Page 52 of Dark Shadows
“We grew up together.” Her voice cooled to arctic temperatures. “Is there something you want to ask me, Mason?”
Yes. Had she dated Wesley? Was there history there? Did she make a habit of getting close to men and then disappearing? But the questions felt petty, unprofessional. Beneath him. Beneath her.
“No,” he said instead. “Nothing.”
They pulled up to her mother's house. Light spilled from the windows, warm and inviting, everything the car ride lacked. Savanah didn't move to get out.
“What happened between the cemetery and now?” she asked softly, hurt replacing anger. “Did the mayor say something?”
“Just doing my job.” He repeated his earlier words, hating himself for hiding behind them. “Making sure all angles get covered.”
“Right. Your job.” She opened the door, each movement deliberate. “Well, don't let me distract you from it, and don't forget, you brought me back here. Not the other way around.”
“Savanah,” he called out to her before she could shut the door.
“What?” she growled.
“You still have the pepper spray?”
Her eye twitched as she pulled it out of her hoodie pocket and held it up. “Yes.”
She slammed the door and jogged up her mother's driveway.
Mason waited, engine idling, until she reached the porch. She turned in the doorway, silhouetted against the light. Their eyes met through the windshield before she disappeared inside. A moment later, she appeared in the window.
He forced himself to drive away.
The station was quiet when they arrived, night shift settling in like a blanket over the building. Officer Daniels sat at his desk, filling out paperwork. He looked up as they approached. An expression of annoyance clouded his face.
“Agent Spencer. Agent Klein.” He set down his pen. “What can I do for you?”
“We need to talk privately.” Mason gestured toward an interview room.
“Sure.” He got up and walked into the interrogation room.
Inside the sterile room, Mason laid out the DNA report. “Want to explain this?”
“What is this?”
“Your DNA was at the crime scene in the barn.” Jacob leaned forward. “The same barn where Savanah Miles reported seeing a body when she was a child.”
“The same barn where another body was found,” Mason added.
“I've lived in this town my whole life. What you have is circumstantial evidence.” Daniels leaned back casually. “My DNA could have gotten on that blue plastic tarp from anywhere.”
Mason exchanged a knowing grin with Jacob.
“We never said the body was wrapped in a blue tarp.” Mason's voice was soft and deadly. “We actually kept that piece of information out of reports and only our techs knew that detail.”
Daniels' eyes narrowed to slits, giving them the glimpse of his cracking facade. “I want a lawyer.”
“You're going to need one.” Mason left the room, bringing back two cops to place Daniels under arrest. The click of handcuffs echoed in the quiet space.
“Why are you arresting my officer?” the sheriff demanded.
Mason and Jacob laid out the evidence.
The sheriff ran a hand over his face, his expression grave. “You may have him on that old murder, but I can tell you he didn't kill Beverly. He was on desk duty the night she died. Saw him myself.”
