He had said more than once that he worried they thought it was me, which meant me being under the equivalent of house arrest was fine with him.

I also couldn’t figure out what else they would have on Kye that would really make them think he did it.

My foot tapped as I looked at my phone again. Kye hadn’t said anything, which hopefully was a good thing. I couldn’t wait any longer, though. I needed answers now, and I was sick of waiting. I couldn’t sit here in silence, waiting to see if I would be attacked next or if Kye would be arrested.

I grabbed my keys and Bailey, heading down to Fox and Ash’s apartment.

“Hey, I have to run out for a few minutes. Would you mind watching Bailey for a bit?”

Ash smiled. “No problem. You okay to go alone, though? Jax is here if you want a driver.”

“You know what? That would actually be great, if he doesn’t mind.”

Jax walked out from the kitchen behind her. “Not at all. Carly’s taking a nap, and I have nowhere to be. Where are we going?”

“The sheriff’s station.”

“Okay. Maybe I mind a little.” He smiled, still grabbing his phone and keys. “Kidding, but can I wait in the car?”

We pulled up to the station, and I hopped out.

“Call me immediately and I will come in.”

“Hopefully, no one but the receptionist is here. Can you call me if any of the sheriff’s cars pull up? Maybe even stall them?”

Jax grinned. “That, I can absolutely do.”

I headed inside, waving to the receptionist, who was on the phone.

“My dad,” I whispered, walking past her towards his office. It wasn’t like me coming here was out of the ordinary, exactly. I came around even less now that I wasn’t dating Mark, but no one seemed to care when I would come by before. I doubted the older receptionist would care now.

I slipped into my dad’s office, moving fast to flip through all the folders on his desk until I found the one for Mia.

There were pages and pages of notes, each one more scribbled than the last, and I wasn’t getting much out of it.

Another folder marked with my name caught my attention and I pulled it out of the stack. It was from when my tires were slashed and the house was broken into. I flipped through it quickly, not finding much. I almost shut it, but a photo of a knife caught my eye.

I recognized the wooden handle, the small engraved skull near its base.

It was Mark’s knife.

Did that mean Mark slashed my tires?

And if he slashed my tires, was he also the one that broke into my house? I flipped through the papers again, not finding any evidence that it could have been Mark, but I had wondered why someone broke in and didn’t actually take anything. I had been under the impression that I caught them mid break-in, but now I wondered if it was Mark. What had he been looking for?

I went back to Mia’s folder, my heart racing and palms starting to sweat. I looked for any notes about her hair being blonde, but didn’t find anything. Mark didn’t take any notes of me saying that or my dad commenting. I looked out the window, my thoughts moving too fast now.

Was Mark even capable of murder?

He had never raised his voice or gave me any indication he would be violent, and what could Mia have done to push him to that?

I read more, making out a comment that my dad had made. “How did the killer lock up?” It was scrawled off to the side, and the realization hit me hard.

The keys Mark had with him that night weren’t his. I had wondered why he would have a sparkly keychain, but he didn’t. They were Mia’s.

The thundering of my heartbeat filled my ears, making it too hard to listen if anyone was coming, but there was one more thing I needed to check.

My hands shook as I pulled out my phone, finding Kye’s contact and hitting it open before flipping to the phone log my dad had printed. Lucky for me, he hated computers, so there were hard copies of everything now.

My hand trailed down the page until I got to the one he circled. The last call Mia made, which was noted as Kye’s number. I looked between my phone and the page. It wasn’t Kye’s number. I hit Mark’s name next—it wasn’t his either.

That didn’t explain why they thought it belonged to Kye, though.

Jax

A sheriff’s here. Stalled as long as I could. Get out of there.

Daisy

Coming.

I took a few photos of the pages first, making sure to get as much of the important things as I could before slamming the files shut and running out.

I passed one of the sheriffs as I walked out the front.

“Have you seen my dad?”

“Last I knew, he was going to arrest someone for the murder. Can’t tell you much more than that.”

My stomach dropped, and I picked up my pace. I ripped open the door to Jax’s car, already yelling before I was inside.

“Go! We need to find Kye. I’m pretty sure Mark killed Mia and now he’s going to pin it on Kye.”

FIFTY-FIVEDAISY

I had called Kye five times as Jax headed towards the garage, but he never picked up.

“I’m going to kill him. Why is he choosing now not to answer my calls?”

“Maybe he’s a little tied up.”

“Is that supposed to be a joke about getting arrested? Are you thinking this is funny?”

“No,” he said fast. “No, I just make jokes when I’m stressed. I can’t help it,” he said, nearly laughing. “I swear I’m not happy about this.”

“You’re laughing!”