Before the Dawn(81)

Tucker didn't blink.

"Do you have a relationship with her now?" Hatch grilled him.

Watch yourself. They're trying to catch you in a lie. "Yes."

Hatch's eyes widened. What? Had the guy been expecting him to lie? Tucker knew better. He'd called Dawn "baby" in front of too many people earlier. He'd let his emotions slip out. Covering now would be senseless.

Hatch flattened his hands on the table as he leaned forward. "We found your prints inside Jinx Donahue's home."

"That's because I went inside with Dawn. We searched the place together."

"And you just happened to be present when the roses were found at Dawn's place."

"Right. I was there with her. She actually found them first, but I went in a few moments after her and saw them."

"You went in her bedroom," Anthony said.

Tucker raised his brows. "That's where the roses were left, yes."

"Dawn didn't tell me that someone had been watching her..." Anthony's cheeks were red. "She was friends with cops, but she didn't mention feeling watched, not until you came here and got back in her life. Why is that? Why only talk about what was happening now?"

"Because she didn't have proof. She didn't want to go to you without proof."

Anthony smirked. "Odd, isn't it? That there was no physical proof left behind, not until the moment you arrived in town."

"Not so odd, really. I came to town because of the killer. He was escalating, obviously. Perhaps my presence in Dawn's life even pushed him over an edge."

"Or perhaps you engineered everything that is happening here," Anthony said, voice cutting, "just so that Dawn would be afraid once more. So that she'd need you...and you could have a way back into her life. A way back to the relationship that you've never been able to let go."

"That's certainly one idea," Tucker murmured. "But it's the wrong idea." He kept his pose easy as he stared at the others. Showing aggression now would only work against him. It was a good thing he'd had so long to practice controlling his emotions. "You are the ones who contacted my team. I didn't come here on my own-"

"We contacted you because the scene looked exactly like the Iceman's kills. You could have staged that deliberately." Anthony had taken the lead from Hatch and, apparently, the captain wanted to see just where his detective would go with this line of questioning.

"And the DNA evidence?" Tucker asked, raising a brow. "Where did I find a partial match for-"

"Your father." Anthony smirked at him, eyes gleaming. "You're a smart son of a bitch. Had to be, right? Former SEAL. Highflier in the FBI. I'm betting you know plenty about evidence. Specifically, how to leave behind the evidence that you want others to find. I mean... I just didn't get it. Why would the killer leave his gloves for Red to take? Why do that, unless he wanted that evidence to eventually be discovered?"


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Tucker didn't let his body stiffen.

"Maybe you kept DNA from your father. Hell, for all I know, maybe those were your father's gloves. You kept them, then you dumped them. Maybe they were your security in case we didn't call the FBI in right away. You were counting on the PD down here running tests on the gloves and then, when we did-bam-there would be a link to Jason Frost. You knew when we found the partial match we'd be calling your office. Calling you. Just like you'd planned all along."

"That's one interesting theory," Tucker murmured.

"Like it, do you?" Anthony gave him a cold smile. "Because I've got more."

Can't wait to hear this.

"You got to Red before I did. Before anyone else did. When I got to the motel, you were the one standing over that poor man as he took his last breath. At the time, I thought it was coincidence, but now...now I'm wondering...did Red know too much about you? Did he see you with Heather's body? And you had to kill him?" A beat of silence. "It's such a fucking coincidence to me that Rowan Jacobs described the killer to us...a man who fit your description perfectly."

Tucker eased out a slow breath. One, then another. Don't let him push too far. "You have been working up a lot of theories." His voice wasn't mocking. It was flat. "But that's all they are. You want the truth?"

"That'd be nice," Hatch growled.

"I was in DC when I got the news about this case." He inclined his head toward Samantha. "My team leader briefed me, and I agreed to come down here because my job is to stop killers. I got on the plane and I got my ass down to New Orleans. I immediately started working the case, and, yes, that brought me into contact with Dawn." His gaze swept to Anthony's. "But you know that already."