by Lora Leigh
As Jack continued talking, with Jeannie injecting information where she remembered a few things, Cami began remembering things she had forgotten as a girl as well.
The Corbins’ attempts to take Crowe Mountain just after Crowe’s parents’ deaths were well known. What Cami hadn’t heard was the Corbins’ attempts to destroy the Ramsey ranch after Clyde Ramsey, Rafe’s uncle, had taken all three boys in.
Corbin hadn’t managed to destroy the property, but he had managed to affect it financially for several years.
Then there had been the acts of vandalism, cattle missing or poisoned, equipment sabotaged, and several pastures salted.
As the Corbins were targeting Crowe, Logan’s grandparents, Saul and Tandy, had gone after Logan’s inheritance: the two-story house in town that was listed as one of the first houses built in the county, as well as a cash inheritance that at the time had come to more than a million dollars.
Crowe’s trust fund was larger, the inherited account coming from the trust his mother had inherited from her grandparents as well as the property and cash her parents had added to it. She had died only days after coming into the inheritance and within hours of signing the will that made her only son her beneficiary.
Then there were the bits of information that seemed more sinister. The night the three couples had been killed, the sheriff had closed the accident site completely off. Only the coroner and a young attorney Wayne Sorenson had been allowed onto the site for hours.
Even Clyde Ramsey, Marshal Roberts’s brother-in-law, had been barred from the site. In those early-morning hours he received a call from a ranch hand in the area who suspected Clyde’s niece and her husband had been in the accident along with the Raffertys’ daughter and son-in-law, and in the Corbins’ case, their daughter and son-in-law as well as the newborn infant daughter — the only child her parents had taken with them to Denver that day while supposedly visiting friends.
It had been learned later that it hadn’t been friends they were visiting. Rather, it had been a lawyer and a well-known resort developer. The sons of JR and Eileen Callahan, the first Callahans to have considered turning their property into a resort, had passed that dream on to their sons.
Nothing had been mentioned about the sons passing the legacy on to their sons. Or why the daughters of the barons who had married the Callahan sons would have considered something their families would have found so heinous.
The bodies had been burned beyond recognition, and only DNA had confirmed the identities of the dead. The coroner had quickly identified the three couples and the infant before the burials had been hastily arranged.
That was when the campaign to ostracize the cousins began, Jack told Cami, though it had been there even before the parents’ deaths. So much so that the three couples were looking at selling Crowe Mountain and the Rafferty house in town and gathering together the inheritances of the three women and buying a ranch farther west. There had even been talk that Clyde Ramsey had discussed selling his property as well and following them.
Kimberly Anna Corbin Callahan had been so enraged with her parents and brother that she had told several people that despite her brother’s affection for her daughter, she would never allow any of them around her. Anna was done with her parents as well as the brother she had once idolized. She had even had them removed as secondary beneficiaries on her will. The papers had actually been signed with an attorney in Denver that day. Clyde had been named as that beneficiary barring any children Crowe or her daughter might have had.
Her daughter hadn’t had a chance to see her first birthday, let alone reach maturity and the chance to conceive. She had barely been three months old at her death.
Then there had been the confrontation at the funerals. With only one funeral home, the three couples had been there together. Shockingly, the wives had been placed in another room and separated from their husbands. At first. Until Clyde had threatened to sue the funeral home, the director, and the families involved. Then, when Crowe and Logan had attempted to go in to attend their parents’ funerals, their way had been blocked by their grandfathers and, in Crowe’s case, by his uncle as well.
The entire county had attended those funerals and had seen the families’ treatment of the cousins. Most of the county worked the Corbin and Rafferty ranches or in some other way benefited from their business. They hadn’t been able to afford backing the boys and hurting their own finances or positions.
The result had been the steady unearned condemnation of an entire community toward three young, grief-stricken boys.
Clyde Ramsey had done the best he could by taking not just his own nephew in but also the others and raising them himself. His own grief at losing his treasured niece, and his inability to understand the hatred directed at their children had nearly destroyed him.
Clyde had suffered from the decision, though. Ranch hands quit on him, accidents happened around the ranch, and he was constantly warned to leave the county. But stubbornness had been set in his bones and he had refused to go, even as he advised the boys to fight against them. That this was their parents’ home, they owned part of it, and they should never forget that fact.
As Cami fixed more coffee, Jack broached another subject she hadn’t expected.
“Did you know about the phone calls Jaymi got before she was killed?” he asked gently.
Cami remained silent for long moments, finished the coffee, then turned back with the pot to refill the cups. She needed time to gather the strength to talk about Jaymi. No one mentioned her anymore, and Cami found it hurt more with each passing year.
She gave a brief nod as she sat down again. “I was here when she got a few of them. They were similar to the ones I’m receiving, except Jaymi figured out who her caller was a few nights before Thomas Jones—” She couldn’t say it. She had relived that part of the past too much in the last few weeks the way it was. “I know that voice, too though,” she said fiercely. “I know it; I just haven’t been able to place it.”
She described the voice. The regret. The hint of tears.
