Chapter 20 #2
“She didn’t want Mac looking for us. Better to make a clean break so she could disappear and become someone new.”
Jesse was confused. “She did disappear and become someone new.”
“Is that what you think?” Tegan’s hard laugh echoed eerily through the cramped space. “My dad might have been a loser, but he knew every dirty trick Victoria ever pulled. He was watching the bar when we drove away and followed us out of town. It was the first time I’d ever seen my mom panic.”
Jesse stilled, realizing that she’d once again jumped to conclusions.
A nasty habit that might literally be the death of her.
With an effort, she tried to imagine Victoria in her pretty sports car, suddenly realizing her plan hadn’t worked.
No wonder she’d been on that gravel road.
She’d been trying to avoid her demented ex.
“That’s when she crashed her car?”
“Yes.” Tegan’s expression hardened, a sure sign she was battling intense emotions. “She hit her head on the steering wheel. I think it must have made her groggy, because she didn’t even try to struggle when my dad opened the door and strangled her.”
The words were said with such cold indifference it took Jesse a second to realize what she was saying.
“Wait. He killed her?”
“Yes.”
“In front of you?”
Tegan glared at Jesse, as if infuriated by her appalled shock. “Don’t act like you care. You hated both of us.”
“Oh my God. That’s awful.” Jesse struggled to accept Victoria’s brutal end.
Tegan was right. She’d hated her stepmother.
And now she hated Tegan. But that didn’t mean she couldn’t be horrified to think that a woman was strangled to death just because she wanted to leave her marriage.
And a young girl had been forced to witness her mother’s death. “I can’t believe she’s really gone.”
“Ding dong the witch is dead,” Tegan taunted.
With an effort, Jesse shoved aside her sympathy. Tegan intended to murder her. Who cared how she turned into a sociopath?
“What happened to Victoria after she was dead?”
“My dad loaded her body into the back of his truck and drove to a nearby lake. He let me say goodbye before he tossed her in, and then we were headed back to Arkansas, as if nothing had happened.”
Jesse felt a pang of frustration. Clint Frazer was so close to witnessing what had happened that morning.
What would have changed if he’d gone down to check on the crash?
Victoria would probably still be alive and Tegan would never have been taken by her father.
The futile wish that things had been different abruptly evaporated as Jesse realized exactly what Tegan had said.
He dumped her body in a nearby lake …
“Do you mean the lake behind Noah’s house?”
“That’s the one.”
Jesse grunted, as if she’d taken a blow to the chest. She’d been more than blind. She’d been unforgivably dense.
“God, that was why you were putting flowers there when I saw you this morning,” she rasped. “And why you were so desperate to buy Noah’s house.”
“Very good.” Tegan’s words were a mocking pat on the head.
The bitch. “I didn’t really love my mom.
In fact, most of the time I hated her, but that lake is her final resting place.
I didn’t want someone draining the water and disturbing her.
Not only because it would stir up unpleasant questions, but she’d earned some peace.
Unfortunately, the stubborn bastard wouldn’t sell.
Now, thanks to Parker, I can at last have what I want. ”
Jesse leashed her anger. If she survived, she could hash through all the clues that had been staring her in the face, including the ruthless motivation of Reese Skylar to buy an aging farmhouse with mediocre value.
Right now, she was just trying to stay alive.
“My father’s inheritance?”
“That’s first. Next is Noah’s house.”
Jesse frowned. “You just said he’d never sell. Not for any amount of money.”
“No, but his dad will.” Tegan was back to purring, as if she recalled she was trying to act complacently in control of this encounter. “He’s up to his ears in debt. Plus, with his son dead, he won’t have any need for the ratty old house.”
The world stopped. Just like that. One minute it was spinning out of control and the next she was floating in a fog of numb disbelief. It was like her brain couldn’t process the mere thought that the big, tenderhearted man who carried the weight of everyone’s troubles on his shoulders was gone.
Fate couldn’t be that cruel.
“Dead.” The word came out as a croak. “What did you do to him?”
“He came to the office this morning, babbling about my silver Mercedes. He accused me of trying to run you off the road and demanded that he look at the vehicle to see if there were any dents.”
“It was you,” Jesse snapped, a shard of pain piercing her numbness at the knowledge that it was entirely her fault that Noah had gone to confront Tegan.
If she hadn’t told him about being run off the road, he would never have gone to confront her.
“Of course it was me. You shouldn’t have been prying into my past,” she chided. “Thankfully, I convinced him that I left the car at my house and he’d have to meet me there if he wanted to see it. He didn’t know Parker was there. It was easy to knock him out and bring him here.”
Knock him out? A portion of anguish started to ease. Maybe it wasn’t too late. Maybe if the sheriff finally bothered to show up, they could save him, regardless of whether she made it.
“Where is he?” she demanded, glancing around the cramped space, as if she might have overlooked his large form tucked in a corner.
“He’s outside in a boat, waiting for you to join him.”
“He’s still alive?” She desperately needed confirmation.
“For now,” Tegan admitted. “We need to make the authorities believe the two of you drowned in a tragic accident. I don’t want any questions asked when I demand my inheritance.”
About to return her attention to her stepsister, Jesse’s gaze was snagged by the tip of something sticking out from the bottom edge of the cot.
It was nearly hidden by a pile of rotting netting, which was no doubt why Tegan or Parker hadn’t noticed it.
Jesse, however, had spent enough time in the boathouse to recognize the knob of an oar.
If she could get her hands on it, she had no doubt her years playing softball would come in handy. One whack with that oar would knock out at least one of her captors.
It was a start.
“Then let’s get on with it,” Parker abruptly intruded into the conversation. “We take any longer and the lumberjack is going to wake up. It was hard enough to get him in that boat. Not to mention this place is giving me the creeps.”
Tegan turned her head to glare at her lover, as if she’d forgotten he was even there.
“Don’t hurry me. I’ve waited a long time to have a reunion with my sister.”
Parker scowled. “This wasn’t the plan.”
Jesse’s mouth was dry as she tried to inch way down on the cot. Was it possible to provoke the annoyance brewing between them? All she needed was a moment or two of distraction to make a grab for the oar.
“Then what was the plan?” Jesse asked, scooting another inch.
Parker turned to send her a taunting smile. “You were supposed to hand over your inheritance. After that, I was going to have the pleasure of killing you.”