“When’s the last time you saw Barker?” Michna asked.
In a courtroom . . . I tried to swallow, but my mouth was dry as sawdust. “Eight years ago,” I said hoarsely.
“Did you know he was here in New York?”
Oh God. I shook my head violently.
“Where’s this going?” my dad asked.
I looked helplessly at Cary, then at Gideon. My dad didn’t know about Nathan. I didn’t want him to know.
Cary squeezed my hand. Gideon wouldn’t even look at me.
“Mr. Cross,” Graves said. “What about you?”
“What about me?”
“Do you know Nathan Barker?”
My eyes pleaded with Gideon not to say anything in front of my dad, but he never once glanced my way.
“You wouldn’t be asking that question,” he answered, “if you didn’t already know the answer.”
My stomach dropped. A violent shiver moved through me. Still, Gideon wouldn’t look at me. My brain was trying to process what was happening . . . what it meant . . . what was going on . . .
“Is there a point to these questions?” my father asked.
The blood was roaring in my ears. My heart was pounding with something like terror. The mere thought of Nathan being so close was enough to send me into a panic. I was panting. The room was swimming before my eyes. I thought I might pass out.
Graves was watching me like a hawk. “Can you just tell us where you were yesterday, Miss Tramell?”
“Where I was?” I repeated. “Yesterday?”
“Don’t answer that,” my dad ordered. “This interview isn’t going any further until we know what this is about.”
Michna nodded, as if he’d expected the interruption. “Nathan Barker was found dead this morning.”
Chapter 16
As soon as Detective Michna finished his sentence, my dad cut the questioning off. “We’re done here,” he said grimly. “If you have any further questions, you can make an appointment for my daughter to come in with counsel.”
“How about you, Mr. Cross?” Michna’s gaze moved to Gideon. “Would you mind telling us where you were yesterday?”
Gideon moved from his position behind the couch. “Why don’t we talk while I show you out?”
I stared at him, but he still wouldn’t look at me.
What else didn’t he want me to know? How much was he hiding from me?
Ireland’s fingers threaded with mine. Cary sat on one side of me and Ireland on the other, while the man I loved stood several feet away and hadn’t glanced at me in almost half an hour. I felt like a cold rock had settled in my gut.
The detectives took down my phone numbers, then left with Gideon. I watched the three of them walk out, saw my dad eyeing Gideon with a hard speculative look.
“Maybe he was buying you an engagement ring,” Ireland whispered. “And he doesn’t want to blow the surprise.”
I squeezed her hand for being sweet and thinking so highly of her brother. I hoped he never let her down or disillusioned her. The way I was now disillusioned. Gideon and I were nothing—we had nothing together—if he couldn’t be honest with me.
Why hadn’t he told me about Nathan?
Releasing Cary and Ireland, I stood and went into the kitchen. My dad followed me.
“Want to fill me in with what’s going on?” he asked.
“I have no idea. This is all news to me.”
He leaned his hip into the counter and studied me. “What’s the history with you and Nathan Barker? You heard his name and looked like you were going to pass out.”
I started rinsing off the dishes and loading the dishwasher. “He was a bully, Dad. That’s all. He didn’t like that his dad remarried, and he especially didn’t like that his new stepmom already had a kid.”
“Why would Gideon have anything to do with him?”
“That’s a really good question.” As I gripped the edge of the sink, I bowed my head and closed my eyes. That was what had driven the wedge between me and Gideon—Nathan. I knew it.