Chapter Twenty-Seven
Driving back to Marietta
Sam had to be careful following Jake back to Marietta in the dark. Too close, he would no doubt start to sense he was being followed. He might be a total ass, completely wrong about everything with this murder case, possibly even a murderer himself … though she still struggled to fully accept that.
Regardless, he was a good cop who would know if someone followed him if she wasn’t careful.
She still couldn’t believe he’d driven Olivia home, walked the clearly tipsy woman up to her door, and then kissed her. Right there on the woman’s porch in the glow of the porch light. Easy and charming as he pleased. Steamy enough Sam felt like some sort of creepy voyeur.
She didn’t know if she was surprised he was a sleaze ball, but she was having a hard time making sense of it.
Had his dinner with Olivia tonight just been personal? Or was he using charm and flirtation as some kind of angle?
Did it matter if he’d already turned Olivia against her? Didn’t that mean she had to find a new angle?
Should she give him some credit for not going inside the woman’s house when the invitation had been clear, if drunk?
No, she didn’t think Jake Hayes deserved any fucking credit.
He turned onto the street she knew his house was on. It was a dead end, so if she followed, she’d have pass his house once and then turn around at the dead end and pass his house again.
So, first, she parked at the corner. It gave her just the right angle to see Jake’s truck pull into his driveway, and then into his garage. The garage door came down and closed. After a few moments, the light in the garage window went out, and one popped on inside the house.
What was she going to do now? Sit out here all night? She had to, didn’t she? Someone who was guilty wasn’t going to do their guilty shit during the day, were they? No, they’d do it in the middle of the night.
Sam didn’t know how on earth she was going to stay awake. She wrestled with ideas for a while. Take a little nap and hope he didn’t leave right away? Position herself right across from his driveway and hope the truck lights would wake her up if he left?
There was only one way out of the dead-end street, so if she at least turned onto it, parked there at the exit onto the main road, the headlights would have to hit her car no matter what.
If it was still dark out. If he was using headlights and not sneaking around.
Sure, it put her at risk of being seen—he might not recognize the car, but if he noticed someone was inside, he might take a closer look.
Sam decided it was worth the risk. This was all a risk and gamble anyway. And since it was, she figured she ought to let someone know what she was doing. She didn’t want to try to reason with Aly about not coming up to the ranch tonight, so she called Cal.
“Hey, just a heads up, I’m going to sit outside Hayes’s house for tonight.”
Cal’s long-suffering sigh echoed through the phone. “Sam…”
“Look, what’s the point in going up to the ranch? It’s no different.”
“Well, it is, because if Hayes catches you—”
“It’s a free country. I can park on his street.”
Cal grumbled something she didn’t catch.
But then he spoke clearly. “You need anything? Coffee? Food?”
Sam wasn’t sure why, after everything today, his offer was the thing that threatened to break through her resolve. This reminder that there were people who wanted to help. Who wanted to take care of her, whether because they wanted to or on Nate’s behalf.
Like Landon had said, they were all in this together for Nate.
So, yeah, she’d stay awake. “No. Thanks. I’ll check in come morning. Just let Landon and Aly know I won’t be up tonight, if you would. And tell them you approve.”
“Approve.” He snorted disgustedly. But he didn’t argue. “I’ll leave my ringer on tonight. Text if you need anything. And turn on your location so I can track you if you end up getting yourself in trouble.”
“I will. Cal … thanks.”
“Yeah, whatever,” he muttered, then ended the call.
Sam clicked Cal’s contact information and changed permissions so he could track her cell phone.
Then she grabbed her purse and rummaged around.
She found one Starburst and a smashed granola bar, but it might help get her through the night, so she ate both.
She wished she had anything to wash it down with, caffeinated preferably, but she wasn’t going to leave or risk Cal bringing her anything.
She was going to watch Jake Hayes’s house, and if he tried anything fishy, she was going to find out what it was.
Sam did end up dozing here and there, but it wasn’t a deep sleep, so she wanted to believe that if Jake did leave his house, the headlights would wake her up.
She jerked awake on something like a gasp, not sure what had woken her up. Maybe a dream? She scrubbed her hands over her eyes, but before she could look up at Jake’s house, her phone rang.
