Free Echoes of Murder (Till Death do us Part Book 2) by Cheryl Bradshaw

sex?”
    He hung his head. “Both.”
    “I’m guessing that’s how the broken knob happened.”
    “She kicked it and it came loose. When it fell, I assumed it was under the seat somewhere. I had no idea she’d taken it.”
    “Then what happened?”
    “Isla texted me, said she was sorry. I felt awful for what I’d done. I just wanted to get out of there, but the girl wouldn’t stop talking about how bonded she felt to me. She was crazy.”
    “What did you do?”
    “I told her I had a nice time, tried to let her down easy. It was a mistake. A one night stand. She looked like the kind of girl who’d had her fair share of them. I assumed she’d understand.”
    “But she didn’t, did she?”
    “I never gave her my name, so after that night, I didn’t expect to see her again. And then there she was the night of my wedding.”
    “How’d she find you?”
    “She said she saw the announcement in the paper,” he said.  
    “When did you talk to her?”
    “After you and I danced, I found her in my room. Guess she’d been hiding out, lurking around, waiting to get a minute to be alone with me.”
    “She was there long before that, Nathan. She attended your wedding.”
    “The only person I was focused on during the ceremony was Isla. I never saw Dakota. When she confronted me, she said she didn’t care if I was married. She wanted to be together. I told her I thought we had an understanding, that what happened was a one-time thing.”
    “So she confessed her feelings for you and what—threatened to tell Isla the truth? So you wrapped a cord around her neck and strangled her?”
    “You don’t understand. She wouldn’t leave. Isla would have never recovered from that information. I never intended to kill her. I was just—”
    “Whatever yours reasons, she didn’t deserve to die, Nathan.”
    “Isn’t the fact that I’ll suffer the rest of my life knowing what happened to Isla enough? Please, Reagan. I’m begging you. We’ll find a way to get Evan off, but you can’t tell anyone.”  
    From the hallway, Dustin entered the room, his face a mixture of shock and sadness. “I’m sorry, Nathan. But she already did.”

CHAPTER 24
     
     
    In the presence of Dustin and Chief Hall, an unfortunate story unfolded. No more lies. No more hiding behind the truth. A dead, lifeless feeling coursed through Nathan’s veins, seizing every cell, every fiber. It didn’t matter now. He was already living his own personal hell. 
    Dakota Jaynes had come to the wedding to confront him, and he’d killed her, planning to get rid of the body so no one ever knew. In the process, he’d forgotten one important thing. Isla had a key. He hadn’t expected she’d walk through the door, that she’d see him dragging Dakota’s body across the room as he desperately searched for a place to stash it. But she did. And the worst part of it all, in his startled state of mind, he’d uttered the wrong thing. “It was an accident.”
    Isla had looked at Dakota, seen the gashes on her neck, the rage in Nathan’s eyes, and she knew he was lying. She turned and ran, and Nathan went after her. He searched for several minutes, but it was too dark. He couldn’t see where she’d gone. Thinking she’d returned to the reception hall to confess what she saw, he entered the hall, accepted his fate.
    Only, she wasn’t there.
    No one had seen her.
    No one knew a thing.
    He should have felt relieved, but he didn’t. He needed to find her. He had to find her. Even if it meant asking for help and facing the consequences once he did.
    When the late-night search yielded nothing, he returned to his room, his stomach sickened to find the dead corpse still rotting beside him. He wanted to get rid of her. But he’d have to wait. As the hours passed, so did the consistent knocks on his door, anxious friends and family desperate to hear if there had been any news.   
    During the commotion, Nathan had stashed Dakota in the bathroom, but come