Page 174 of Tell No Lies

“Do you need help?” Ah, there it was. He’d asked this question at least a hundred times a day. Most of the time, I said no, but there were certain things I accepted I couldn’t do on my own.

“Just brushing my teeth.”

I hurried to finish before he could bust down the door. With one last glance at my sad reflection, I turned and left my room.

Brandon was sitting with Liv on one end of the couch with a spot open for me next to Carter. I smiled and made my way over.

The detectives were already seated and looked like they had been waiting for me to speak.

The older one, who never accused me of making things up, gave me a quick nod before clearing his throat. “We wanted to come by and let you know the details before things got too public. The media is going to go crazy with this one, but we’re doing everything we can to keep your identity a secret. No reporters will be allowed in the trial, and if you don’t want to be present, you don’t have to be.”

Carter’s arm tightened around my shoulder. I knew all of this already, and he knew my decision to attend. I needed to see this come to an end for myself. I needed to be able to move on.

The detective studied me for a moment before continuing. “Mr. McLane is pleading guilty to stalking, harassment, breaking and entering, trespassing, and aggravated assault.”

My heartbeat was the only thing I could hear. My gaze fell to my hands, trembling in my lap. Carter pulled me in tighter to him and wrapped his other arm around me.

“Mr. McLane is obviously a very disturbed young man, but he’s not unwell. He was in control of his actions. He’s going to be put away for a very, very long time, Aubrey. Do you understand that?”

I lifted my gaze to meet his and nodded. I supposed he was trying to make me feel better, but I needed to know more. “Why?”

The detective looked confused. “Why what?”

“Why did he do this to me? What was his motive? I need to understand why.” The desperation was clear in my voice.

The younger detective sat up straighter, looking pleased I had asked. “We found that out as well.” His gaze traveled to each of us as if checking to see he had our undivided attention. “He did it for his family.”

My mind instantly went into overdrive, trying to comprehend.

“His cousin is Morgan Carrington.”

The world tilted on its axis. I narrowed my eyes at the man before me. Was he insane? Nothing made sense.

Liv spoke for me. “What are you talking about?”

“We did background checks on Mr. Carrington’s family. No one lives on the West Coast.” Brandon looked like he was going to explode. His leg was bouncing so rapidly it was shaking the couch.

“Mr. McLane was very, very careful in his contact with his cousin. He used his mother’s maiden name and his father’s Chicago address to sign in to visits. We found correspondence between the two. Morgan would send letters to his uncle’s house, and they were then forwarded to his address here.”

Carter was clutching my upper arm. “How did I miss that?”

I reached one hand out to hold his to calm him down. “How could you have looked that deeply into it? Tucker was doing everything to get around anything that could be tracked back to him.”

“I should have seen it.”

They continued to talk about what details they had put together, but things still weren’t making sense to me yet. I needed more.

“I want to talk to him.”

My words snapped everyone’s attention to me.

“No!” Carter practically growled.

“I need to understand why. From his own mouth.”

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Carter stood beside me, gripping my hand in his. “You sure about this?”