Now. The time is right…now.
“Do you remember the Out of Order sign on the elevators? Because when I went to check out the crime scene today the elevators weren’t working.”
Her mouth fell open and her eyes widened comically. She seemed to be having trouble replying. “I–I mean–It wasn’t broken this morning.”
Jenna’s face had gone ashen and she leaned back against the kitchen counter. Leann’s attention had been on her grocery list but it was now firmly on her friend from high school, her expression horrified as she realized Jenna was lying through her teeth. A smart woman, Leann had to be putting this together in her own mind and coming up with a pretty suspicious theory of what was going on.
“So it broke sometime after your attack and when Logan and I arrived?” Zach said. “I guess I can check with maintenance. They’re the ones that put that sign there.”
Jenna nodded vigorously. “You do that. They’ll tell you.”
Why not go for broke?
“I also received a call from our computer expert. He pulled the traffic camera from the light in front of the parking garage and there was no one running from the scene at the time of your attack. Are you sure she ran toward the sidewalk?”
Jenna’s hand had flown up to her throat again. “I’m sure. Completely sure. Maybe she ducked out of the way. Criminals know how to do that, right?”
“Some do,” he conceded. “Some don’t. As a rule most criminals are quite stupid. They all eventually get caught because they do something dumb. They get careless and cocky.”
Jenna was trembling and her face had gone a horrible ghostly white. “I don’t want to answer any more questions. You all need to leave.”
Zach took a few steps closer to her, but slowly, as he didn’t want to spook her. He needed to get between her and Leann, especially with a butcher block full of knives sitting on the counter. Jenna might give in peacefully or she might fight. If it was the latter, Zach didn’t want to give her any ammunition. “I think we both know that I can’t do that, Jenna.”
Lips trembling, a few tears streaked down her pale cheeks. Realization had dawned in her eyes that he knew what she’d been trying to hide. There was no more reason to lie.
“You don’t understand.”
Now they were getting somewhere.
With one eye on Jenna, Zach ever so slowly sidled closer to her, insinuating himself between her and Leann. Everyone else was far enough away that he didn’t have to worry about them.
“Help me understand, Jenna. Tell me why.”
* * *
Zach’s hand was firmly in the small of Leann’s back, pushing her away from Jenna and toward Jason and Dizzy. Her brother reached for her as she moved closer, tugging her to his side with Dizzy on his other arm.
“Are you okay?” Jason whispered.
Leann nodded, still shocked by what appeared to be unwinding in front of them. Jenna was acting strange, stranger even than earlier, and from the expression on Zach’s face there was much more going on than simply asking her about the attack this morning.
“You weren’t accosted this morning,” Zach stated. In no way did he make it sound like a question.
“No,” Jenna said softly, her gaze seeming to go somewhere far away. She wasn’t looking at Zach or any of them; instead her eyes were focused off into the distance.
“Why did you pretend?”
“To blame Nicole.”
Jenna’s hands were wrung together, the knuckles white. More tears were falling and it was then that Leann put the puzzle together.
Jenna had done all of this. She’d killed those people. But why? Why on earth would she do something so horrifying?
It was only when Jenna and Zach’s heads turned toward her that Leann realized she’s spoken her question aloud.
Jenna’s face turned red and angry. “Drew cheated on me. He got Carole pregnant. But then you knew that, didn’t you? You all knew. All my supposed loyal friends but you kept this from me. A real friend would have told me. I deserved to know.”
Leann wasn’t sure what her friend was talking about. Drew had gone out with Carole once in their junior year but had he done it again recently? And what was this about a baby?
“Carole was pregnant?” Leann asked, frowning, searching her memories of high school. “When did this happen? I truly don’t know what you’re talking about, Jenna.”
Crossing her arms over her chest, Jenna took a step forward but Zach didn’t let her get any closer. “You know all of this. You all knew. Drew got Carole pregnant and her parents sent her away to have the baby. That’s why she was late starting senior year.”
