All I've Ever Wanted - Adrianne Byrd [66]
They sat for a moment in silence. Her words hung in the air like a death sentence before Mason attempted to ease her guilt.
“You know what they say—hindsight is always twenty-twenty.”
She looked at him, shaking her head. “I watched a man die and didn’t even try to bring the murderer to justice because I didn’t want to get involved. How pathetic is that?”
Mason crossed his arms and looked as if he was trying to choose his words wisely. “I’ve been in this business a long time, Kennedy. And I’ve dealt with numerous people. Most of them had the best of intentions. I believe that you are one of those people.”
“Is that supposed to make me feel better?”
“It was meant to help you forgive yourself. You made a mistake. The point is that you’re cooperating with the authorities now.”
“But it wasn’t by choice. It was the only way I could find to try to save my family.”
Mason shook his head. “Look, I’ve never been good at this. Hunting down clues and catching bad guys are pretty much my forte. All I can tell you is that people make mistakes. Very rarely do they get the chance to correct them.”
She nodded as she thought about what he said.
“Plus, there’s no proof or guarantee that things would have worked out any different had you gone to the police. Keenan would still have gone after you. You would still have tried to send your son to what you thought to be a safe place, and we would still be making this trip to do our best to save them.”
That scenario made sense to her. Incredibly, her guilt lifted. “I think you lied to me.”
“Oh?”
“I think you’re better at this than you say.”
A broad smile monopolized his face. “No comment.”
Max arrived at the scene of the crime, wondering if he was mentally up for this. The answer was no, especially since he couldn’t keep his mind off Kennedy. Now wasn’t the time to leave her alone, not when she didn’t have anyone else to lean on for emotional support. She needed him, she’d said so herself. And he wished like hell he could be there for her.
He got out of the car and made his way almost to the yellow crime-scene tape before he heard his name called. He turned and was surprised to see Lt. Scardino edging her way toward him.
“Glad you finally made it,” she said.
“I got here as soon as I could.”
She tilted her head, indicating that she wanted him to follow her. “I got a call from Hunter’s editor. Seems your favorite reporter was working on the Underwood investigation.”
“I know. I saw her and a cameraman at the crime scene.”
“Did you share any information?”
He frowned and shook his head. “Come on. You know me better than that.”
She nodded, then continued, “According to her editor, she called him yesterday afternoon saying that she had stumbled onto a major break in the case.”
This time, it was Max’s turn to nod. “I know. She also called me.”
“Come again?”
“It’s not what you’re thinking. In fact, I didn’t really give her the chance to explain.”
“What time was this?”
“I don’t know. I guess around three o’clock.”
“What did she say?”
Max struggled to remember. “Something to the effect that she had found something that I might be interested in. I told her that I highly doubted it, and that I had to go.”
Scardino’s frown deepened. “Sounds like you need a refresher course on human relations skills.”
“I feel bad as it is, Lieutenant.”
“Sorry.” She took a deep breath and watched her men scurry about the crime scene. “I figure, if I’m going to get my butt chewed by the captain about this investigation, I may as well get my hands dirty. Plus for the time being, you are short a partner.”
He raised a questioning brow. “Are you trying to tell me we’re partners?”
“For the time being.”
He smiled.
Scardino paced. “What I don’t get is if Keenan Lawrence killed Underwood, and he’s in Memphis, then who killed Hunter?”
Max shrugged. “It could’ve been one of Lawrence’s gang members.”
“Possible. But that doesn’t really explain why a group of street thugs suddenly took