Chapter 22 #3
"No. He's not a killer," she said, clearly desperate to believe that.
"I told you to stop talking," Garrett said loudly, coldly. "Why did you let her in? I told you to stay away from her."
"Why did you do it, Garrett?" I asked, interrupting their conversation, which might have been a mistake, but I didn't feel like I had much time to get the answers to my questions, and I didn't want to die without knowing everything.
"I had to protect my wife, the mother of my child," he replied, as if that justified everything.
"You talk about her like she's a possession. Her name is Sloane, and she's more than just your wife and the mother of your child. She has a life and a past, and she did something bad. But it wasn't murder; it was an accident."
"It was," Sloane agreed. "It really was."
"No one else will see it that way," Garrett said. "You don't even see it that way, Tessa. You're just trying to talk yourself out of this. But you can't do that, because you are a loose end I cannot afford."
"They already caught your guy, Garrett. They'll find out you paid him," I said.
"No, they won't. I know how to cover my tracks. I've done it plenty of times before."
"Many times before?" Sloane echoed in shock. "What do you mean, Garrett?"
"Go in the house, Sloane. Our daughter needs you.
And if you want to be her mother, you need to leave.
" He took a step forward, and as he did so, I instinctively took a step back, which made me realize exactly where I was, very close to the edge of the bluff.
There were a few fence posts lining the area, but the fence had not yet been built, and a few more steps, and I'd be gone.
The realization made me dizzy, but I didn't want to show any fear.
I couldn't give Garrett that satisfaction.
He took another step forward. I put up my hand, trying to stall until I could think of a way out of this. "You don't need to kill me. I won't say anything."
"Yes, you will. You can't help yourself."
"I can. I'll protect Sloane. I know the truth now. She didn't kill Paige. Paige fell on her own. I'll make everyone see that."
"It's too late. You should have left it alone.
You should have let Hale take the fall. After you questioned Sloane about him, I realized he was the perfect one to take the fall for Paige's murder, and also that of the detective.
I had someone watching Cabot's house. We suspected Hale would go to talk to him at some point, and he did.
When Hale showed up, it was the perfect time to strike.
His fingerprints would be everywhere, and it would look like Hale had knocked out his friend and searched for damning evidence against him.
The cameras in the area would have also put him in the house. Hale made everything so easy."
"How did you know Hale would ever go to talk to Cabot?"
"Because there had to be a reason his relationship with Paige never came out during the first investigation. Hale had to know Cabot. He had to have done something to keep himself off the radar after Paige died."
I had to admit that Garrett was smart. "But Hale was caught on camera, leaving hours before Cabot died," I said. "The police didn't like that gap in time."
"The police would think he'd doubled back. The affair would come out. There would be enough circumstantial evidence to convict him. And he deserved to go down. He was a scumbag. But now you have to die, too. You should have left town when you had the chance."
What I should have done was listen to Colton and Morgan and stayed put, instead of running over to see Sloane.
I couldn't really regret it, though. My actions had led to her confession.
That might not have happened if I hadn't come.
Unfortunately, it didn't look like anyone else was going to know about it.
Garrett moved closer, the barrel of his gun pointed at my head.
"If you shoot me, it won't look like an accident," I told him as I took another tentative step back. I wasn't right at the edge, but my foot slipped in the loose dirt, and I started to slide. I flailed my arms in panic. I couldn't fall. I couldn't make it this easy.
A look of pleasure crossed his face as I tried to regain my footing. But I was falling…
I screamed, searching for something to grab onto.
Just like Paige had fallen backward into the lake, Sloane was going to watch me die, too.
As my feet slid out from under me, I fell to the ground, but I was able to grab the fence post, stopping my fall, at least for a moment…
I clung to the post with desperation, my legs already hanging over the edge.
Garrett was so close now, so happy. He was just going to wait it out.
Wait until I couldn't hang on anymore. And then I'd fall to my death, and no one would ever know that he'd done it.
He'd probably bury my body down below, get rid of my car, make it look like I'd gone to Hale's house.
A million things ran through my mind, finally settling into one awful truth—I couldn't save myself.
There was nothing I could do but hold on for as long as I could.
The silence sizzled with tension. I could hear the seconds ticking away in my head.
