Darby closed her eyes as tears threatened. The things she’d put him through boggled her mind. She blinked determinedly. She would not lose it. She would not break down. She was stronger than that now. If he didn’t think she’d done it then neither did she. But why were her fingerprints on the knife?

She pulled out her cell.

“Who are you calling?” he asked quickly.

“My lawyer, Elliot Byrne. He told me to meet him in my apartment parking lot.”

“Tell him you’ll talk tomorrow. Don’t tell him you’re with me.”

She blinked, inexplicably hurt. “Why not?”

His mouth pulled to one side in a wry smile. “I don’t want the cops figuring out that I’m personally connected with their chief suspect.”

“Is that why you didn’t come see me in jail?”

He reached out and took her hand. Squeezed it. Her cold heart gave a hard little tumble.

“I’m sorry about that. I wasn’t sure how it was going to play out at first, but the locals didn’t push as to why I was here. Quentin will back me up, obviously, when and if they reach out to him. Officially, I’ve been assisting with the investigation and trying not to do anything to make things worse for you.”

“Officially?”

“Unofficially officially,” he admitted with a tight grin. “I didn’t interfere with anything,” he said firmly. “I made them collect and double-check every piece of potential evidence. Follow every lead.” His expression hardened in seeming irritation.

Not at her, she realized. With the investigation.

“And one of those pieces of evidence led to me being released?” she guessed.

“Actually, that wasn’t me. I think me questioning every step made the officers look more closely at what they found though. Hopefully, the other evidence they collected will help us figure out the truth about what happened.”

Once again, he’d helped save her. No wonder he worried their relationship was unbalanced—although calling it a relationship was a stretch. It was a friendship based on pity on one side and attraction on the other.

As much as she wanted more, she reminded herself that he’d been the one to put up all the barriers. She couldn’t risk insulting him or putting them both in an uncomfortable position by trying to break them down right now. That wouldn’t be fair. They were together, and she wasn’t going to ruin it by pressing for more than he wanted to give. Whatever came next at least she had him by her side. As a friend if nothing more.

Chapter Eleven

Eban stopped himself once again asking if Darby was okay when her phone buzzed.

“Hello?” She put the call on speaker so Eban could hear the conversation.

“Darby, are you out yet? Don’t come to your apartment. Members of the press are swarming everywhere. Grab a cab and meet me at my hotel.” Elliot Byrne gave her the name of a hotel in the city. “We’ll go over the case notes together and decide what to do next.”