Jaz nodded.
“I’ll be outside,” Liam said.
Stepping forward, Jaz took a seat in the folding chair opposite Devante and tried to think of something useful to say. “So, are you all right?” she managed, trying not to look at Diante’s handcuffs, which were clipped to a bolt in the middle of the table to limit his motions. The room was chilly, and she rubbed her hands over her arms. “Did you get hurt?”
He gave her an appreciative smile. “A little banged up. I was lucky.”
Sebastian hadn’t been.
“Jaz, listen.” Devante leaned in toward her, the movement hampered by his cuffed wrist. “You know this is a huge misunderstanding, right? Everything yesterday was an honest-to-God accident. I swear. You have to believe me.”
“What are you doing in San Bernadino anyway?”
“Coming to see the start of the Clash of the Titans, of course.” Devante spoke in the same reverent tones as he had that night. “I told you I always come to watch you climb. I pick up something new every time I do.” He reached for her hands in his handcuffs as if imploring her to grasp his fingers.
She didn’t. “Why, Devante? Why would you just drive off like that after hitting Sebastian? He’s your friend.”
“That’s not what happened.”
“What happened, then?”
“I didn’t even know Sebastian was in the car, much less hurt. What I remember—I think—is suddenly recognizing the Ford Fusion as possibly the one the guy at the airport rental counter told me you rented. I just wanted to speak to you. I tried to pull up close, to check if it was really you, but then lost control.”
He’d interrogated the rental counter guy for which car she’d rented? Holy crap.
“You have to know I’d never hurt you or Sebastian,” Devante continued. “I just sort of blacked out. I must’ve banged my head or something because I don’t recall the next few minutes. Next thing I know, I’m driving toward town with no memory of how I got there.”
“I’m sorry, Dev, I want to believe you, but it sounds like the most convenient amnesia ever.” Jaz rubbed her face. “So why didn’t you turn around when you came to? I mean, if you thought I might be in the car you just hit, why didn’t you go back to check if I was okay?”
“I wasn’t thinking like that. When I, you know, came to, I wasn’t really hurt—so I figured the other driver must be in the same shape. Maybe I somehow knew you weren’t in that car I hit. I was disoriented and my thoughts were all scattered. I felt really tired, though, so I pulled off on one of those trails and drifted off. When I woke a few hours later, I didn’t know where I was or why. I guess I hit my head harder than I thought, right? Anyway, I got out and saw the damage and figured I must’ve hit a deer. So that’s what I told the rental car place.”
“You woke up in a damaged car in the middle of the night, had no idea how you got there, and instead of going to the ER to get checked out, you went to return your rental?” It was difficult to even repeat Devante’s bullshit back to him with a straight face.
“Like I said, I was confused. I probably had a concussion. I’ll get it checked out.” Devante shifted in his seat and laid his palms on the table as if in supplication, the chains from the cuffs clanging stridently against the wood. “Look, I panicked, okay? Not everyone has nerves of steel. I was freaked out and had a head injury. When I woke, the deer explanation made more sense to my jumbled brain. Even knowing, it all feels like a dream. A bad one.”
“Yeah.” Bad dream seemed a very apt description of Jaz’s own feelings.
“Sebastian needs to tell the police that he doesn’t want to press charges. He probably didn’t think of that with all that’s going on, but this is important. You need to explain things to him, and tell him to tell the PD about the no-charge thing. We’re friends. What happened was terrible, but it was just an accident. I know he wouldn’t want to make it even worse all around. You’ll get him to call, won’t you?”
“Yeah.” Jaz lied and didn’t care. “I’ll talk to him.”
Devante leaned forward. “Today, all right?” The reverence in his voice was creeping toward demand. “This is my life we’re talking about.”
“Of course.” She pushed away from the table. Maybe someone as cool minded as Liam would think of something clever to ask just now, something that would seal the case against Devante once and for all, but all she wanted was to get out of the room. “Let me go make some calls before the challenge starts, all right?”
Jaz walked out of the interview room, shivers still rushing over her skin. Liam held out his arm, and Jaz pressed herself gratefully against his chest, her head fitting perfectly into the nook of his large shoulder. “I don’t understand,” she said. “I know people do stupid things when they panic, but there’s no way he could think Sebastian wasn’t injured. I mean, he crashed the front of a huge-ass Suburban into the driver’s door of a little Fusion.”
Liam brushed the back of her head, and Jaz had to acknowledge that the man he’d grown into bore little resemblance to the teenaged asshole who’d humiliated her all those years ago. She was fortunate to have him here. Fortunate to have him as her partner for the coming week.
“Before I left his room, Sebastian told me something. I need to know if it’s true.” Liam’s voice was just loud enough for Jaz and the detective to hear. “When you and he go places together, who drives?”
“I do,” Jaz said reflexively. “It’s a running joke between us because I always pull the seat so far up that if he gets in after me, he bangs his knees. So he always lets me snatch the keys. I like having the wheel, so… Oh God. The rental was in my name, and with tinted windows—you think Devante assumed I was driving? That he wanted to hurt me on purpose?”
“I think there are several possibilities to consider,” Liam said firmly. “To Detective Kilauea’s point, one can’t rule out sheer stupidity. But yes, one of the scenarios is that this wasn’t an accident at all.”
14
Liam
The Clash of the Titans’ first challenge kicked off from one of the most gorgeous—and photogenic—spots on the West Coast: San Gabriel Mountains. As an added bonus, Mount San Antonio, or as the locals called it, Mt. Baldy, with its ski resorts and crests rising over the valley cities made its stand to the east. Jaz and the other four competitors knelt beside their gear, carefully rechecking it. Not because they needed to, but to give the photographers plenty of time to get just the right picture of the brand they were representing. Liam had to give Jaz props for at least making it look natural instead of coiling and uncoiling the same piece of rope for the fifth time like Nike’s champion was doing.
Despite the remote location, there was a bevy of spectators, along with chance hikers going in and out of the zigzag of pine-lined trails. Fortunately, the event organizers had set up a secure perimeter with competent men at all entrance points. Which all left Liam with time on his hands to get a bit of work done.