Shock rippled through Leann as she processed Jenna’s words. She remembered that Carole had been late coming to school that year and she hadn’t been able to run for senior class president, but she’d had no idea that Carole had been pregnant. And with Drew’s baby.
“That’s why you killed Drew,” Zach said. “You were angry that he’d never told you.”
Silvery tears streamed down Jenna’s cheeks and she slid down to the floor, her back against the cabinets. Zach knelt down next to her, patting her on the hand.
“He should have told me. Everyone should have told me.”
“Is that why you killed the others?” Zach asked, glancing over his shoulder at Leann. “You wanted your revenge on them because they kept it a secret?”
Jenna scrubbed at her wet face and nodded. “When I found out I hated Drew and everyone else. They deserved to die for what they did to me. Leann was next but I couldn’t get to her.”
Leann hadn’t known, though. Had the others or was this just a fantasy inside of Jenna’s head?
Zach stood and then helped Jenna to her feet. “I have to take you in, Jenna. You know that, right? Is there anyone you want me to call for you? Your family? A lawyer?”
The bouncy, cute blonde that Jenna had been was gone and in her place was a shattered woman who looked far older than her actual age. Grey skin, red-rimmed eyes, a broken expression. Jenna was swaying on her feet and crying, rocking back and forth as if to self-soothe.
“There’s no one. Everyone I thought cared about me is gone.”
Jason was on the phone to the chief of police and Zach had led Jenna to the kitchen table so she could sit down. There were so many questions still unanswered. How had a beautiful wife and mother of two snapped and killed four people? Drew was dead and Jenna was going away for a long time, maybe forever. Those children had lost both their parents.
All because of something that had happened fifteen years ago when they were just dumb teenagers.
Chapter Thirty-One
‡
Leann was packing up her belongings in Zach’s home when she heard the front door open and the sound of boots on the stairs. Shit, she’d hoped to be gone by the time he returned. She didn’t want any messy scenes. He’d walked away this morning because she’d been too lily-livered to tell her family she was staying so she didn’t want to assume that he even wanted her here. Making herself scarce seemed like the best option.
“You’re leaving.”
Yes, but I don’t want to.
Tucking a blouse into the suitcase, she turned to face Zach who was standing in the doorway. Leann searched his expression for some sort of clue as to what he was thinking or feeling but he was wearing his best poker face. Completely expressionless. He could have won the lottery or been fired from his job for all he was giving away.
“You caught the killer,” she reminded him, her voice shaky with emotion. “I’m not in danger anymore. Did Jenna tell you more when you took her to the station?”
Hopefully he would think she was agitated because of Jenna and not because of their falling out this morning.
“She did. Once she realized that we had her I guess she didn’t see much point in keeping quiet. Honestly, it seemed like she wanted to tell someone so that they would be on her side. If she hadn’t killed anyone I met have felt sorry for her.” Zach ente
red the bedroom and leaned up against the dresser. “She’d convinced Darrell to help her by pretending to be in love with him. She was the blonde he was meeting at the hotel. From what I can guess, she was using sex to control him. He killed Bitty and Drew but she killed Carole. Eventually she had to get rid of him too. The plan was to pin the murders on Nicole Quincy. She battered her own face against a car this morning to get that bruise.”
She wasn’t sure she wanted to know but… “And me?”
Zach lips flattened into a line. “You were the last on the list but she couldn’t get to you. When she broke into Dizzy’s she realized you weren’t staying there so she’d planned to be patient, waiting until we dropped our guard. She said she was hoping to make it look like an accident, although she wasn’t sure how.”
“I didn’t even know about the baby. I wasn’t keeping anything from her.”
“We don’t even know if there really was a baby,” Zach shrugged. “She only found out because Drew got drunk one night, they argued, and he told her. He could have been goading her or he could have been telling the truth. From what Jenna says, they’d talked divorce a few times. Drew had several extramarital affairs and she was tired of it. But apparently, the baby thing was more than she could handle. When she found out, that’s when she started planning her revenge.”
