“I can’t believe he did this,” Shelby whispered. She pressed her hand over her heart. “I grieved for him. Ached for him. Cried my eyes out over him. So did my mother. And all this time he was alive.”
Shelby had left out the part about fighting for most of her life to bring his killer to justice. It had defined her. Been her obsession. Now she had to realize that her fight had been all for nothing. However, that did leave Seth with a huge problem.
Who the hell was killing people and putting those masks on their faces?
Who was trying to kill Shelby and him?
Hance was still on his suspect list. Annette, too. But now Seth had to add Whitt to the possible suspects.
Except that didn’t make sense.
Why would Whitt want Shelby dead?
If there was a good answer for that, Seth couldn’t come up with one. Unless...
“Whoever attacked your father all those years ago could have figured out he was alive and wanted to finish what he or she started.” Seth was really just thinking out loud, but it seemed to strike a chord with Shelby because she stopped crying, paused, then nodded.
“A lot of people disliked my father,” she added. She groaned. “Too many. We’re talking bad blood over land deals, cattle sales and his extramarital affairs. Meredith, Annette and Jewell weren’t the only ones he slept around with.”
No, they hadn’t been. Seth had done some digging to come up with possible suspects in the hopes of clearing Jewell’s name, but it’d been hard to sort gossip from fact, and most of Whitt’s lovers hadn’t been willing to admit anything that would make them potential murder suspects.
“Once my mother’s out of jail,” Seth said, “we can start looking at some of Whitt’s discarded lovers. Their husbands, too, since Whitt’s attempted murder could have come at the hands of a jealous spouse.”
If Whitt was telling the truth about the attack, that was.
With all the man’s other lies, Seth figured Whitt could be lying about that, too. Heck, maybe Whitt had staged his attack so it would implicate Jewell. It could be the same for the bone fragment. Maybe there’d been no break-in, and Whitt had been the one to plant that bone so it would ensure Jewell’s conviction.
But why?
Seth didn’t have time to come up with an answer to that because his phone dinged, indicating he had a text message. It was from Cooper, who wanted Seth to call him back ASAP. Since the cell reception in this part of the jail was bad, he needed to step into the hall just off the security checkpoint.
“I’ll be right back,” Seth told his family, and he took Shelby by the arm to lead her out with him.
However, the moment they were out in the security area, Seth saw a man making a beeline toward them. County Sheriff Aiden Braddock, Shelby’s brother. When he reached Shelby, he immediately pulled her into his arms.
“You okay?” Aiden asked her.
The question caused her eyes to water again. No, she wasn’t okay. But then, Aiden didn’t appear to be, either. No tears for him, but Seth recognized the face of a riled man.
“Did you see Dad?” Shelby asked.
Aiden nodded. “Whitt’s a sick bastard.” And he hugged his sister even tighter.
Since Shelby needed to work this out with her brother, Seth stepped a few feet away to make the call to Cooper.
“This is a heads-up,” Cooper said the moment he answered. “I’ll have to release Whitt and Annette. They both lawyered up, and unless something drastic happens, they’ll be released on bail in the next few minutes.”
Seth groaned. “You gotta be kidding me.” His groan obviously got Aiden and Shelby’s attention, so he put the call on speaker.
“Wish I were kidding,” Cooper continued. “Disappearing in itself isn’t a crime unless it costs lots of money and resources to track a person down. Whitt has offered to pay for that. Plus, he never collected on any life insurance. I can charge him with impeding an investigation by not coming forward with the truth about being alive, but I’m sure his lawyers will argue that he didn’t know Jewell was about to stand trial.”
“He knew,” Seth insisted.
“I agree, and I figure Whitt wanted her to sit in jail as long as possible so he could punish her for their relationship gone bad, but the bottom line is that it’ll be hard to prove. Right now, the most he’s looking at is probation. Maybe not even that unless I can find something else to pin on him.”
Seth cursed. “Find something, anything to put his butt behind bars.”
“Whitt’s getting out of jail,” Aiden said the moment Seth finished the call. He didn’t wait for Seth to confirm it, and he cursed, too.
“Did Dad say anything to you that would make sense of all of this?” Shelby asked her brother.
Aiden shook his head. “No. But I only talked to him for a couple of minutes. I figured if I stayed much longer, I’d punch him, and Cooper would have to arrest me.”
Shelby made a sound of agreement. “Someone needs to tell Mom.”
“Laine’s on her way to the mental facility to do that,” Aiden explained. “She’s arranged for the shrink to be with them.”
Good, because Carla might need it, especially after she learned Annette had known Whitt was alive. But maybe Carla could help with finding some evidence that would put Whitt behind bars. Unless Carla wanted to take him back, that was. Seth figured that was a long shot, but Whitt did seem to have a way with women.
A thought that sickened Seth.
The door to the visiting room opened, and Rosalie stuck her head out, her attention zooming right to Seth. “They just brought Mom in.”
“Has she been released?” Seth asked immediately.
“Not yet. But it shouldn’t be long now. The guards are going to let her sit with us while the paperwork’s still being processed.” Rosalie turned to Shelby. “Come in, too. I told Mom you were here, and she wants to see you.”
