Page 86 of Dead Man's Alibi

“Mother fucker.Saw something?My ass.”It was so clear.

Jake wanted to hold onto Nate being the murderer, but he clearly suspected Mathews of having something to do with this.

Brian Mathews.Cal didn’t know if he thought that jackass had the balls to murder anyone, but he didn’t really know the guy.

“I need to discuss this with Sam,” Jake said, earnestly now.“I need to get a hold of Olivia Underwood.And it’s a concern that I can’t reach either of them.”

“Cal was about to try to track Sam since she hadn’t checked in,” Jill supplied.

Cal glared at her, but she looked at him imploringly.“We need to work together,” she told him.“If Sam is in trouble, we need to work together.”

“You’ve got no reason to trust me, Bennet, but I think something is very wrong, and…” Jake inhaled deeply, let it out.Seemed to firm his determination.“I want to make it right.”

“Fine,” Cal muttered.

Fine.If Hayes was letting them in, then yeah, maybe this was the only way to go.He jogged up the stairs to where he’d left his phone.As he went back down to Jill and Jake, he pulled up Sam’s contact information and pushed theLOCATEbutton.

They all waited while a little wheel turned, indicating it was working on locating.Then Cal swore.“The TikTok Motel.”

“Maybe she’s just investigating, and that’s why she’s not responding,” Jill offered, but both Cal and Jake were already moving for the door.

Because somehow, Cal very much doubted it.

Chapter Thirty

The TikTok Motel

Sam couldn’t besurprised there was a gun pressed into her back.She wasn’t even totally surprised Brian Mathews had his big, meaty arm around her neck.

She’d always thought he was a bit of a hothead.Harassing women?No shock there.

What she didn’t understand was how in the hell he was mixed up in all of this.

She wasn’t panicking yet though.She refused.And the gun in her hand certainly helped.Though in this current position, Brian was likely to kill her before she managed to point hers in his direction.

But he hadn’t disarmed her, so that was something.

“What the hell are you doing, Brian?”she said when he didn’t offer anything.

He’d closed the door behind him, but they stood right next to it.Olivia was fully across the room, tied to the chair.Quietly weeping.

“Getting away withsomuch,” Brian said, his hot breath on her ear.

She tried to lean away from it, but his grip was too tight.

Getting away with…

Okay, so this had taken a turn.Unexpected.Sam wasn’t about to admit she still didn’t fully grasp what he meant, because what could he possibly have to do with Jules Hyatt?

Then again, what could he possibly have to do with Olivia Underwood?

“Here’s what’s going to happen, Sam.You’re going to shoot her.”

Sam snorted out a laugh.This guy was delusional.“Yeah, that’s not going to work for me.”

The gun dug into her back again.“You don’t really think you have a say, do you?”

“Well, I do have a gun.And free will.”And there was something about Brian Mathews, who’d never struck her as particularly smart, that just wasn’t intimidating.Even with a gun to her back.