Author: Roni Loren
Davis grasped her arm. “Not so fast, sweetheart. We need to take care of business before we get to have happy reunion time.”
Kelsey’s gaze met hers, her terror palpable. Roslyn stalked over to the chair and unsnapped the gag, but when her sister tried to talk only wretched sobs escaped.
“Kels, shh, I’m here. It’s going to be okay. We’ll figure this out. Shh…” Brynn knew the words were empty, but they tumbled out anyway.
Her sister shook her head frantically, her eyes wild. “No, it’s not okay. She’s the one.”
Brynn frowned. “Kels, I don’t understand.”
Roslyn’s tone turned sharp. “Stop the blabbering.”
Her sister inhaled a ragged breath and met Brynn’s gaze. “She killed Mom.”
Brynn’s knees went weak beneath her, and Davis began a slow, measured clap.
“You know it only took her three days to figure out the connection. And who said strippers were dumb?” He gave his winning, politician smile.
“Shut up, Davis.” Roslyn tucked the gun in her waistband.
“Wait, what?” Brynn asked, her thoughts whirling like her brain had been thrown into a blender. She shook her head vehemently, unable to believe what her sister had just said. “No, Hank killed Mom. All the evidence was there. The fingerprints, the stolen money.”
Tears freely dripped from Kelsey’s eyes. “No, B. I told you. He was messed up, but he wasn’t a killer. All the evidence was circumstantial. You knew that.”
Brynn squeezed her eyes shut, the news too shocking for her mind to assimilate.
Reid had been right?
“Yes,” Roslyn agreed, her tone smug. “Circumstantial evidence the idiot prosecutor had no idea how to present. I never thought it would be so difficult to throw a case. But luckily Hank didn’t have the best record. No jury has sympathy for a pathetic junkie.”
“Why?” Brynn asked, the question sounding more like a plea. “Why would you kill her?”
Roslyn pressed her lips together, impatience coloring her seemingly ageless features. “Because she didn’t know when to quit. My husband paid her fairly for years to keep quiet about you, but when he threw his hat in the governor’s race, she saw a bigger meal ticket. Patrick was going to give her whatever she wanted—he’s always been soft when it came to you and that bitch—but I wasn’t going to put up with her blackmail anymore. Getting knocked up by one of your customers doesn’t mean you get a salary for life.”
Brynn blinked, dumbfounded. She thought of the man who’d given her a job out of the blue all those years ago—when she’d needed it most. The way he’d always offered her overtime. “Patrick’s my dad?”
“Yes, how do you think you landed that receptionist job? His stupid decision to hire you almost sent Reid down the exact same path he had gone. Men are so weak.” She shook her head, her tone full of disgust. “But I couldn’t stand by and watch my sister’s only son make the same mistakes. If I hadn’t had Davis fix that situation, I’m sure you’d have ruined Reid’s future before it even got started.”
Brynn swayed on her feet.
The rape had been planned?
Holy God. She and her sister weren’t getting out of here. These people had long fallen off the sanity train. She cut a look at Davis. “Why would you help her?”
Davis shrugged as if the question were unimportant.
Roslyn smiled, the effect chilling. “You weren’t the first of Davis’s problematic dalliances. Let’s just say if the world knew of all the girls he’d unleashed his little weakness on, he would’ve never made it to where he has. Lucky for him, I’m good at keeping secrets if the favor is returned.”
Brynn inhaled deep breaths through her nose, trying to fight off the urge to vomit on the shiny tiled floor.
Roslyn stalked around Kelsey’s chair, then laid her hands on the back of it. “Now, we were hoping not to involve you, but Kelsey here has been rather uncooperative. We know she has evidence incriminating a J. Kennedy as the murderer, and I can’t have anyone figuring out that your mother used to call Davis and I John and Jackie when we met with her, now can I?”
Her sister bit her lip. “I told you where I put the evidence.”
Roslyn grabbed a handful of Kelsey’s hair and yanked backward. Kelsey’s hands automatically flew up, but her bindings prevented her from being able to defend herself.
“And I told you that I went there and it’s not where you said,” Roslyn said, her voice smooth. “Which is why Davis brought Brynn over to inspire some honesty out of you.”
The loud crack of a whip echoed through the basement as Davis brought it down on Brynn’s back, the thin material of her toga doing little to soften the bite. She crumpled to the floor and groaned.
“Brynn!” her sister screamed and tried to launch forward, but Roslyn held fast to her hair.
Brynn clenched her jaw, trying to think through the haze of pain. “It’s okay, Kels. I appreciate you trying to protect me all this time, but we just need to tell them. The evidence is at my house. She sent it to me to keep safe.”
Kelsey’s lips parted, but Brynn sent her a warning glare.
“Is that true?” Roslyn asked, twisting Kelsey’s locks around her fist.
“Yes, yes,” Kelsey said, frantically. “I couldn’t figure out what the names in the logbook meant, and I thought Brynn might be able to help. But I didn’t tell you ’cause I didn’t want you to hurt her, too.”
“If you take us there, I’ll give it to you,” Brynn said, hoping she sounded convincing. She knew that Davis and Roslyn had no intention of letting them go, since they’d already revealed too much. But maybe if she could get on her own turf, she and her sister would have a shot. If nothing else, she could punch in the emergency code into her security system to activate the silent alarm feature. Maybe the cops could get there before Roslyn discovered there was no evidence to be had.
