Page 69 of Unburied

“Better to be safe than sorry,” Mabry supplied.

“Exactly.” Mason hung up feeling not a whole lot better about the situation, then turned to Carter and Aiden. “Mabry promised to look into it.”

Aiden stared at him. “Do they have any idea what happened?”

Mason shrugged one shoulder. “All they know so far is it was a single car accident. Best guess is he swerved to miss something in the road, lost control, and flipped into the ravine. I have a feeling they're just gonna call it a day on this one.”

From his left, Carter lifted one hand in a shrugging motion. “It'll be almost impossible to get them to re-open it unless you have significant evidence indicating it was intentional.”

Such a lawyerly response. Mason narrowed his gaze at him. “I'm telling you, whatever happened to Tyler wasn't an accident.”

“Not disputing that, but how do you prove it?” Carter pressed. “Say he was run off the road. Unless the killer left something behind—paint flakes, tire marks, something—you may never know.”

Mason speared him with a dark look. “You know, Cross, I'm starting to remember why I disliked you so much.”

Carter rolled his eyes. “Whatever. It's nothing you don't already know.”

No, it wasn't, but it wasn't the answer Mason wanted. “Who is this guy?”

“Are we sure it's a guy?” Aiden cut in. “Could be a woman.”

“I don't think so, not unless it's a team.” Mason thought back to last night at the bar. “Vivi was absolutely positive she was attacked by a guy, and after everything that’s happened, I’m confident it's the same person. The question is, who has the most to lose?”

“Elijah,” Carter supplied.

Aiden shook his head. “As soon as I heard about the ordeal last night, I thought of him. I gave him a call this morning and asked where he was last night. He and his wife were out to dinner with his boss, who verified it.”

“Who else could it be?” Mason asked.

“Could have hired it out,” Aiden suggested.

“I don't think so.” Mason shook his head. “If this person killed Russ and covered it up, he would want to deal with this personally. I couldn’t care less that they killed him. The problem is, he went after Tyler, then Vivi. Now I'm pissed.”

If he had just left her alone, Mason would have let sleeping dogs lie. But the moment the killer threatened his woman, he’d sealed his fate. Mason didn't care what it took; he was going to find him.

CHAPTER

THIRTY-SEVEN

Emotionally, she was kind of a mess. Vivi knew that Mason and her brother were doing everything they could, along with the police, to figure out not only who had killed Tyler but also who had attacked her in the parking lot. She felt better knowing she would be staying with Mason, but her heart still hurt for Tyler. Angry tears burned her eyes, obscuring the view from the windshield as Mason turned into her driveway and pulled to a stop next to the house.

“You okay?” he asked.

He seemed to have a sixth sense when it came to her and her emotions. She thought she had been holding it all in fairly well, but she couldn’t hide anything from him. She blinked back the moisture in her eyes and nodded as she reached for the door handle. “I'll be fine.”

Not waiting for his response and not really wanting to talk about it anymore right now, she climbed out of the car and trudged toward the house. But instead of making her way to the front door, she cut across to the backyard and took a seat on the deck. She had always found peace out there; Ellen’s backyard was like a tropical oasis just outside the city.

Her gaze landed on the lilies lining the fence, and a sad smile touched her mouth. Ellen had seemed so… different that morning. Vivi knew she was withholding information, but she didn't have the mental fortitude to confront her right now. Besides, who knew if Ellen would even remember? It was an uncharitable thought, but one she couldn't help.

“I helped her plant those, you know,” she said as she stared at the lilies lining the fence.

She studied the flowers, and Ellen’s words from several weeks ago floated back to her. The flowers had been Christine’s favorites, but there was something else. What was it?

Suddenly it hit her like a bolt of lightning. She had been completely thrown by Ellen talking about Christine adoring the calla lilies that she had almost forgotten the second part of the statement—that he had hated them. Such an odd thing to say. Was it Russ she’d spoken of? And why bring him up at all unless it was relevant in some way?

Her heart thundered in her chest. What if Ellen hadn't been talking about Christine at all? She remembered helping Ellen plant the lilies the summer after she moved in. If they had been for her daughter, why wait so long? By the time she had arrived, Christine had been dead for fifteen years. It wasn't out of the realm of possibility, but it was just one more inconsistency that didn't fit.

She could feel Mason’s eyes on her. “What are you thinking?” he asked.