Jolted by the sudden loud noise, Sam grappled for it. Olivia Underwood was calling her.
At four thirty in the morning.
“Olivia?” Sam answered, breathless and worried and still a little addled from sleep.
“Sam, hi.”
“Hey. Is everything okay?”
“Yes. No. Yes. I don’t…” She inhaled shakily. “I think I might have found some evidence.”
Sam was immediately suspicious. Part of her wanted to jump at any potential evidence, but after the woman had just had dinner—and shared quite the kiss—with Jake, it was hard to believe this was real. Even at four thirty in the morning.
He’d probably set Olivia up to … distract her somehow. Maybe he’d seen her out here and set this phone call up to rattle her. “You should probably take that up with Jake.”
There was a long pause.
“No, I can’t. I … Sam, I think you’re right about your fiancé. I really do.”
Then why were you kissing Jake fucking Hayes last I checked? But Sam couldn’t deny the woman sounded upset. Rattled.
“Could you meet me at the TikTok Motel?” Olivia asked breathlessly. “I think someone’s watching my house, and maybe Honor’s Edge. I really want to show you what I found.”
It sounded and felt like a trick. Everything except the hoarse crack of the woman’s voice. “Please.” Either she was a great actress, or she really was desperate.
“When?” Sam hedged.
“Now. Please? Room 124. It’s the one on the end, farthest from the lobby.”
Bad news. She was about to say no or suggest an alternate time when she glanced up at Jake’s house.
She sat up straighter, leaning closer to the windshield.
The light in the garage window was on. Why would it be on unless he’d left recently?
Was that what had woken her up? Headlights?
Just not quickly enough to see his truck leave.
“I’ll be there in fifteen,” Sam said to Olivia. Worried about her now. Because if Jake had taken off at four in the morning and Olivia was calling her…
Maybe they were together. But if Jake had something to do with the murder … maybe Olivia was in trouble. Surely if he was going to hurt Olivia though, he would have done it tonight when he’d had the chance at her house.
But if he’d gotten away with one murder at the TikTok Motel, why not another?
Sam didn’t know if she was being insane, but she sped through Marietta and out of town toward the motel.
As she approached, she slowed her car a little. She scanned the surroundings, then the parking lot. Jake’s truck wasn’t anywhere on the street or in the lot, but Olivia’s car was. There were two other cars Sam didn’t recognize, but they were parked down by the lobby.
Sam got out of her car and unholstered her weapon. There weren’t any lights on behind the windows except in a room at the very end. Room 124.
Olivia had left her car behind at the restaurant after her dinner with Jake.
Jake had driven her back home, so how had the car gotten here?
Sam supposed she could have taken an Uber back to the restaurant right after Jake had left, or maybe Jake had gone to pick her up in the middle of the night, and Sam had missed it.
Too many maybes, and none of this was quite adding up in a way that felt right.
But if Jake was behind this, what was he going to do? Try to kill her? Hurt her? Even if he did, he wouldn’t have Nate to blame it on this time around.
It was … just insanity. She’d trusted Jake. Now she thought he was setting her up to be killed?
Well, if the evidence fits, right?
Should she call someone from the police department? Even if she risked Jake hearing about it, it was police backup. But what if someone else at the department was in on what Jake was doing?
Damn, she wished Nate was available. Together they could handle whatever this was.
Because she couldn’t trust anyone at the police department right now. She briefly considered calling Cal, but then she heard something.
It sounded like a faint scream.
Thinking only of helping, Sam ran toward it, toward room 124, finger curled around the trigger of her weapon. She stayed low, watching other windows, the dim world around her. She wouldn’t be stupid, but she could hardly let someone get hurt.
She reached the door not sensing anyone or anything outside. Gun drawn, working to keep her breath and heartbeat even, Sam reached out and tested the knob. Unlocked.
Bad news, Sam. But another scream sounded.
From right inside.
Sam couldn’t resist helping. She eased the door open, slowly, carefully, leading with the gun.
Olivia was indeed inside, screaming, in fact. But there was no way she’d called Sam earlier of her own volition.
Unless she’d managed to dial before she was tied to a chair.