Why didn’t I talk to him? The first tear fell… and then the second. The next thing I knew, I was sobbing. I sank to the floor, unable to stop it. What is the matter with me? My emotions were all over the place. I wanted to know what happened to my best friend. I wanted to make sure we figured it out.
A knock at the door startled me, but I kept crying. I couldn’t pull myself together.
“Syd, it’s Mike. I’m coming in.”
I furiously wiped at my face to hide the tears as the door opened. Mike rushed to my side, held my face between his hands with a possessiveness that sent tingles through me, and searched my eyes.
“I can’t leave you like this. You are the best fucking thing that has ever happened to me, and I just can’t walk away. Let’s talk this out.”
I threw my arms around him. “I don’t want to lose you, either. I’m so sorry. I wasn’t thinking, and I let myself get all worked up. Of course you had to turn over the evidence.”
“Think about it, Syd. It could have cost me my job if I hadn’t called that in and turned everything over. Yes, I should have talked to you about it first, but I’ve never had to balance the two like this. I had no choice.”
When I thought about it logically, it made sense. “I know. I got too caught up in it all. And knowing it was Vickie made me feel like I had to know what was going on. I have a bad feeling about what she might have uncovered.”
“Me, too.” His thumb came out and wiped the moisture from my cheeks. “I want us to figure out a middle ground. The last thing I want to do is jeopardize my job. But I also want to keep searching for the truth regarding the Alchemists.”
That seemed like the right thing to do. “I’ll return the jump drive tonight. I don’t want to cause you issues with your job. Wesley said he would be my lawyer, and I’ll tell the police you had no idea.”
Mike nodded. “For this to work, we have to be honest with each other. We have to trust each other. And I will remember to talk with you instead of at you.”
That was a good start. “I can do that. I need to tell you something—off the record, if possible. I printed what was one the jump drive.”
Mike smiled. “I would expect nothing less. Why was Wesley here?”
I heard a bit of jealousy in his tone, and I wanted to reassure him. “He’s just a friend, Mike. Vickie was his best friend, too. We were inseparable as kids. I texted him on the way over here to let him know Vickie’s body had been found. As soon as he saw the text, he came over. And I know the other day when he showed up late seemed odd, but it wasn’t. Wesley has always been like a very protective older brother. I assure you; nothing is going on between us.”
“I trust you, baby.”
But I sensed Mike still wasn’t going to trust Wesley, which was probably normal, considering he was a cop.
Mike
Sydney looked up at me, chewing on her lip. “I do need to call Wesley, though.”
Frowning, I asked, “Why?”
“Well, if I’m going to take the jump drive back, I need him there with me.”
I raked my fingers through my hair. I hated that she had to call Wesley. I didn’t like the guy at all. “Do you have a plan for how you’re going to do this, Sydney? Taking it could be considered tampering with evidence. If Doug wanted to, he could arrest you.”
She nodded. “I know. I think I’ve got it figured out, but the less you know, the better. You should probably head back to the station.”
“I told them I was coming to check on you.”
“I’m sorry I wasn’t here.”
My head jerked back and I stared at her. “What?”
Sydney walked to her door and opened it. “I’ll talk to you soon.”
Part of me wanted to pull her into my arms and tell her we would figure this out together, but the other part—the cop in me—knew I needed to walk out the door.
Before I passed her, I leaned down and kissed her. “Be careful. Please don’t do anything without me. Promise me that.”
“I promise,” she said, reaching up and kissing me quickly.
After I made it back to the station, Roger McGregor found me. “I thought you left to check on Sydney?”
“I did, but she wasn’t home.”
The ease with which the lie rolled off my tongue made my skin crawl. The cop in me was pissed at Sydney for taking evidence from the scene. The man in me completely understood why she did it. We all reacted to situations differently, especially when emotions fueled the reaction.
Bill poked his head around the corner. “Mike, can you come with me?”
My stomach dropped. What if Sydney’s here and Doug is arresting her? Would he do that? I wanted to believe he would cut her some slack.
“Sure. What’s going on?” I asked.
He looked at Roger and then back to me. “Sydney just showed up with Wesley Youngsten. He’s acting as her representation.”
“What for?” I asked, standing.
Bill looked as if he didn’t want to say anything in front of Roger, who was one of the homicide investigators on the police force. Doug had wanted me to take on the role, as well, but I had investigated enough homicides when I was a detective on the Chicago PD. I was tired of seeing the ugly side of humanity, and moving to a smaller town like Salem helped me avoid that for the most part.
“Sydney took evidence from the scene.”
“What the fuck?” Roger said, pushing past Bill.
Bill frowned. “I didn’t want to say it in front of him, but he was going to find out.”
I nodded, rubbing the back of my neck. “Shit.”
“Yeah, you might want to be there.”
I followed Bill without saying a world.
We walked by the interrogation rooms, but I didn’t see Sydney. “Where are they?” I asked, expecting them to be in one of the rooms.
“Doug’s office.”
I hoped that was a good sign.
Bill and I stopped at the door, but before we could knock, it jerked open.
“Get in here, Murphy,” Roger bit out.