Exhaling slowly, Leann sat down on the bed, a folded sweater on her lap. “And now she’ll go to prison.”
“I kind of got the feeling she always knew she would,” Zach replied. “She didn’t seem shocked and she hasn’t lawyered up. She’s completely cooperated with us and answered every question we’ve asked. I think she’s relieved in a way. She’s been a deeply unhappy woman for a long time.”
Leann placed the sweater on top of the neat pile of clothes in the suitcase. “I didn’t see it at all. I’ve known Jenna since we were kids but I didn’t see that she was a cold-blooded killer.”
“Don’t blame yourself. No one saw this.”
Rubbing at her aching temples, she tried to laugh. “You did.”
“Not until it was staring me in the face and after I had eliminated pretty much every other variable. I didn’t want it to be her.”
“All because she thought we’d kept a secret from her. Do you think she has an insanity defense?”
Killing four people wasn’t the hallmark of good mental health.
“That’s not for me to say but she appears to grasp that what she’s done is wrong, and she just doesn’t have much – if any – remorse for her actions. She feels she was justified and that they deserved what they got.”
“You saved my life. My best friend from childhood was planning to murder me.”
It was a reality that Leann still hadn’t quite grasped. She was hoping she might simply wake up and find all of this had been a bad dream.
“Nothing and no one was going to get near you.”
Leann’s heart ached in her chest, hearing the force behind Zach’s words. She believed him because that’s who he was. No matter how he might feel about her, he’d do his job.
She busied her hands folding a pair of jeans. “You should have been born an Anderson male. You’re so much like my father and brothers. I mean that as a compliment.”
“I took it as one.”
The silence was awkward as she moved the clothes around in her suitcase and she studiously avoided his gaze that saw way too much. She couldn’t allow him to see how much she was hurting. Walking away from him today was more painful than she’d ever imagined, and she only had herself to blame.
“I’ll never understand why it’s hard to pack to go home but easy to pack to leave on a trip. It’s like the clothes expand or something. Everything easily fit when I came here.”
Now she was stupidly rambling in a desperate attempt to act like everything was totally normal. The sooner she got out of this house the better off she’d be. If she stayed much longer he was going to see how upset she was.
She’d been trying to stuff a pair of high heels into her suitcase but his large hands came down over hers, halting her progress.
“Leann, what are you doing?”
She couldn’t look at him. Despite the thick tension between them, his tone had been gentle and soft.
“Packing. What does it look like I’m doing?”
Her throat tightened painfully as his fingers closed over hers, strong and warm.
“It looks like you’re running away.”
Which was exactly what she was doing but they both knew why.
“It’s time to go.”
The words came out choked and she had to clear her throat several times to be able to speak clearly.
“Are you going to stay at Dizzy’s?”
Leann nodded and tugged her hands from Zach’s hold. “She’s waiting for me.”
“Can she wait a few minutes more?”
He wanted to prolong this agony? Was he some sort of sadist?
“Wait for what?”
There was a long sigh and then a grunt as Zach lifted the suitcase up and tossed it onto a chair. “Dammit, woman, we need to talk. Look at me, Leann.”
No. If I do I might cry.
“Zach…”
This time it was her he lifted up, but instead of throwing her on the bed he set her down gently next to him on the mattress. “Leann, we had a fight this morning. People argue. It’s going to happen. It doesn’t mean you run and we never work it out. Unless that’s what you want. Do you want to end things?”
The answer flew out of her mouth before she could stop it. “No, I don’t.”
His fingers gently lifted her chin so she was looking up into his tender blue gaze. “Good. Neither do I. We had a fight, honey, but that doesn’t mean we can’t talk about it. For my part, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have pushed you. When you’re ready, you’re ready and not a moment before.”
