Page 70 of It's a Wonderful Knife

“Especially since you have a girlfriend,” Max added.

“Okay. I screwed up. I kissed Chloe, and I got in trouble with just about everyone. End of story.”

“Sure, except for the fact that Madison was humiliated. Can you blame her if she turned to Santiago for comfort?” I asked.

His jaw clenched. “That didn’t happen. Me and Madison arefine.”

“Then why are there so many rumors about Madison and Santiago?” To be fair, there weren’t a lot of rumors. Richard and Jameson were the only two who’d volunteered seeing them talking. But the angrier Jax got, the more he might say. He wasn’t as coolheaded as Jameson. Jax was a more emotional guy.

Clenching his fists, Jax said tersely, “How many times do I have to tell you Madison and I are fine? If I’d caught Santiago with Madison, you can bet I’d have given him an ass-whoopin’. But I wouldn’t havekilledhim. I’m not a murderer.”

“It’s not like you’d announce it if you were,” Max muttered.

“I have to ask you about this stuff.” I shrugged, trying to sound nonchalant. “Statistically speaking, jealousy is a huge factor in many murders.”

“I’d love to know who’s pointing their finger at me. I wasn’t worried about Santiago stealing my girl, and I didn’t kill anyone.” He scowled. “Who is this jerk?”

“It’s not important who said what,” I responded. “The fact remains jealousy might have been the motive for Santiago’s murder.”

Jax continued on as if I hadn’t spoken. “Was it Dakota?”

“No. We haven’t spoken to Dakota yet,” Max said.

I winced inwardly because unknowingly, Max had narrowed down the list of who might have told us what.

“Oh really?” A cunning light appeared in Jax’s eyes. “So far you’ve only talked to Richard and Jameson. Jameson and I are tight. He wouldn’t try and get me in trouble. So Richard is the asshole who implied I killed Santiago in a jealous rage?”

Max realized what he’d done, and he glanced at me uneasily.

“Richard simply mentioned Santiago flirted with Madison,” I said calmly. “I’m the one who decided that might give you a motive to go after Santiago.”

“Nice try, Sheriff.” He shook his head. “After all I’ve done for that asshole, he tries to get me in trouble?”

“What exactly have you done for Richard?” I asked.

He avoided my gaze. “Just stuff.”

I studied him. “Richard says he barely knows you.”

“Whatever.”

I frowned. “I’m just trying to figure out which one of you is telling the truth.”

His jaw hardened. “I don’t want to talk about Richard anymore. If you want to ask me stuff about Santiago, fine. But I don’t think you have the right to butt into every aspect of my life.”

It was obvious he was shutting down, but I didn’t want to leave him with the feeling that he’d controlled the interview. “You don’t get to decide what I ask.”

He scowled. “I thought you brought me in here to talk about Santiago’s murder?”

“I did, but if I want to grill you another hour about Richard, I will.”

“Jesus, whatever.” He raked a hand through his hair. “I just don’t get why you aren’t asking me shit about Santiago.”

“I’m investigating a murder, and there are a lot of ways to get to the truth.” I studied him. “If I let you go for the night, are you going to go cause trouble with Richard because your feelings are hurt?”

“What?” He frowned. “No.”

“I have enough to handle right now, I don’t need you starting something with Richard, got it?”