Sympathy For The Devil by Asha King Read Free Book Online

stepped the rest of the way into the room and closed the door behind him.
    Devin leaned back casually in his seat, steadily drumming the fingers of his left hand on the tabletop. “Quite a welcoming for me.”
    “Where were you last night, Archer?”
    Shit. “Home.”
    “Where’s that?”
    Surely they had both his old address and new one on file. “I’m renting a place in Willow’s Peak.” It was a neighboring county, and his place was right on the border with Stirling Falls.
    “Anyone confirm that?”
    He didn’t slow the thump thump thump of his fingertips on the table but nearly did, his breathing hitching and dread crawling down his spine. “Why would I need someone to?”
    Perry let the silence stretch. Yep, nothing had changed. He liked dramatic tension.
    The cop flopped a folder on the table; it slid toward Devin, spilling fanned photos out. He didn’t open the folder, did nothing but continue to tap the tabletop, but his gaze scanned the pictures peeking out.
    An outstretched arm. Water snaking down plastic. Dead, glazed over eyes staring at nothing. Bruises crisscrossing flesh.
    Chelsea .
    Sickness swirled in his stomach, but still Devin said nothing, waiting for Perry to make his grand point.
    The older man crossed the room but didn’t take the other chair, instead thumping his palms down on either side of the folder. “Open it.”
    “There somethin’ in there I haven’t seen before?” Devin said coldly.
    Perry’s eyes narrowed. He flipped open the manila folder and Devin got a better look at the contents.
    Not Chelsea.
    He frowned. This girl had red hair and she was older than his wife had been—in her thirties, maybe.
    “You know her?” Perry asked.
    Devin stared a minute longer. Blinked. “No.”
    “You sure? You’ve been here a week. Haven’t...” Perry shrugged. “...met anyone?”
    His eyes sharply moved the cop’s way. “Why don’t you just go ahead and say whatever the fuck it is you want to say?”
    Perry leaned deeper, his voice pitching low. “She’s got the same marks on her body your wife did. Tied up in all the same ways before she was put in the water. Know anything about that?”
    “I go to the hardware store, the garden center, the old house, and then home. And that’s it.”
    “Really? ’Cause I heard you assaulted a man downtown last night.”
    And this is what you get for trying to help a pretty girl out. He didn’t recognize her, not last night when she stepped out of the bar nor today when he saw her in the hardware store. Curly black hair, light brown skin that looked like velvet to touch, bright and inquisitive eyes...
    It had been a while. A long while since he looked at someone like that. And of course, she’d likely gone and reported him for tackling the guy yelling at her. Nothing in her demeanor a half hour ago suggested anything off, but he couldn’t read women anymore. All it took was getting recognized, a few swirling rumors, and of course he’d be handed over on a platter.
    “He was threatening a woman,” Devin said calmly. “I encouraged him to go on his way.”
    “Prince Charming, is that how you’re playing it?”
    “It’s the truth.”
    “The truth that you lied to me two minutes ago when you said you were home all night?”
    “I didn’t say ‘all night’,” Devin snapped. “I went downtown for a drink. The bar was busy. I went home.”
    “Didn’t stop anywhere on the way?”
    “No.”
    “Straight home, then?”
    “That’s what I said.” He took a calming breath before his temper could get the better of him.
    Perry’s eyes hadn’t left his, narrowed and searching for any kind of slip-up. “Take another look. You sure you don’t know that girl?”
    Devin’d had it. “It just eats you up, doesn’t it? Haunts you? Can’t prove it was me then, can’t prove it’s me now. And if you had shit on me, I’d be in cuffs. So, if you’ll excuse me.” He stood abruptly, rounded the table, and braced for Perry to stop