Tangled Web: A Small Town Romance (The Cortell Brothers Book 6)

by Giulia Lagomarsino

  I nodded. “Murray found out that someone from the Natural Resources Reserves met with Arlen and paid him a lot of money to shut down the mines, with the promise of reopening at the appropriate moment. So, after their argument, the next day Murray and I were driving down the road and I confronted him about what I overheard. We argued about how to handle it, and that was when his car started jerking all over the road. The car was about to go into the ditch and he jerked the wheel, but he slammed his head into the driver’s side window and he was out of it. I grabbed the wheel and tried to control the car, but it was impossible. The roads were slick and I couldn’t reach the pedals to stop the car. We crashed into a tree, and his head snapped forward or something.”

  I could still see his lifeless eyes staring at me, just like my father’s had. It haunted my dreams, always making me wonder if I was cursed to have all the men in my life die.

  “Why did you run?” Andrew asked. “Why didn’t you wait for the police to show up?”

  “There’s no way the accident was a coincidence. If you had overheard that conversation between Arlen and Murray, would you have thought it was an accident?”

  Nobody answered me, but I could tell they all were thinking the same thing I did that day. Arlen had killed Murray, and if I was caught at the scene of the crime, he could come after me next.

  “I ran and went to Callum with what I knew. We formulated a plan to both keep me safe and take down Arlen.”

  “Do you have proof of what he did?” Jack asked.

  “I made a recording of Arlen and Murray’s conversation. When I went to Callum, we made copies and had them sent to different lawyers for safe keeping. In the event of my death, they would have evidence against Arlen.”

  Andrew

  I was having a really hard fucking time wrapping my head around everything she was telling me. Talk about conspiracy theories; this one took the cake. But as I watched both Jack and Corduroy’s reactions, they seemed to believe her. Hell, I believed her, I just couldn’t believe that she was wrapped up in this shit.

  “Why didn’t you just leave?” I asked. “You could have just started over, started a new life without Arlen. You had a job, a new home…”

  Her eyes turned hard and tears filled her eyes, but they weren’t tears of sadness. They were tears of anger. “Do you have any idea what it was like for me growing up? For the others that lived in that town? Do you know what it’s like to watch kids starving because there’s not enough food?”

  My eyes dropped. I didn’t know what that was like. I had a good childhood. I had no complaints whatsoever.

  “You grew up in this nice community with people that care about you. You didn’t watch as your mother slowly withered away until there was nothing left of the person you once knew. You didn’t have to see your father morph into a warped, angry man that would rather drink himself into a stupor than provide for his kid. You didn’t have to watch your best friend work himself to death just to support his family and his friend. That was my life, Andrew!” She swiped angrily at the tears falling down her face and took a deep breath. “You have no idea what it’s like to live that kind of life, to watch people starving all around you and no one came to help. Maybe what I did seems drastic to you, but to me, it was the opportunity to help those people, because there sure as hell wasn’t anyone else stepping up to help.”

  Not knowing what else to do, I stepped forward and wrapped my arms around her, holding her close as her body shook against mine. “I’m sorry,” I whispered in her ear. “You’re right, I don’t know what that’s like. I shouldn’t have judged you.”

  I glanced around the room, ready to glare at anyone that was giving her a dirty look, but they all had their heads down, like they didn’t want to intrude on this private moment. When she gathered herself and stepped back, she wiped the tears from her face, and then her armor was back up.

  “So, that’s the whole story.”

  “Not quite,” Jack said. “What was your deal with Arlen?”

  She looked over at him, squaring her shoulders. “It’s simple. I had the blackmail evidence to hold over his head. I married him for his money, and upon his death, I would receive pretty much everything he owned. In the meantime, he set up a fund that was to help the families impacted by the closure of the mines in the area.”

  “That doesn’t exactly help your case,” Robert said. “From a legal standpoint, they’ll hang you if you tell a jury that.”

  “We had a contract attached to our marriage. If there was any foul play, the money would revert back to his kids. It ensured that I couldn’t just kill him off for the money, not that I would do that.”

  “Except, someone did kill him,” Andrew stated. “And you’re going to go down for it if we can’t figure out who did it.”

  “It has to be Barty. He was pissed about the trust and he hated his father.”

  Except that there was something else hanging over her head, and the state already had that evidence in hand, and they would use it against her. I cleared my throat as I rubbed my hand uncomfortably over the back of my neck.

  “Lorelei, they know that you were in the car with Murray the day he died.”

  “How?”

  “I figured that you were in the car with him, and when I handed over the evidence…they got a warrant to search your house. They have your DNA on file now. It’ll match the hairs they found in the car.”

  Her face was shocked as she stared at me. “They’re going to charge me with his murder.”

  I stepped forward, but she stepped back. “I’m so sorry, Lorelei.”

  She shook her head slightly, her eyes slipping closed. She laughed humorlessly. “It’s not your fault. This is on me. I was the one that took it to this extreme. If I had just walked away, none of this would have happened.”

  “And those people in your hometown would still be suffering. You’re giving them a chance to have a life again,” I tried.

