Tyler had a local woman threatening him less than twenty-four hours before he was fatally gunned down.
That was one hell of a coincidence.
Chapter
Twenty-Two
Tate had gone backand forth in his mind. He’d looked through the photos again and read through the texts as well. He didn’t want to be thinking what he was thinking.
From what he could ascertain from reading the messages between Tyler and WinHeights, the couple had started their affair about six months ago. It had burned hot and heavy, but then it looked like Tyler had moved on quickly. For what reason, Tate didn’t know, but his friend had been rather cold and abrupt in messaging WinHeights to tell her it was over.
WinHeights, on the other hand, clearly wasn’t done. She was angry that she’d risked her marriage, and she’d thought it was something serious with Tyler. She hadn’t taken the breakup well, and in her last few texts, she’d made some threats that Tyler “would be very sorry” if he didn’t call her back.
“Sorrydoesn’t mean dead,” Cat pointed out. “He can’t feel sorry about anything if he isn’t breathing. Besides, we know Josh was the intended victim. They tried to do it again, remember?”
“I know,” Tate conceded. “But you don’t think this is weird? And also, painfully coincidental?”
“Well…yes, but coincidences happen all the time. At least, I think they do. If Tyler was the intended victim, then why did someone try and run down Josh?”
“I don’t know,” Tate admitted. “It’s just strange. Finn admitted that he’s gotten pretty much nowhere in his investigation of who might want to kill Josh. What if no one wants to kill Josh? That might explain why the investigation is stalled. But if they were concentrating on Tyler, they’d have someone to question.”
“Whoever WinHeights is, we don’t know their identity, and we don’t have a way to find out. There are loads of married women in this town, and a certain percentage might be stepping out on their husbands.”
“Finn could maybe find out her identity if he subpoenaed phone records,” Tate replied. “Then he could question her. Find out where she was that morning.”
“You’re going to talk to Finn? Wouldn’t he have already seen these texts and photos? The police had the phones in the first place. If he didn’t think it was worth following up on…”
Tate couldn’t ignore his gut, which was currently screaming that something wasn’t right.
“Did he even look at Tyler’s phones? Why would he? No one thought Tyler was the intended victim. He was investigating who would want to shoot Josh.”
“Right, Josh,” Cat said. “Tyler was dressed in Josh’s clothes. The shooter mistook Tyler for Josh and shot the wrong man.”
“I’m wondering if that’s the case,” Tate argued. “There’s a little voice in my head telling me to drive over to Josh and Rachel’s house and stand behind those trees to see what the shooter saw that morning.”
“You can’t listen to every voice in your head,” Cat replied. “They’re not always right.”
“I may not be, but I can’t just dismiss this out of hand. Our friend is dead, and it may not be the tragic accident we thought it was. It may have been deliberate.”
“They’re not always wrong either,” Cat sighed, levering to her feet. “Okay, let’s go. There’s only one way to settle this.”
“Where are we going?”
“To stand behind those trees,” Cat stated. “We need to know what the shooter saw. It’s the only way to settle this.”
He wasn’t going to argue. She was right. He needed to see what the truth would be.
Josh or Tyler?
“Finn’s probably already done this,” Tate said as he drove toward the street where Josh and Rachel lived.
“That doesn’t matter,” Cat argued. “You won’t be satisfied until you see it with your own two eyes. I may have been gone a long time, but I still know that about you. You’re an evidence-based guy.”
She did know him. He wasn’t the kind to simply take someone’s word about something he truly cared about. This was one question he needed answered personally.
“But we can’t just park across the street from their house and skulk behind some trees,” Cat pointed out. “Josh and Rachel will think we’ve lost our minds.”
“I have an idea about that,” Tate replied. “There’s an old dirt road a ways up from their house. We can park there and walk. With all the trees, they won’t see us.”