With a raised brow, I looked at Bill and then entered Doug’s office. It wasn’t like Roger to pull such a power trip. I understood that he was pissed; I’d been when Sydney told me, too.
Sydney was sitting in one of the office chairs with Wesley sitting next to her. Doug was sitting behind his desk, looking like he had been dragged through hell about ten times over. I felt sorry for the guy. I knew he wanted to grieve his daughter’s death, but he also had to make sure it was properly investigated.
“Sydney?” I asked, looking at her like I was surprised to see her.
“Hi, Mike.” Her response was soft and low. She wouldn’t meet my gaze at all.
“Did you know there was a flash drive on the body?” Roger asked me.
Sydney snapped, “It wasn’t on her body. I’ve told you this three times. Why are you twisting my words? It was across the room. I was upset, and I reached down and picked it up. I wasn’t thinking. Mike was outside the room calling the station. When Mike came back into the room, I was distraught. That was my best friend I was looking at. Mike said something about having to leave because people were coming. My head was spinning, and I had the jump drive in my hand.”
“You didn’t think to give it to your boyfriend?” Roger snapped.
“Roger.” Doug and I spoke at the same time. Doug gave him a warning look and shook his head. I wanted to punch the fucker.
Wesley interjected, “Let’s remember that we’re here in good faith. If you want to create a hostile environment, we can take this to court, which I’m certain will bog down this investigation. I suggest professional respect if we want to keep this informal. I will allow my client to clarify, but tread carefully, officers.”
Sydney waited for Wesley to give her the go-ahead before she spoke again. “Like I said, Detective McGregor, I was distraught. Not thinking clearly. Confusion, anger, fright—they were all swimming in my head. I don’t even remember slippi
ng it into my pocket until I was walking home after I was released from the scene. The moment I figured out what I had done, I called Wesley because, believe it or not, I do realize it was an error on my part.”
“An error?” Roger’s face was red as he bellowed, “You took evidence from a goddamn crime scene!”
Sydney flinched. Wesley stood. “Enough. If you are going to treat her this way, we will leave—unless you intend to arrest her.”
“Why are you yelling at her?” I stepped in front of McGregor and lowered my voice. “You need to take a moment and pull yourself together, detective. It’s been a long night for all of us, especially for Doug and Sydney. We both know this type of interrogation isn’t going to work. So why don’t you take a breath and if you have to, step out of the room.”
Roger stared at me, an angry look in his eyes. Then he seemed to realize what he was doing. With a frustrated sigh, he turned back to Sydney. Wesley remained standing, ready to leave.
“Did you see what was on the jump drive?”
Wesley nodded again to Sydney as he lowered himself back in the chair. She took a breath. “No. The moment I realized I had it, I called Wesley.”
Then he looked at me. “And you didn’t know she had taken anything from the scene?”
I narrowed my eyes at him. “If she had told me she found evidence, I’d have made her turn it over right away. Like I did with the coin and letter.”
Roger nodded and looked at Doug. “It’s your call.”
Sydney wiped a tear from her cheek and rubbed her hands together in a nervous gesture. “Doug, you know I would never do anything to jeopardize the investigation into what happened to Vickie. She was… she was…”
When she broke down in tears, I wanted to reach for her, but Wesley was there. He wrapped his arm around her, and she leaned into him. I tried not to let it bother me. Sydney said they were friends, and I had to trust her.
Doug slowly exhaled before speaking. “Sydney, I know. I also know it’s not every day you stumble upon a body, let alone the body of your best friend. You realized what you did and came to me. I’m going to take your word you didn’t make a copy of the drive and we are going to move on.”
Sydney let out a sigh of relief that turned into another sob.
Doug held up the drive before turning to me. “Mike, I’m going to ask that you take a step away from the investigation.”
“What?” Sydney asked, panic in her voice.
“Sydney,” Wesley warned.
She didn’t listen but kept talking. “Doug, what if there’s information on the drive? Something that tells us what happened to Vickie?”
“Then we will find it, Sydney. Mike isn’t our only officer. Roger is the lead on this, and if we find something, we will follow it to the end. You know I will do no less.”
She nodded. “Of course. I’m sorry, it’s been such an emotional day.”
Wesley stood and held out his hand to Sydney. “If that is all, I will need this letter signed stating you’re formally not charging my client with obstruction of justice in reference to removing the jump drive from the scene in a moment where she was emotionally overwhelmed and not aware of her actions.”
Doug reached for the letter, signed it, then handed it back to Wesley as his phone started to ring.
“This is Doug. Jack, what did you find out?”
I held my breath as Doug listened to what I assumed was the preliminary autopsy report. His eyes closed, and I turned my focus on Sydney. Wesley had reached for her again, but she stood and made her way over to me. She stopped in front of me and looked up into my eyes.
Smiling, I placed my hand on the side of her face. My heart ached at the pain she was in.
Doug hung up, and Sydney turned to face him.
The silence in the room was almost too much to bear.
Dragging his hands over his face, Doug took a few moments to compose himself.
“The unofficial findings from Jack say it is Vickie. From the evidence at the scene and on the body, he is pretty confident. Jack said it appears she most likely slipped and hit her head. He doesn’t suspect foul play but will know more when the full autopsy is done. The DNA results were sent to the state police lab and we should have the results back tomorrow.”
