“Not sure.” April squinted at the letter, which Clay would give anything to see. “She doesn’t go into it here. Probably just saw your car in the parking lot and decided to leave a note.”
April folded the paper, creasing it with her thumb, and shoved it into the wrinkled envelope. Clay followed the path of the folded envelope from hand to front pocket as a muscle twitched at the corner of his mouth.
Maybe it was another communication from Adam. Maybe another scheme. He knew damned well it wasn’t a note from Carly. And now he knew April would never stop lying to him.
“We’ve gotta get going.” Clay scratched the top of Denali’s head. “I’ll bring your bags in, April.”
“Oh, April’s staying here?” Meg raised her brows, but Clay caught the quick glance she threw Kyle’s way.
“Of course I’m staying here.” April flung her arms out to her sides. “But don’t mind me. I’m exhausted from that quick turnaround trip to New Mexico. I’m going to grab a snack, a glass of wine and head to my bedroom to fall asleep in front of the TV.”
All smiles, Meg responded, “That sounds like a plan.”
Clay turned on his heel and April called after him, “I can come with you to get my bags.”
“I’ve got it. Find yourself that snack and let me have my dog back.” He whistled and Denali trotted after him, giving April one last longing look. Clay refused to emulate his dog.
The only reason he’d want to be alone with April was to tackle her and grab that note, but if she wanted to continue lying to him, who was he to stand in her way?
He yanked her bags from the back and eyed the bloody towel in the corner. Two could play these games and have secrets.
Clay dropped April’s bags just inside the door and held up a hand. “Have a good night, everyone, and thanks for watching Denali, Meg.”
He knew April wouldn’t try to stop him from leaving. She wanted him out of here as fast as he wanted to be out.
Despite Jimmy’s death, or maybe because of it, Clay heaved a sigh at the thought of Kyle spending the night with Meg. He couldn’t shake the feeling that April’s trials and tribulations weren’t behind her. Maybe they never would be as long as she kept her brother in her life, but she’d made that choice. She’d made a lot of choices he didn’t agree with.
He punched the accelerator and the truck leaped forward, leaving Denali scrabbling for purchase on the seat beside him.
“Sorry, boy.” He rubbed the dog under the chin. “Looks like April is getting ready to bolt again.”
Denali whined, rolling one ice-blue eye at him.
“Don’t look at me like that. I tried, but at least this time I’m not letting her get away without knowing the full truth.”
After he arrived home and unpacked, Clay scanned through his contacts for the phone number of Duncan Brady, a buddy of his in forensics for the Pima County Sheriff’s Department.
He placed his phone on the kitchen counter and put it on speaker, getting ready to leave Duncan a message on this Saturday night.
When Duncan answered on the third ring, Clay snatched up the phone. “I didn’t expect you to be home.”
Duncan snorted. “Did you forget Olivia and I had a baby a few months ago? I’m pretty sure we got your gift.”
“I guess your Saturday nights are booked up, huh?”
“Baby swings, diapers, trying to catch a few winks during those rare times the baby conks out, still rubbing Olivia’s feet—although I’m beginning to think that one’s a scam.” Duncan snorted again. “Must sound like hell to a single guy like you.”
Clay squeezed his eyes closed. “Yeah, sounds rough.”
“In fact, probably the only reason you’re not out raising hell on a Saturday night is because of that mess you have going on down there. Two heads and one body. Female mules. Makes me sick.” Duncan sucked in a breath. “Is that why you’re calling? Need some help with that?”
“Unofficial help if you’re offering.”
“I owe you a few. I can’t remember which one of us is due now, but I’ll hit you up later.” Duncan took a sip of something, probably a cocktail, before continuing. “What do you need?”
“Need you to run a couple of DNA tests on some blood.” Clay glanced at the two plastic bags on the counter—one with blood taken from April’s kitchen and the other with the towel taken from the trunk of her car. “Under the radar.”
“This is outside of Detective Espinoza’s investigation?”
“Congruent with. I’m not doing a runaround on Espinoza, but you know how it is with multiagency investigations. Stuff that’s important to you won’t get a second look from the guy and agency in charge—and Espinoza is in charge.”
“I can do it for you, Archer.” A baby wailed in the background. “Duty calls. When can you bring me these samples?”
“You’re still in Bisbee?”
“Same place. You wanna bring them by the house tomorrow?”
“If I’m not going to crash your baby party.”
“Hey, it’s a party every day around here. Best time for me is around noon. Can you make it?”
“I’ll be there.” Clay cleared his throat. “And congratulations, man.”
Clay ended the call and spun his phone around on the counter. Duncan had been a hard partyer back in the day when Clay had been with April. Now Duncan was the family man, and Clay had no one.
Denali barked and pawed at his leg.
“Yeah, okay, I have you. But let’s face it. Even you have more loyalty to April than you do to me.” Leaning forward, he cuffed Denali’s sharp ears with both hands and touched his nose to the dog’s wet snout.
When his phone buzzed, Clay grabbed it. His heart bumped against his rib cage when he saw the call was from Meg.
“Everything okay?” He couldn’t keep the edge out of
