Page 11 of Too Broken to Love

“He’s not here, sweetie. The wrapper could have been anyone’s. Could’ve been Sam’s.”

“It’s not.” She pressed her fingers into her temples. Hudson’s razor-edged tone cut through the air as he spoke with a paramedic.

“I want to see the medical examiner’s report immediately. Tell me you understand.”

“We understand, Dr. Langley. We’re looking at all angles.”

Tessa gripped Lia’s wrist. “Did you hear that? ‘All angles’ means they think this might not be an accident. Frank’s here. He got to me. Got to Sam. Oh my God. Tell me this is a coincidence. Tell me Frank isn’t in Belmarva. That he wasn’t in Sam’s car doing God knows what. That he’s still in Belize and I’m overreacting.”

An officer approached. Lia raised her hand. “Give us a minute, Russ.”

He stopped a few feet from them. “I’m really sorry about Sam.”

Tessa didn’t look at Lia’s friend she’d met a handful of times. “I need to tell someone, but what if they think I’m like Frank?”

“They won’t.”

Pain pulsed in her cheekbone, sharp as the night it had broken. “But everybody always does. Always.” Every accusation she did or didn’t deserve screamed in her brain. “What if they find out about the things I’ve done and think I was involved with Sam’s⁠—”

Crossing her arms over her chest, she clasped her forearms to stop trembling. “What do I do?”

“You tell the truth, sweetie. You did nothing wrong.”

“But I did.”

“A long time ago, for reasons beyond your control. Nobody needs to know that. Just tell them about Frank.”

A strong hand gripped her bicep.

Hudson.

“Who the fuck is Frank?”

His question thundered through her brain. How long had he been standing there?

She turned to Lia. “I can’t do this.”

Hudson stepped between them. “Do what, Tessa?”

“I…”

Frank’s voice bellowed in her head to flee. She willed her feet to move, but they remained rooted to the sand as Hudson pressed his lips into a hard line.

“Start talking.”

“Okay.” She wrapped her arms around herself tighter and pressed her fingers into her skin hard enough to leave bruises. Once she laid herself bare, there’d be no going back. “Frank is⁠—”

Hudson tugged Tessa against him. He couldn’t risk her saying another word in front of the cops. “Stop talking.”

Surprise flashed in her tumultuous gaze.

He wiped a tear clinging to her lower lashes as he dipped his head. “Two officers are coming to speak to us. Not a word about who Frank is. I hear it first, understand?”

Her breath skittered across the base of his throat as she nodded.

“Dr. Langley.”

He tucked Tessa into his side as he turned. The officers, both around Tessa’s age, introduced themselves.