lay in bed that night, my mind racing.
My thoughts didn’t turn to Juliet and her mystery lover—and baby daddy—once.
All I could focus on was making sure the evidence that we had on Ryan was solid, real, and unimpeachable.
Wes didn’t know what the hell he was talking about.
He was a good investigator, but he was going to come up short if his mission was to poke holes in my case.