Roslyn smiled, the expression holding no warmth. “Yes, I’m sure you’d love to get to your own house where you know every nook and cranny. No, you’ll tell us where it is, and I’ll take Kelsey there with me. You can stay here with Davis until I have the evidence secured.”
Brynn’s stomach twisted into a pretzel for her own fate, but a little flame of hope flickered for her sister. She nodded. “It’s in the back of my closet in a box. But you’re going to need my alarm code to get in the house.”
Kelsey’s face was filled with question marks, but Brynn mustered up her therapist mask to hide her emotions. Roslyn evaluated her with shrewd eyes, no doubt searching for any chink in Brynn’s facade. After a few agonizing moments, the woman gave a curt nod and released her grip on her sister.
“I hope for both your sakes, you’re not lying to me. If I discover this is a wild-goose chase, your sister will pay the price. I have a hefty overdose of heroin with her name on it. They say relapse is a bitch—can kill you by accident so easily.”
No. Please, God. Let the alarm code work in time. If the plan failed, they were both dead.
Roslyn pointed a finger at Brynn, but looked at Davis. “Keep her restrained until I call you.”
Davis’s thin lips spread into a smile as he idly toyed with the whip, winding it around his fingers. “Gladly.”
TWENTY-TWO
Reid leaned his head against the headrest and groaned. “Where the hell did he go?”
Jace sighed and pulled over onto the dirt shoulder, a cloud of dust engulfing the car. “We should’ve met up with him by now. This is where we saw him the first time, and I know he never passed us.”
“He must’ve turned off somewhere.”
Jace crooked his thumb. “There’s a small lake area a couple of miles up the road. I think there are a few vacation homes and rentals out there. That’s the only way he could’ve gone. There’s really nothing else on this stretch of road except cow pastures.”
The crush of pressure around Reid’s chest tightened. Brynn. Isolated with that whack job. “Do you remember where he wanted the stuff he ordered from you delivered?”
“No, my assistant handled that part. But I’d bet my left nut that he didn’t get any of it sent to that fancy house in Highland Park where he lives with his wife. He wouldn’t have had to use a fake name if he’d done that.”
“Let’s check it out, then.”
Jace swung the car back onto the highway and a few minutes later, turned onto a narrow, tree-lined road. They followed the winding gravel path, squinting through the darkness at the well-kept houses tucked behind the foliage. As they passed the homes, the car’s headlights illuminated each labeled mailbox. The fifth box they passed had Kennedy spelled out in gold letters.
“Ding, ding, ding. We have a winner,” Jace said, his tone grim. “That’s the name he uses to make his orders.”
The world seemed to stop spinning as Reid stared at the mailbox. “Like the president.”
“Yeah, arrogant fucker, isn’t he?” Jace pulled around the next bend in the road and parked out of view.
Reid barely heard him over the pounding of his heart. He wet his lips. “Jace, do you still keep a gun in the car?”
Jace shook his head. “Oh, hell no. You’re not going in there with a weapon. You’ll end up spending the rest of your life in an orange jumpsuit.”
Reid pinned him with a stare. “The new evidence I found on Brynn’s mother’s case points to someone with the last name Kennedy as the murderer.”
His eyes widened. “Fuck.”
“We might have more than a rapist out for a repeat performance. Brynn’s sister was the one who originally had the new evidence.”
Jace looked toward the house, creases of concern framing his mouth. “You think he’s got both of the girls?”
“I’m about to find out,” Reid said, his voice resolute, but his insides twisting with worry. Davis had a jump of time on them. What if he’d done something to Brynn or Kelsey already? No. He pushed the thought out of his mind. He would not be too late for Brynn this time. If this bastard had her, Reid would do whatever it took to get to her and protect her. “Give me your gun. I won’t use it unless I need to.”
With a deep frown, Jace leaned over, popped open the glove compartment, and handed him the Smith & Wesson.
Reid checked the safety, then tucked it in the back of his waistband, hiding it beneath his loose T-shirt. “Call the police. I’m going in.”
“Let me come in with you. Keep the numbers on our side. Or, why don’t we wait for the cops?”
“No, I don’t want to waste any more time—every minute could count. And I need you to stay out here to make sure at least one of us can help if something goes wrong.”
Jace sank back against his seat and ran his hands over his face. “Fifteen minutes. If whatever Podunk police force isn’t here by then, I’m coming in after your ass.”
Reid gave a quick nod and pushed open the car door to climb out. After double-checking the gun was secured, he quickly made his way toward the house. He had never shot anything besides a paper target at a shooting range—he’d always been too much of an animal lover to even join Patrick on his biannual hunting trips. But Reid knew if Davis had hurt either one of the women, he wouldn’t hesitate to shoot the fucker right in the heart. Or maybe tear him limb from limb with his bare hands. A gunshot might be too humane.
He stared at the door for a moment, not sure if he should try to sneak in. This was Texas—people tended to shoot first, ask questions later. If he had the wrong house, he’d get shot regardless of if Davis was on the other side or not. Better to make sure he was on the right track first. Knowing Davis he’d probably be arrogant enough to answer the door, pretend everything was fine.