I tried to cling to the moment, maybe the last moment of my life, and now I was thinking about my family, my friends, the mistakes I'd made, the lessons I'd learned, the future I very much wanted to have.
I couldn't go down without a fight. But my arms and shoulders were screaming with pain. How long could I hang on?
The question had barely run through my head when one of my hands slipped off the post. I bit down on my lip as I tried to grab the post again, but I couldn't reach it. My body was dragging me down.
And then Sloane moved.
I couldn't believe it.
At first, I thought she was going to push me over, but she flung herself onto the ground on her stomach, reached for my dangling arm and grabbed it with both hands.
"You are not going to die," she told me forcefully. "I am not going to watch another person die."
"Sloane, let her go," Garrett commanded. "What the hell are you thinking? This is what needs to happen. She needs to fall. Our hands have to be clean."
"Our hands aren't clean, Garrett," Sloane said, not bothering to look back at him. "If she goes, I go. Are you going to let that happen?"
"Maybe I will," he said. "My daughter needs a mother who knows how to make the right choice."
"My daughter needs me, not you," Sloane said with defiance. "And I'm not letting Tessa go."
Despite her words, I was afraid neither one of us would be able to hang on for long.
And then, the back door to the house banged open. Colton ran into the yard, his weapon drawn. "Police. Put the gun down, Delano," he ordered.
Garrett turned his head in shock, the look of satisfaction slipping away, but he hadn't put his gun down. It was still pointed at me.
"It's over," Colton said. "We found the financial trail between you and Steven Williams, and then your man gave you up. We have everything we need to put you away."
Garrett looked stunned. "He wouldn't do that. I paid him a lot of money not to do that."
"Sometimes there's not enough money in the world. Put the gun down."
"You put your gun down, or I'll shoot her."
"Garrett, please," Sloane begged. "This has to stop." She paused. "Oh, God! I'm slipping, too."
Her panicked words drew Garrett's attention, and his hand wavered.
The blast of a gun shook the air, and for a moment, I almost thought Garrett had pulled the trigger. But he was on the ground now, clutching his right shoulder, the gun at his feet.
Colton ran toward me, kicking Garrett's gun out of reach, before grabbing my other arm. "Pull, Sloane," he said.
"I don't think I can," she said, gasping for breath, as she dug her feet into the ground.
"We're going to do it together," he told her. "One, two, three…pull."
At his command, they both pulled me forward, finally getting me up and over the edge of the bluff. When I was on solid ground, Sloane let go and let out a ragged breath.
Colton wrapped his arms around me as if he was still afraid I'd fall. "Are you okay?" he asked, searching my eyes for the truth.
"I am now."
He pulled out his phone to call for help. After identifying himself, he asked for police and medics. When that was done, he turned back to me. "Where do you hurt, Tessa?"
"All over," I said. "But I'm alive, thanks to you. That's all that matters."
"Didn't I tell you to stay put?" he said.
"I should have taken that suggestion," I admitted. "How did you know I was here?"
"I didn't. I was coming to talk to Garrett."
"Can you really connect him to Cabot's murder?"
"Yes. Once his associate realized we had the financial trail to connect them, he started talking.
I knew Garrett would request his lawyer as soon as I brought him in, so I thought I'd see what I could get out of him before I arrested him.
" Colton paused. "When I got to the door, I heard yelling, and I had a bad feeling, so I broke the door down. "
"Thank God for that," I said, still feeling shocked that I'd somehow avoided falling to my death.
Colton's gaze turned to Sloane, who had gotten to her feet and was standing over Garrett. Her husband was writhing in pain. Sloane didn't try to comfort him. She stared at him like he was a stranger.
"Sloane killed Paige, didn't she?" Colton asked. "That's what happened, isn't it?"
"She didn't kill Paige; she just didn't try to save her," I replied.
"She didn't know anything about what Garrett was doing.
She was shocked when I told her that he'd killed Cabot.
" I met his questioning gaze. "I got to that point after she told me what happened with Paige and how she had been running from that night for nine years.
But she didn't know who would have killed Cabot.
And I realized it had to be someone who wanted to protect her.
And that wasn't Hale. That was her husband. "
"Are you sure she wasn't pretending not to know?"