Chapter Thirty-five – Devil I Know #2
Kevin and Kurt stood with her, all three bent over a computer while Chuck pointed at something on the screen. No panic or fear exuded from them. Andie looked steady and professional.
I hit the doorway hard enough to rattle it, and every head snapped up.
“Cooper?” Andie jerked upright, shock flashing across her face. The color had drained from her cheeks, but I couldn’t tell if that was because I’d startled her or because of her father.
“What’s wrong?” she asked, already moving toward me, clutching a metal box to her red dress.
“Your father—” I stopped, clocking the looks on her staff members’ faces. “You had a visitor.”
Surprise lifted her brows. Her gaze slid past me to Misty standing in the hall. “I did.”
“He upset you.”
She swallowed. “He did. But it’s okay now.”
“What?” Kurt demanded, his brows drawing together. “You needed help with a guest? Why didn’t you call one of us?”
“It was fine,” Andie said, rubbing her forehead with her crooked finger. She shot a glare at Misty. “I didn’t need help. And I didn’t need you calling Cooper.”
Misty crossed her arms. “I didn’t.”
I dragged in a breath, forcing my pulse to slow. Andie was standing. Talking. Functioning. But her father hadn’t shown up by accident. Whatever shield she thought she had was gone, and we were standing in the fallout.
“We need to talk,” I said, starting forward, knowing my next words would upset her. “The man who was here. He went over the cliff, and his car caught fire. They airlifted him to the Fresno burn unit.”
Her hands slipped. The metal box hit the floor with a hollow clang, something heavy rattling inside.
Andie’s knees buckled. “Oh my God…”
Kurt caught her before I could reach her.
“Was he a guest?” Kevin asked. “Is his family here? We need to get ahead of this before the media—”
That singular word drained what little color she had left.
“He wasn’t a guest,” Andie said, struggling to pull herself back together. “He shouldn’t have been here at all.”
Her eyes flicked to the box, fear flashing before the mask dropped back into place. I retrieved it, tucking it under my arm before reaching my hand out for her.
She took it, and I tugged her toward the door. She looked back over her shoulder, saying, “You’re on the right track, Chuck. I’ll be in my office if you need me.”
No one was fooled by her attempt at calm. Tension lingered, thick and unsettled.
Kurt met my eyes. “You got this?”
I gave him a curt nod.
We brushed past Misty, who’d watched the entire exchange with a look on her face like a little kid who’d missed free scoop day at the ice cream shop. We’d gotten to the barn door before Misty spoke.
“Remember what I said, Sheriff.” She glanced at the box I was holding. “About what happened in the parking lot.”
I frowned, trying to remember what the fuck she’d even said. Something about Andie waiting for her father in the parking lot.
I didn’t respond. I just led Andie out of the barn where the bitter cold struck, causing her to shiver.
“You aren’t wearing a damn coat again,” I snapped, pulling her closer as we crossed the snow to the hotel.
After hours outside in the freezing air, the warmth of the lobby hit me like a shot of whiskey, burning all the way through. Inside her office, Andie dropped into a wingback chair, suddenly looking exhausted. I set the metal box on her desk and leaned against it, facing her.
“How bad is he?” she asked.
“I don’t know,” I said. “Bad enough for Deering to call in the medivac. Once I heard his name, all I could think about was getting to you. Why didn’t you call me?” I demanded, trying to hold back my anger and frustration but knowing it still leaked into the words.
She rubbed the scar on her chin.
“I was going to after I talked to him again. I’d gone in search of him when Kurt called me into the barn to deal with two employees who’d quit.”
“Dammit, Andie. Your father finding you isn’t a coincidence.”
“I know.” Her eyes widened. “God…Cooper. You haven’t seen it yet.”
“Seen what?”
“The interview Eden did.”
My body froze.
Andie stood and rifled through papers until she plucked up the phone she’d clearly forgotten there. My lips tightened as her fingers flew over the screen before handing it to me with worried eyes.
The image hit like a punch—Andie and I caught mid-kiss. A private, intimate moment someone had violated by snapping the picture.
No. Not someone. Eden.
I was already barely holding it together by force of will alone, and when the words in the article finally penetrated, I swore I could feel the pin of a grenade beneath my fingers. One sharp pull, and I’d lose containment, injuring anything and anyone in my wake.
The lies Eden had spewed were disgusting. She’d flipped the narrative and reversed our roles. How dare she? But then again, Eden had always done whatever the hell suited her, regardless of who it hurt. All that was important was her getting what she wanted.
Luca.
My chest tightened. He’d probably already seen it. Thank God it wasn’t a school day, and he wouldn’t be harassed—not immediately, at least.
Why had she come at me now? Why the hell did she care if I was with Andie?
Realization hit. This had to be some twisted play to get Luca back.
To get her mommy-of-the-year prop in her clutches again.
She had to be getting way more heat for his disappearance from her life than I’d suspected.
I hadn’t bothered to follow her social media after I’d gotten custody of Luca. It hadn’t seemed important.
It took far longer than it should have for the fury to dim enough for me to realize why Andie had shown me the interview. Eden’s picture had exposed Andie and led her father right to the gate of the Harrington Ranch.
When my eyes lifted to her, all I saw was concern. She was worried about me. Worried about how I felt seeing this.
I reached for her, wrapping her tightly in my arms, and kissed her temple.
“Baby.” My throat closed, and it took me a minute to clear it. “I’m so sorry.”
Her hand stroked my back. “It’s not your fault.”
“It is. She took that picture, said those things, because she’s trying to get Luca back. I should have suspected she’d do something dirty like this. I didn’t think to track her down after Saturday to make sure she knew there was no way she was getting her hands on him again.”
Andie eased back enough to cup my face. “This isn’t on you, and you’ve had a lot going on, Cooper. She wasn’t the priority.”
Andie was right. Talking to Eden hadn’t been anywhere near the top of my list. Andie and Luca had been my focus, followed closely by the cases I’d been trying frantically to close for our town.
But I couldn’t help the sense of failure that washed over me.
For weeks now, I’d been pulled in one too many directions, unable to focus on any one thing to completion.
I had to get my ducks in a row, finish at least one damn thing, and push the pin back into the grenade before the next person who was hurt was someone I loved.