Son of a bitch.

“You and Martin were friends?”

Darby bit her lip.

That’s it, Darby. Don’t fall for the bait.

“Let me ask this, do you even care he’s dead?” The detective’s words were harsh, designed to elicit a response.

Darby’s eyes welled with tears, but she didn’t let them fall.

“Don’t answer her.” Eban narrowed his gaze at the tense tableau.

Unfortunately, Darby allowed herself to be drawn out by the experienced detective. “Of course, I care. We were friends. Even if we weren’t, a man is dead. Of course, I care.” Then she looked away and Eban knew exactly what she was thinking about.

The past that haunted her. The past that haunted them both.

The detective leaned into the questioning now. She’d gotten Darby talking. It wouldn’t take long to break her down to the point she told the detective everything the police officer wanted to hear. It wouldn’t take long for the detective to get her to admit to killing this guy even though Eban refused to believe it. No matter what had happened in the past.

“Someone mentioned they saw the two of you dancing last night. Did you go home with him willingly?”

Regret shot through Eban—that Darby had finally given up on him and started to see someone else.

She deserved to be happy. She really deserved to be happy. The fact it couldn’t be with him tore him apart but, up until the phone call this morning, he’d thought he was doing the right thing. For her sake.

“I danced with everyone last night,” Darby’s voice was hoarse. “It was a ceilidh.”

“Including Martin?”

“Yes. Lots of people.”

“Did you willingly accompany Martin to his home?”

“Yes. No.” Darby put her head into her hands. “I don’t remember.”

“What do you mean, you don’t remember?”

Eban didn’t miss the note of satisfaction that filtered through Torgerson’s tone. She thought she was getting her subject to crack.

Not on his watch.

Darby opened her mouth to answer even though he’d explicitly told her to say nothing besides “no comment.” Eban pressed the two-way intercom button and introduced himself. “Supervisory Special Agent Eban Winters from the Federal Bureau of Investigation here to see Detective Torgerson.”

Darby straightened and her green eyes shot to the mirror as did the icy blue gaze of the blonde detective who swiveled to face him.

Torgerson glared even though she couldn’t see him. Stood. Ended the interview and left the room.

Eban braced himself for the detective’s wrath although it was irrelevant. Darby’s expression visibly filled with relief and that was all that mattered. She knew he was here now and would hopefully trust him to help figure out this mess.

He mentally urged her not to say anything else to the police, no matter how innocuous she thought it might be. There were potential landmines in her past. None were her fault. All could be used against her.

Five seconds later, Detective Torgerson strode into the observation room.