With a sigh he turned back to the screen and opened up a photo. An image of my parents popped up. I squeezed my eyes shut.
"Look at it." Alex's firm command forced my eyes open.
"All this stuff." His finger circled my dead parents. "This would all go into evidence. The bullets taken from your parents' bodies, their clothes, their jewelry. It'll be somewhere, he can't just get away with losing that stuff."
"I'm pretty sure he could. He's probably destroyed it."
"Yeah." Alex nodded, shoving his hands into his pockets. "Yeah, he may have. But what if he missed something. You saw the scene play out. If we went back to that house, you could walk through the room, maybe spot something that could give this guy away. We don't need much, just enough to open the investigation with someone we can trust."
"And who can we possibly trust?"
"The FBI will have an internal affairs gig going. They have to protect their reputation. A sniff of foul play and they'll go after it." Alex tapped his fingers on the table, excitement flittering across his face. "The San Francisco Chronicle has a huge circulation. If we get enough for me to write a credible article, the FBI will be scrambling to fix it." He turned to me with a confident grin. "Lucy, we've already got you. We just need a little extra powder in our keg and we can blow this whole thing wide open. If an investigation into Tenner starts, something will come out. Like you said, he's bound to be involved in other criminal activity."
"And how do we stay safe while that's going on?"
Alex's brow bunched. "Let's just take it one step at a time. First, we need some evidence." His blue eyes hit me with a persuasive force I knew I wouldn't be able to refuse. "Fancy a road trip?"
My gut plummeted.
Los Angeles.
Could I honestly go back there?
I looked to Zach's steady gaze and felt my heart squeeze.
I had to.
It didn't matter what I wanted. I needed Zach in my life and if that was going to happen, I needed to do everything in my power to bring an end to William Tenner's hold over me.
Chapter 10
LUCY
The drive to L.A. took five hours. We stopped for lunch along the way, so it was basically six hours of silence. I couldn't find it in me to speak. I was so nervous, my head felt like it was being squeezed by a vise. My vision kept blurring with images of my parents' corpses.
I'm not sure if it was out of respect for me or whether they all just felt too awkward, but none of the guys spoke either. Elliot had insisted on coming. I think he was excited by the idea of playing cop for a day. What did he know? So he'd watched some criminal shows. This was reality! A sickening, terrifying reality. I couldn't get it out of my head that this trip was a huge mistake, but every time I spotted Zach gazing at me or felt his fingers gently brush mine, I knew I had to go through with it.
We reached North Hollywood by three and were pulling into Culver City about half an hour later.
"Which way from here?" Alex flicked a glance at me.
I was frozen in my seat as I took in the familiar surroundings. My middle school was just off the road we were on.
"Right," I croaked.
We drove past Palms Middle School, my throat constricting as I remembered walking out with an excited Maria. Giggling together as we waved goodbye to Patrick de Luca, my first real crush.
My voice dropped to monotone as I directed Alex to my street.
"This one." I pointed out the window and he braked outside a white stucco house with orange tiles on the roof. I gazed up at the second story, spotting my bedroom window. It looked so normal, so peaceful. The lawn needed a mow and the hedges out front were in desperate need of a trim, but the white front door was still the same, the forest green guttering that Dad had spent an entire weekend painting. He'd let me help. I climbed up and down that ladder passing him drinks, clean brushes, more tins of paint. I'd meticulously worked on the down pipe, making sure my strokes were even and perfect. Dad had laughed at me. It's only a down pipe, Lulu.
"Are you ready?"
Zach's soft voice made me flinch. Forcing a brave smile, I nodded and he clicked the backdoor open. We all got out quietly and walked up the path. As we stepped up to the landing, my heart took off. I thought it might burst from my chest it was racing so fast. Alex rapped on the door twice and waited, giving me a sweet smile that told me I was brave.
After a minute of awkward waiting, Alex tried again, but still nothing. Zach bent down to peer through the window, pressing his nose to the glass. "I don't think anyone lives here."
"Why wouldn't anyone be here? I thought the house would have been sold."
"Not necessarily." Alex crouched down to look at the lock on the front door. "It might be yours."