AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Chapter Thirteen
CONNOR
I waiteduntil Neil and Wyatt had left and then sidled up towards Dr. Reese and Micah, who were talking in low voices. I didn’t like how pale Micah looked or how Dr. Reese gesticulated at the hole in the ground.
“Connor,” Micah shot me a glance, relieved. “Dr. Reese was summarizing,” he said. I know he was thinking about the gun, but also the freaking hole on his land.
Dr. Reese gestured at the cave-in. “The falling walls have exposed the bedrock, which is now stable. However, the water flow has created channels beneath the soil, weakening it. We’ll need to reinforce the area to prevent further erosion. This means installing retaining walls and proper drainage systems to divert water from the weakened spots.”
Micah swallowed hard, clearly overwhelmed by the implications, although I knew that Quinn would dive in with his bottomless checkbook to get any work done. “We’ll figure it out,” he said, more to himself than Dr. Reese.
Dr. Reese gave a sympathetic nod. “I’ll have a full report ready ASAP. In the meantime, keep everyone away from this area.”
After that, the engineer and his team packed their gear and left, leaving Micah and me standing in the rain.
Micah stared at me; his shoulders tight. “And?”
I clapped a hand on his shoulder, trying to offer some reassurance. “No gun.”
He relaxed, but there was still a tension in his gaze. “I need to tell… I need to…”
“Do nothing. Not yet, okay?”
“I’m telling Daniel everything.”
“He’s your husband, I get that.”
“And Neil knows,” he blurted.
I was startled. “Knows about the gun?”
“No, shit, I didn’t tell him that.” His eyes widened as voices reached us—Levi and Quinn walking our way—and his tone softened. “I tried to turn myself in, tried to get him to arrest me so that Rachel wouldn’t…” He didn’t seem to want to finish that sentence, but I filled in the blanks. Micah had offered himself up as Prince’s killer to stop the authorities from turning their attention to her.
“And?”
“He said the case was closed, and I needed to walk away, but I didn’t tell him I’d tossed the freaking gun down the well.”
Good for Neil. But also, shit.
“Daniel knows what I did, but I haven’t told him, Levi, or Rachel what I did with the gun, and if it’s found … I need to be honest and get ahead of this with them because I never even thought about it after I got rid of it.”
I gripped his arm. “It will be okay.”
By this time, Micah and Quinn had joined us, and Quinn hugged Micah, probably thinking he was anxious about the subsidence. I backed away and jogged down the hill as best I could in the gentle rain on the slippery surface. I bypassed Rachel’s offer of a shower and clean-up. With a wave, I clambered into my car and headed into town.
Neil’s house on the outskirts of Whisper Ridge was a classic mid-century weatherboard home with a small, tidy porch wrapping around the front. The land around it was open, giving a sense of seclusion with the nearest neighbor a few hundred feet away. I knew the next house was empty, and I had thought about putting down roots and buying the place. His sheriff’s car was parked outside, a familiar sight that brought a strange sense of comfort.
I didn’t know what made me drive there, but I pulled in and parked next to his car. I went around back but didn’t let myself in even though the security would be easy to circumnavigate.
I’m not a stalker.
Much.
I could hear the shower running through a narrow window, and I stood right under the surveillance camera and waved.
The back door flew open, and I was face-to-face with a half-naked Neil, towel wrapped around his waist, dripping with water, and holding a gun on me.
“What the fuck are you doing here? I could have shot you!” he demanded.