Sydney leaned back against me. I reached around and held her.
“An accident?” Sydney said.
Doug looked at her. “It appears so. My question is what in the world was she doing down there?”
I felt Sydney stiffen ever so slightly.
Doug stood. “And what in the hell where you two doing down there?”
Wesley took a step between Doug and Sydney. “I thought we had worked past being accusatory. Sydney has testified at the scene why she was there.”
I stepped forward to speak. “Like we said before, Sydney was looking for some information on the coin and letter. We had found that hidden panel in her living room and started looking around for another one. It was pure luck we stumbled upon it at Beatrice’s.”
Doug rubbed his hands over his face. “You always did like a scavenger hunt, Sydney. Virg knew that.”
She smiled. “Yeah.”
After a long pause, Doug exhaled a breath and said, “I’m putting this drive in the evidence room. Roger, you and I will look at it first thing in the morning. Right now, I need to go home and be with my wife.”
Roger nodded. “Of course, Doug.”
Next Wesley stood and reached out to shake Doug’s hand. “I’m so sorry, Doug. I know we were all holding out hope she would come back to us.”
His voice shook and I imagined it had to be hard on him, too. After all, Sydney said they’d all been good friends.
Doug nodded, unable to speak. He walked around his desk and out the door.
Roger looked at me. “Will you be in tomorrow in case we have any questions?”
“Yes, I’m working tomorrow.”
“Sydney, if I have any questions—”
“You can direct them through me,” Wesley stated.
Roger frowned but nodded. “Fine, then I guess we’re done here. You’re free to go, Sydney.”
She turned and wrapped her arms around me. I held her as Wesley stood by, waiting for the moment to end.
“Sydney, I can drive you home.”
“Thank you, Wesley, but I think I’m going to catch a ride with Mike.”
He smiled. “Of course. Let me know if you need anything.”
“I will, thank you.”
When Wesley walked out the door, I squeezed Sydney’s hand. “Let’s get out of here.”
“Mike, can I stay at your place tonight? I don’t think I can be alone.”
I kissed the top of her head and drew back to look into her eyes. “Of course you can. Mags will be happy to see you.”
As we walked out of the police station, I caught a glimpse of Wesley getting into his black BMW, his phone to his ear.
“I pulled him away from dinner plans with Leslie. I feel terrible. I hope she’s not too upset.”
I opened the door for her and held her hand as she slipped in. “I’m sure she understands. Let’s get you back to my place and settled in.
With a sweet smile, she nodded and then leaned her head against the seat. She had to be exhausted.
I would do whatever it took to make this woman feel safe.
Whatever. It. Took.
Mike
It didn’t take Sydney long to fall asleep on the sofa with Maggie Maye snuggled up next to her. I finished a few things I needed to take care of and then sat down at my computer and typed in the word Truth-seekers.
The results of my search were varied. One site displayed a periodical that was published in the nineteenth century. There was also a plethora a groups and discussion boards for those seeking the truth about different things. Nothing came up with the symbol, though.
I leaned back in the chair and slowly let out a breath. “What were you looking for, Vickie?”
Sydney
stirred, and Maggie Maye lifted her head to check on her. It warmed my heart to see them together. They looked so comfortable I decided to let them stay on the sofa. If I moved Sydney to the guest room, Maggie Maye would surely get excited and wake her up. A part of me was jealous Maggie Maye got to sleep next to Sydney. She had looked so damn sexy when she came down from my bedroom in my T-shirt. It had taken everything I had not to pull her to me and take her right there in my living room.
No. The first time we were together, it had to be perfect. She was unlike any other woman I had ever met. She deserved so much more.
I took the throw from the back of the sofa, gently laid it over my two sleeping beauties, and headed upstairs to my room. I set the alarm and crawled into bed.
I felt like my eyes had just closed for a few moments when the house alarm went off. I flew out of bed, grabbed my gun and my phone, and ran down the steps. Maggie Maye was barking, and I could hear Sydney cursing.
“Shit! Shit! Shit! Who has an alarm in Salem?”
When I got to the front door, I saw Sydney staring at the alarm. She was jumping around, making a motion with her hands that looked like she was trying to shoot the alarm panel.
“What are you doing?” I yelled over the blaring alarm.
She spun around and shouted, “Make it stop!”
Quickly reaching past her, I punched in the code and turned it off. Then my phone rang.
“It’s the alarm company,” I said.
Sydney rolled her eyes.
“Mr. Murphy, we’ve gotten notice that your alarm is going off. Is everyone okay?”
“Yes, all is fine.”
“May I please get your code word, sir?”
“Yes, it’s whippersnapper.”
Sydney’s eyes went wide and she covered her mouth to hide her giggles.
“Would you like me to clear the alarm for you?”
“No, I’ve got it. Thank you.”
Once I hung up, she dropped her hand and started laughing. “Whippersnapper? That is your code?”
I frowned. “Yes.”
She laughed harder. “Why?”
“It’s a long story. Why were you leaving? It’s only six in the morning.”
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