Shelby volleyed glances between Seth and her brother, and Aiden eased her toward the door. “Go ahead. Talk to Jewell,” he said. “And give her my apologies. I’ll do it myself in person after I find out what the hell’s going on with Whitt.”
“Call me if you find out anything we can use to throw him in jail,” Seth insisted.
And despite the barked order, Aiden only nodded and brushed a kiss on his sister’s cheek before he walked away.
“You don’t have to apologize for anything your father did,” Seth assured her, and he led Shelby back into the visitation room.
His mother was indeed there. Not behind the Plexiglas, either. She was standing in the room, hugging Rayanne and Blue, Rayanne’s husband.
And Roy.
Seth wasn’t immediately sure how he felt about that. After all, Roy had turned her and the twins out all those years ago. Still, if his mother could let bygones be bygones, then he’d have to try, as well. Especially since Roy had been nothing but civil to him since Seth had arrived at Sweetwater Ranch.
“Seth,” Jewell said, going to him. She pulled both him and a hesitant Shelby into her arms. “I’m glad you’re here.”
“Wouldn’t be anywhere else,” Seth assured her.
When Jewell pulled back and their gazes met, he could see that she’d been crying. Happy tears, he hoped.
“I’m so sorry,” Shelby whispered to her, and then she repeated it, louder, no doubt for Rayanne, Blue, Roy and Rosalie to hear.
“None of this was your fault,” Jewell answered, and she managed a smile.
“I’ll go check and see what’s holding up the release paperwork,” Blue volunteered, and headed out.
Jewell gave each one of them long looks. Another smile. But the smile didn’t quite make it to her eyes.
“Did you know Whitt was alive?” Shelby came out and asked.
Seth snapped to
ward her, angry that she would suggest such a thing. But then his stomach dropped to his knees when he saw the expression on his mother’s face.
“Yes,” Jewell answered.
The room went as silent as death.
On a weary sigh, Jewell sank down on one of the chairs at the table. She motioned for the others to do the same, and one by one, they did.
All except Seth.
He already didn’t like the direction this conversation was taking, and he figured he was better off standing.
“What I’m about to say won’t make things better,” Jewell started. “And at this point I’m not even sure telling you is the right thing. Still, I’d rather you hear the truth from me rather than the lies Whitt will almost certainly tell you.”
Oh, man. This is going to be bad.
His mother stopped, gathered her breath and slid her hand over Shelby’s. “I’m sorry, but you’re not going to like what I have to say about your father.”
“Nothing you can say will surprise me now,” Shelby insisted.
Jewell made a small “you’re wrong” sound.
“I understand why you had an affair with Whitt,” Roy interrupted before Jewell could say anything else. “I was drinking too much back then. We’d had a backbreaking year with the cattle sales. And I damn sure wasn’t giving you the attention I should have been giving you.”
Now Jewell’s hand went over his. “I didn’t have an affair with Whitt. With anyone.” She paused again. “But I didn’t nip Whitt’s advances in the bud, either. I let the flirting go on because, well, because I was stupid and vain to think that his flirting meant I was still a desirable woman and not just the mother of a houseful of kids.
“I’m sorry,” Jewell added, looking at both Rayanne and Rosalie.
“Flirting?” Roy repeated. “That’s all that happened?”
“That was the beginning of what happened.” Jewell’s breath broke, and it took her a moment to regain her composure. “I started hearing rumors that Whitt and I were having an affair, and I called to ask him to try to put a stop to them. He didn’t. As far as I can tell, he fueled those rumors with gossip of his own. Gossip that I was leaving you for him.”
Seth went through each word. Words that he’d believed right from the start. That his mother was innocent, not just of murder but also of cheating on her husband.
“Then, how the devil did your DNA get in the cabin?” Seth asked.
“I went out there to confront Whitt, to tell him that I wanted no part of the rumors and begged him to set the record straight...”
The tears came, and his mother’s breath caught again.
“Whitt raped me,” she said.
Seth staggered back a step, and it felt as if someone had put a vise around his lungs and heart. Jewell caught on to both Roy and him when they cursed and tried to move away.
“Just stay put and listen,” Jewell insisted, sounding a little stronger than she had just moments earlier. “I fought Whitt, and yes, I did stab him with a hunting knife that he kept in the cabin. It wasn’t enough to kill him, but he did lose a lot of blood.”
“You should have come to me. You should have told me,” Roy snapped.
Jewell didn’t agree with that, but she kept her gaze on Roy. “I was going to the sheriff first so that Whitt could be arrested, but Whitt staggered out of the cabin after me. He said if you found out what’d happened, that you’d go after him.”
“I would have,” Roy assured her. His eyes were narrowed and dark.
She agreed with a nod. “And either you would have killed Whitt or he would have killed you.”
Roy cursed. “That didn’t matter! He needed to pay for what he did to you. He still does.”
“Yes, but we would have paid more. Because I didn’t want you dead for what I’d done.”
“What you’d done?” Rayanne asked. “You think you deserved to be raped for flirting with a man?”
“No, but I didn’t deserve to get off scot-free, and Roy didn’t deserve to be put in a position like that.”