“It wasn’t your fault.” Leann shook her head, determined to take responsibility for the debacle that was this morning. “It was all me. It’s my issue with my family, and I wasn’t acting like the adult that I keep telling them that I am. But…I told Jason today and I’m going to tell my parents at dinner tomorrow night. I don’t know why I hesitated this morning. The whole incident was stupid and I wanted to take back those words the minute I said them. I’m so sorry, Zach.”
“We’re both sorry and neither one of us acted too mature.” Zach smiled, showing off that dimple in his cheek. “Honey, I’m going to get mad every now and then. You are too. Let’s not throw out what’s good because of a few bad moments.”
Her eyes teared up and a few slipped down her cheeks. “I thought I had pushed you away.”
Pulling her into his lap, Zach growled, low and sexy, burying his face into the crook of her neck. “You’re going to have to try a hell of a lot harder than that to get rid of me. If you’d left today before I got home I would have just followed you. We’ve got something here that’s special, Leann.” He lifted his head, his fingertips grazing her lips. “I was going to tell you last night but I got scared. I think…I love you. No, I know I do. Shit, I know it hasn’t been very long and I don’t expect you to say it back or anything–”
“I love you,” she interrupted his rambling, happy in the knowledge that he was just as nervous as she was. “I love you, too.”
His lips devoured hers, tasting, testing, and then claiming. At some point she’d climbed onto his lap, straddling his thighs, her fingers clinging tightly to his wide shoulders. When he finally lifted his head, she could see the joy inside of her clearly reflected in his own expression. She hadn’t ruined everything after all. They had a chance, a future.
“You could come back to Florida with me,” she suggested. “Help me pack and put my condo on the market. That way I could get here faster. I’ll even take you to Disney World.”
“I might take you up on that offer. If my employer will give me some time off, that is.”
Leann has a feeling that her brother Jason would be so grateful tha
t she was moving home that he’d give Zach all the time off he wanted.
“I think that could be arranged. It’s funny, I wasn’t sure coming home for this reunion was the right thing to do. But if I hadn’t then we wouldn’t be together.”
Chuckling, Zach waggled his brows. “Honey, the first time I saw you I was knocked out by your smile. I have a feeling that this might have happened no matter what. It simply would have taken a little more time.”
Remembering the first time she’d met Zach she couldn’t disagree, although her brothers were going to try and take credit for all of this. They’d be even more insufferable than they usually were. She was so incredibly happy she just might let them think that they were responsible.
“Kiss me again? I can’t believe this is really happening.”
His lips pressed against hers and a million butterflies flew free in her abdomen. This was the feeling she’d been waiting and hoping for. Leann had come full circle, returning to Tremont only to find what she’d been out seeking elsewhere. Family, friends, happiness, and love. It was unexpected but not unwelcome.
Leann was in love. And when an Anderson fell…it was forever. She couldn’t wait to move back and start her new life with her new love. But first she needed one more kiss…
Chapter Thirty-Two
‡
Six months later…
Zach lit the last candle and stepped back to survey the effect. He’d made a special dinner for Leann and he wanted tonight to be as romantic as possible. He had an important question to ask her.
The meal was prepared and keeping warm in the kitchen. The dining room table was set with a snowy white tablecloth, a centerpiece of roses, and Leann’s mother’s best silver and china. When he’d talked to David and Elaine, she’d insisted Zach use them.
For good luck, she’d said. He hoped he didn’t need it but he wasn’t going to take any chances.
Sweating nervously through his shirt, he flew up the stairs and ripped it off, quickly tugging on a fresh white button down and tucking it into his pants. Leann would be home any minute and she had no idea he was even back in Tremont. She thought he was still in Denver working on a case. Though she was officially living with Dizzy at the moment, she stayed at his place when he was out of town to water the plants and generally keep an eye on things.
Reunited With Danger (Danger Incorporated Book 6) Page 20