  “But it wasn’t enough. I’m going to end up in jail. I didn’t help anyone. I didn’t make my life better,” she said scathingly. “If that money reverts back to his kids, they’ll stop the fund that’s providing for the families. Barty doesn’t care about any of those people. Elena only wants more money to spend on getting her hair and nails done.”

  “And Oscar?” I asked. She had said he was the good kid.

  “He’s taken care of. When the trust didn’t pay for his education, I paid the rest with my savings.” She glanced at Eric. “You’ll have to stop work on the house. I won’t be able to afford the rest of the repairs.”

  He shook his head slightly. “Don’t worry about it. We’ll figure this out one step at a time.”

  She huffed out a laugh. “We? Trust me, you don’t want to be anywhere near this.”

  “There has to be a way to prove that someone else killed him,” I argued. “With forensics nowadays and…” My eyes lit up. “You had to have security cameras around the house. That would tell us who was there the night he died.”

  She shook her head. “I paid off the security team to get rid of all footage from the time I started living there.”

  “Why?” I asked, baffled why she would do that. “Did you have something to hide?”

  “Not that I know of, but do you know how hard it was to be the perfect wife all the time? I was worried that there would be something I had done that could be used against me.”

  I grinned at her. “Well, you’re in luck, baby. You know why?” She shook her head. “Because I’m the Hacker of All Trades.”

  “Oh, Christ,” Josh muttered. “Here we go again.”

  “Hey, that was a momentous moment and you just ruined it for me.”

  “You’re not the Hacker of All Trades,” Josh argued. “If you were, you wouldn’t have had so much trouble cracking the case against Lorelei. Let’s face it, you’re a great cybercrime PI, but you suck at real PI work.”

  “I gotta agree with him,” Kat laughed. “When you came to me, certain that Lorele
i was trying to kill you because she put a bag of peas on your foot?”

  “Hey, she brought me funeral flowers! Tell me that wouldn’t have freaked you out!”

  “They were funeral flowers?” Lorelei asked. “I just thought they were pretty.”

  “See!” Kat exclaimed. “I told you, women don’t pay attention to flowers. We want practical things, because all the shit you give us has a shelf life.”

  “Wait, does this mean that we don’t have to shop for jewelry anymore?” Robert asked.

  “No, this is a trick question,” Eric laughed. “Don’t believe them. This is one of those tricks where they tell you what they don’t want, but they secretly plant that thought in your head so you’ll go get it for them.”

  “No, I really just want a vacuum,” Kat said.

  “Right,” he snorted. “Like if I went and got you a vacuum, that would make you happy.”

  “Yeah, I’m with Eric,” Will agreed. “If I brought home a vacuum, I would hear this long spiel about how it was like telling her that she belonged in the house doing women’s work.”

  “That depends,” Charlie said. “Do you think that’s true? Is it a vacuum or is it a vacuum?” She quirked an eyebrow at him and waited for an answer.

  Will looked at her and then glanced over at us. I shook my head, telling him not to answer. There was no way for him to answer this without ending up on the couch tonight.

  “Uh…of course not. I mean, you’re great at the house work, but I would never in my life say that it’s w-women’s work.” He laughed slightly. “Not unless you want it to be.”

  My eyes slipped closed. He was so close, and then he went and ruined it.

  Lorelei

  As Andrew’s brothers and sisters filed out of the office, leaving us alone with only Corduroy and Jack, the uncomfortable tension shot up to DEFCON 5.

  “So, what are you going to do about what I told you?” I asked Jack.

  Sighing, he took his seat behind his desk, his eyes narrowed as he thought for a minute. “I’m not condoning anything you’ve done, but I also can’t in good conscience tell the prosecution what you’ve told me.”

  I sighed in relief, but it was short-lived.

  “That being said, you need one hell of a defense lawyer to get you out of the shit you’ve stepped in. As for your mother…nobody knows what you did, and I can’t say I blame you for wanting to put your mother out of pain. And your father…he was a piece of shit.” I nodded, waiting for him to continue down the list. “Regarding Matthew, you can’t hold yourself responsible for a heart condition he had. He wanted to help you. He wouldn’t have pushed himself so hard if he didn’t want to help you. You can’t blame yourself for other people’s actions.”

  “And Murray? How do I explain that one? My hair is at the scene of the crime. They’ll convict me for that.”

  “Maybe. But if you still have that recording, it wouldn’t take much to convince a jury that you fled because you feared for your life. The man you were engaged to had just been killed after revealing very damning information. I think anyone would understand that you felt your life was at risk. But you’d better find the evidence to prove you’re innocent of killing Arlen. Without that, it may not matter with Murray’s case if you feared for your life. You need that footage from the house.”

  I let out a long breath and nodded. “So, you’re not turning me in?”

  He smirked slightly. “Not today. But I still hold out the right to take Andrew and his family in any time I see them doing shit they shouldn’t.”

  “Just lay off the parking tickets.”

  “You have the money,” Jack grinned. “Now get out of here. That’s enough drama for one night.”

  Andrew and I headed for the door, but once outside, we both realized that neither of us knew where to go from here. How did you suddenly pick up your relationship after what we had been through? He shoved his hands in his pockets uncomfortably and stared at the ground.