Again, the silence came. Enough silence for Seth to be able to process what’d happened over the past few hours.
“I need to call Cooper and tell him what happened,” Seth said. “The statute of limitations has passed on filing rape charges, but maybe he can charge Whitt with obstruction of justice.”
“Call Cooper later,” Jewell insisted. “For now, let me just have this time. Not just with all of you, but with the boys.”
The boys—Cooper, Tucker and Colt—still might not be receptive to having their mom back. Even after what Whitt had done to her. Because the bottom line was that she’d still left them twenty-three years ago. Maybe they’d see the reason she had done that and welcome her back with open arms.
Maybe.
“Whitt lied,” Seth said, looking at Shelby.
Shelby nodded. She squeezed her eyes shut a moment. “He said he was shot and knifed by an unknown attacker and that he fell into the creek. He claims he got amnesia from the blood loss.”
Jewell eased back in the chair. “Maybe he was attacked. But when I left him at the cabin, there wasn’t anyone else around. And there was no amnesia. He called me early the next morning and said he’d heard that I’d gone home to Roy. Whitt was furious and insisted that he wouldn’t allow that to happen, that if he couldn’t have me, then Roy couldn’t, either.”
Hell, each new thing just made this worse and worse. Hearing it was torture for Seth. No doubt for Shelby, too.
Rosalie and Rayanne weren’t faring much better.
Rosalie was crying. Rayanne, despite being nine months pregnant, looked ready to blast Whitt to smithereens.
But it was Roy’s response that was the hardest to take.
He just sat there staring down at his hands. No doubt wondering what he should have done to stop this from happening. Seth wished he could have been there to stop it, too. No way should Jewell have gone through this much.
And it still wasn’t over.
Even if they couldn’t get Whitt for rape, they had to do something to make sure he got some serious jail time.
“I knew Whitt wouldn’t give up,” Jewell added a moment later. “I knew he’d keep pressing until he got what he wanted, and what he wanted was for me not to be with my husband.”
“And you were also certain that I wouldn’t forgive you,” Roy added. “Because I believed the lies. Believed you’d been sleeping with Whitt and that’s why you wouldn’t let me touch you. I didn’t know it was because you’d been...”
But Roy couldn’t even finish that.
“Whitt said I had only one way out,” Jewell continued. “That I was to leave town. Leave Roy. And because I didn’t believe I deserved Roy or my family, I finally agreed with him.”
“You made a pact with him,” Seth concluded. “If you left, then Whitt would keep what he did a secret.”
And that made Whitt a sick piece of slime.
Jewell nodded. “I took the girls because they were so young. I know my sons will never forgive me for that.”
Probably not.
But Seth saw this from a different angle. If Jewell had never left Roy and Sweetwater Springs, then she would have never met his father. She wouldn’t have raised him and become his mother. Out of all her kids, he was the only one who hadn’t gotten a raw deal.
“I love you,” Seth told her. “And I’m sorry that Whitt’s manipulation and lies cost you your family.”
She swallowed hard. “I still have my family.” Jewell stood to hug Rosalie, Rayanne and then Seth, but Roy bolted from his chair.
“Roy!” Jewell shouted.
“I just need some air,” he grumbled and stormed out.
“I’ll go after him,” Rosalie insisted. And out of the group of people
in the room, she was probably the only one who could manage to talk some sense into him. Especially since Jewell wasn’t allowed to leave the area yet.
“I knew this would hit him hard,” Jewell said under her breath.
“It’s hit us all hard,” Rayanne corrected. “Whitt destroyed you, his family and ours.”
That truth extended to Shelby, as well. Here, just a few hours earlier, she’d learned her father had essentially abandoned her, and now she’d just heard he was a rapist.
Seth intended to deal with Whitt about that...
And so would Roy.
“Whitt’s possibly out of jail by now,” Seth said.
Jewell gasped and shook her head. “Blue said he’d been arrested.”
“He was. But Cooper called earlier to say he was going to have to release him. Whitt lawyered up, and there weren’t any serious charges that Cooper could file to hold him.”
“Oh, God,” Jewell mumbled.
Yeah, they might need a little divine help on this one.
“I’m going with you,” Shelby insisted, hurrying after Seth.
Seth didn’t want to take the time to make other arrangements for Shelby. Every second counted right now. Maybe if he hurried he wouldn’t be too late to stop Roy from committing murder.
Chapter Eleven
This day already had been a string of nightmares, and Shelby was terrified that it would get even worse.
As furious as she was with her father—and furious wasn’t nearly a strong enough word for it—she didn’t want Roy to gun him down. Not only for her father’s sake.
But also for Roy’s.
If her father had raped Jewell as she’d claimed, then Whitt deserved to be tossed in jail for any and every charge that could be pinned on him. However, he didn’t deserve to die, and Roy certainly didn’t deserve to be arrested for murder.
Seth hurried through security with Shelby in tow, and when they reached the front of the building, they immediately spotted Rosalie. She was in the parking lot and was shouting out her father’s name, but Roy wasn’t anywhere in sight.
A Lawman's Justice (Sweetwater Ranch Book 8) Page 11
