“She didn’t do anything,” I pleaded. “She told me to leave her alone.”

His gaze hardened. “Believe it or not, the world doesn’t revolve around you, Carly Moore.” Paul shot a dark look to Marco. “If you don’t get her under control, then you should find yourself another girlfriend.”

“Carly,” Marco barked, reaching out to me.

His tone scared me, but not because I was scared of him. It only proved how frightened he was for me.

I went to him and he wrapped a hand around my wrist, dragging me toward the exit, leaving the cart abandoned at the end of the aisle.

He didn’t let go until he opened the passenger door of my car. I climbed inside, and he slammed the door shut behind me before stomping around to the driver’s side. He didn’t say a word as he pulled out of the parking lot, but he held the steering wheel in a death grip, his entire body so tightly wound I could bounce a quarter off it. He cast me a glance, fury in his eyes, and then made a pronouncement that caught me by surprise.

“You’re done.”

Chapter Twenty-Four

I blinked at him in confusion. “What do you mean I’m done?”

“Do you really believe you can keep lookin’ into this?” he said, pulling into a strip mall parking lot. He took several deep breaths before he turned to me. “He just threatened your life, Carly!”

I’d figured as much, but I hadn’t known for sure. “So we just stop?”

“We don’t stop,” he said, his voice shaking. “You stop. Clearin’ Wyatt’s name isn’t worth you gettin’ a target on your back with the sheriff’s department.”

“You’re going to do this without me?” I asked in disbelief.

“I’m a damn deputy sheriff, Carly!” he shouted. “It’s my job to do this!”

“No,” I said, trying to control my anger, “it’s not, because the good ol’ boys club is keeping you under their thumb. They won’t let you become a detective no matter how good you are.”

“Well, they might now,” he said in a dry tone, shaking his head as he stared out the windshield. “Why did you do that?”

I had no idea what he was talking about. “You’re gonna have to be more specific.”

His eyes burned with anger when he turned back to me. “Why would you make me look like such an utter asshole?”

I gaped at him. “I was trying to protect you, Marco!”

“At what price, Carly? Now he thinks I’m just like him.”

“I’m sorry,” I said, “but I’d do it again if I thought it would help you. If we’d stood up to him in there, you’d be in his sights too. You would have caught his attention, and then you’d never be able to bring them down from the inside.” When I could see I hadn’t swayed him, I added, “Marco, it’s no different than being undercover. You played a role.”

“I’m not like them, Carly, and it makes me physically ill to let anyone think otherwise. To let that man believe I’d treat you that way.” His voice broke. “My character has to mean something. I have to stand for something.”

Tears stung my eyes. “I’m sorry.” I reached my hand up to his cheek and looked deep into his eyes. “You are a good man, Marco Roland. You are a man of character, and I’m lucky to know you.”

His hand covered mine and some of his anger faded. “I nearly shit my pants when I saw Conrad walk into the store.”

I pulled my hand away and sat back in my seat. “Do you think he knew we were there? Do you think he followed us?”

His shoulders tensed. “No. I think he was legit stalking his wife.”

“I hope he doesn’t hurt her because of me.” My stomach churned at the thought of what might have happened after we walked out of the store.

“I tried to get to you as fast as I could. I had no idea what he would do to you.”

I didn’t want to open that can of worms again, so I focused on what I’d found out before Paul showed up. “Could you hear our conversation?”

“Yeah,” he said, sitting back. Then, as if he’d only just realized the seat was adjusted for someone significantly shorter than him, he grunted and reached for the handle in front of the seat to push it farther away from the steering wheel. “She offered up some interesting facts. Like Conrad using his badge to threaten her with a ticket if she didn’t go out with him.”

I leaned my head against the headrest and sighed. “Yeah, I caught that too. He’s a real peach.”

“It’s interesting that she thought Heather might have been in a relationship with May.”

“Agreed,” I said. “Do you think Mitzi was just tryin’ to throw us off her husband?”

“You tell me,” Marco said, leaning his head back too. “You were the one watching her.”

“I think she was sharing what she saw as a possible truth.”

Marco cracked a grin and turned his head to the side to look at me. “Good critical thinkin’ skills.”

I gave him a lopsided grin, but it collapsed. “We need to talk to May.”

He sighed, the light leaving his eyes. “Carly.”

“He already knows I wanted to ask Mitzi about Heather. It’s not like I can hide the fact that I’m interested. Besides, I think he was pissed because I ignored his orders, not necessarily because I’m poking around.”

“So you think he’s clear of this mess?” he asked in surprise.

“He’s not our only person of interest. If May loved Heather to the point of obsession, and Heather refused to stay, she had motivation to kill her. Even if it was accidental.”

“So who was Heather meetin’ at the Mountain View Lodge?” Marco asked. “If it was the older boyfriend, it seems like he would have been able to pay. I doubt they’d need help from Mitzi.”

“What if it wasn’t a romantic rendezvous? What if Heather was meeting with her co-conspirator?”

His mouth twisted to the side. “I don’t know. They could have met literally anywhere to discuss their plans. But you can get arrested for indecent exposure if you fornicate in a public place.”

I laughed. “Fornicate?”

“There are lots of things besides sex that could be construed as a sexual encounter,” he scoffed.

“True…” Sitting this close to Marco, thinking about “fornication” and all the things that would fit that definition, made my cheeks flush.

“We need to be careful about how we’re fitting the puzzle pieces together,” he said, oblivious to my thoughts. “It’s good to make speculations, but not at the expense of ignorin’ other possibilities.”

He had a point. “So what theories do we currently have?”

“We can’t overlook the possibility that Wyatt might have done it,” he said. “He had plenty of motive and no alibi after he left the party.”

“True.” Even though I didn’t believe he’d killed her, I’d acknowledge that he was a suspect until he was proven otherwise.

“We have the theory that Heather was working with someone to extort money from the Drummonds. And below that theory, we have a couple of possible co-conspirators. May. Paul Conrad, although we know of no connection between him and Heather other than our speculation that she might have been working with someone in law enforcement. From what I heard of your conversation with Mitzi, she doesn’t think Paul and Heather knew each other.”