  “So, what happens now?”

  “With the trial?”

  “No, I meant with us.”

  He laughed humorlessly. “You mean after I befriended you with the intention of finding out if you were a serial killer, considered multiple times that you were trying to kill me, then turned you into the police after overhearing a conversation you had about killing people?”

  I nodded. “Yeah, that would be the one.”

  “I don’t know,” Andrew shrugged.

  “I mean, I wasn’t exactly the pillar of honesty, so I can’t blame you for drawing your own conclusions. Though I could have done without the jail time. Still, there’s a silver lining to every bad situation.”

  “And what would that be?”

  “Well, I met a lovely woman in jail, who turned out to be a man, and she taught me how to do an inverted french braid. I always wanted to learn.”

  His lips twitched. “Now you have another skill to add to your growing list.”

  “I know. I might have gone the rest of my life wondering how it was done.”

  His grin slipped slightly and he jerked his thumb behind him. “I guess I should get back to my place. There’s a lot of work to be done if I’m going to keep you out of prison.”

  “Right. I mean, unless you want to come home with me,” I said uneasily.

  “Really?” he asked, his eyes bright. “Because I kind of figured the whole black widow accusation would have been a turn off.”

  “I don’t know. It definitely fits us somehow.”

  He swallowed hard. “Only if you’re sure.”

  “I’m sure,” I said confidently. “As long as you’re okay with being with a woman that has a tracking anklet attached.”

  “Well, hell, I slept with you multiple times and thought I would never wake up. This should be a piece of cake.”

  “So, should we take your car or mine?”

  He smirked at me. “Should I be afraid that I’ll die in a deadly accident?” I narrowed my eyes at him. “Too soon?”

  “Just a little.”

  When we walked into the house, I tossed my keys on the table by the door. I could tell Andrew felt just as awkward as I did. I knew I wanted him here, but how did we transition from Hey, you put me in jail because you thought I was a killer to Hey, you want to have sex?

  “Eric really got a lot done on the place,” Andrew said, clearing his throat uncomfortably. “I mean, up until he stopped because he thought you were a serial killer.”

  I nodded, shoving my hands in my back pockets. “Well, rightfully so. If I get convicted, how would he get paid?”

  “Right, and then there’s the whole fact that when you’re in prison, it’s a lot harder to tell him what you want done with the house.”

  I nodded again. “Yeah, and phone calls aren’t exactly handed out like candy.”

  He chuckled slightly. “Right.” We stood in silence for a moment before he pointed up at the ceiling. “He really got a lot of work done around here. I like the crown molding.”

  “It’s a favorite of mine too.”

  He huffed out a laugh, staring at the floor. “There’s no easy transition here, is there?”

  “No, there’s really not. Do you want to go into the living room? We could get a fire going.”

  He nodded in relief. “Right, that sounds good. Just like old times.”

  “I’ll just get the matches,” I said, turning to go, but then stopped and turned around. “To start the fire. Not to burn the house down around you,” I clarified.

  He smirked at me. “Yeah, I kind of figured that.”

  “Well, just thought I’d make sure.”

  I headed toward the kitchen where I kept the spare matches. I was pretty sure there were plenty by the fireplace, but I needed a minute to myself. I hadn’t expected things to be this awkward. I thought we would just pick up where we left off, but it turned out that keeping so many secrets from each other really put a damper on our relationship.

  I grabbed the spares and headed
back for the living room, laughing when I saw the fire was already started.

  “There were matches in here.”

  I nodded and tossed them on the table, then sat down on the couch. “So…”

  “So,” he responded. “What’s the anklet like?”

  “It’s okay. I mean, I can’t really wear skinny jeans. And wearing socks is kind of difficult.”

  “Hey, if you get it off by summer, you can just wear flip-flops.”

  “It’s nice to know I have options.”

  “You know, I could even cut off the chains between a pair of handcuffs and you could wear one cuff on each wrist as bracelets.”

  I grinned. “Are you trying to get out of buying me jewelry?”

  “No, I just wanted something that would match.”

  “Ha, ha,” I said with a smile on my face.

  “So, how do we do this?” Andrew said, shifting to the couch beside me. He rested his hand on my knee, but it was…weird.

  “Well, in jail, I wasn’t really asked what I wanted.”

  He stared at me horrified. “Oh my God, did someone—“

  I burst out laughing, shaking my head. “No, I’m just joking. I told you, my cellmate was…gender fluid or something.”

  “What does that even mean?”

  “I guess that depends. Do you want to talk about whether the person in the cell with me was a man or a woman, or do you want to have sex?”

  “Sex,” he said quickly. “I mean, if you want to, of course.”

  “What I really want is a shower.”

  “Right.” He pulled his hand back and nodded. “You should do that and I’ll…stay here.”

  “Or you could join me.”

  “I could do that too.”

  “And you could stop looking at me like you’re scared to death.”

  “I’m not scared,” he said defensively.

  “You know, it all makes sense now, all those times you jerked away from me. You thought I was going to kill you, didn’t you?”

  He tried to look offended, but it didn’t come off very well. “Well, the way you wielded that axe was very convincing.”