Jack nodded. “I remember that though Jaymi didn’t say anything about realizing who the caller was, she left the social early that night, and she appeared angry.”
“She was angry when she came back to the apartment too.” Cami swallowed tightly. “When she answered the call that night she went to the bedroom. I’m not sure, but I think I heard her say something about her knowing why her caller hated ‘him’ so bad. Though I don’t know who the ‘him’ was, and she wouldn’t tell me. I always suspected it was Rafe they were discussing.”
Jack and Jeannie exchanged a frown, though Cami didn’t see a sense of recognition in their gazes either.
When Jack turned back to her, he leaned forward intently, his gaze somber. “Dad was managing the garage then. But do you remember the accident Jaymi had about a month before she was killed?”
Cami nodded warily. “She nearly went over one of the mountain cliffs that day.”
It had terrified her, and Cami knew Jaymi had been shaken by it. Her brakes had failed on one of the long mountain roads. Though it hadn’t been the one the Callahans, their parents, or Clyde Ramsey had gone over.
“I’d rather you didn’t mention this to anyone who doesn’t need to know. The sheriff knows, but Dad swears her brake lines had been messed with,” Jack told Cami as he rubbed at his jaw in frustration. “He remembers it as clear as day, and there’s not a lot Dad remembers real clear these days. But he remembers Jaymi, because he swears that when he saw those brake lines after he towed the car in he told Mother Jaymi would be dead before the summer was out. He knew someone had tried to kill her and the sheriff, Archer’s father, didn’t seem interested in believing him when he went to talk to him. The lines were clean-cut, not frayed. Someone sabotaged those lines and they hadn’t meant for her to survive her drive back from Aspen.”
Cami’s chest tightened. She could feel the fear rising inside her at the knowledge that someone had tri
ed to kill her sister before Thomas Jones had taken her.
That affirmation that she wasn’t just paranoid, that there was definitely more going on than Rafer wanted to admit to, actually terrified her.
Jack’s eyes were somber, filled with regret. But Cami knew she wasn’t able to hide that fear or the shock in her own gaze. “Jaymi never said anything about the break lines being cut. Just that the brakes must have been bad.”
She should have remembered that. She should have questioned it herself.
“Because she didn’t know,” Jack admitted, his voice hoarse as his expression twisted painfully. “Dad didn’t tell her, and trust me, Cami, neither myself nor my brother knew either. Dad says he received several anonymous phone calls that week warning him that it would be a shame if something happened to his wife and sons because he didn’t know how to keep his mouth shut about things that didn’t concern him. So he warned Jaymi, several times, to be careful. And he lived in fear of another accident.”
It wasn’t Jack’s fault. She couldn’t blame him. She wouldn’t. But she could feel the rage that no one had warned Jaymi, and the knowledge that the threat against her sister had existed months before her death was heart-rending.
Cami shook her head as she fought back her tears. To know Jaymi’s life was in danger even before she became the target of a serial killer, and hadn’t known it, terrified Cami and broke her heart at once.
Even worse, to know that someone Jaymi had trusted, someone she had called a friend, hadn’t given her a clearer warning tore at the foundations of friendship that Cami had always believed in.
But no matter who had wanted to kill her or who hadn’t warned her, still, it had been a serial killer who had stolen Jaymi’s chance to live. And that part confused her more each time she learned something new.
If Jack’s father had warned her, though, maybe Jaymi would have been more careful. At least for a few more days. A few more hours. Long enough that Cami was certain she could have convinced Jaymi to tell her who the caller was. Perhaps long enough that Thomas Jones could have been caught before he killed his last victim. Long enough that maybe Jaymi would have trusted Rafer enough to tell him the truth.
A warning of danger and a few more days could have made a difference between Jaymi living and dying.
“It was Thomas Jones that killed her, Jack, not a mechanical failure that your father didn’t warn her of,” Cami finally whispered, more for his benefit than because she believed it. Because she knew in her heart that Jaymi had been so confident, so determined, that she would have never listened.
Or perhaps she had simply been that determined to join her husband in whatever afterlife he inhabited, no matter the cost.
“Let’s say the coincidence is too fortuitous to suit me, just as it was for my father. Jaymi’s death is why he left Sweetrock and it’s why he’s continually begging me and Jeannie to move to Denver with him and Taggert. He says there’s something evil in this county, Cami, and I wonder if he’s not right,” Jack stated, his voice rough, his gaze filled with misery. “And remember, the FBI profile on those murders said there were two or more men working together. If that’s true, then Jones had a partner, if not two.”
“And serial killers don’t just stop killing,” she told Jack even as a chill raced up her spine and his declaration that there was an evil in Corbin County echoed in her head. “But I will be careful, Jack. I’m not Jaymi. I promise you, I won’t ignore the bastard when I realize who he is, nor will I keep my mouth shut about his identity.”
Because she had been warned now. Warned that whoever was watching her, calling her, had targeted her sister for the same reason. Because of Rafer. Because they were terrified the Callahans would develop ties to the county that would keep them there, no matter the cost.
They should have already realized that ties or no ties, the Callahan cousins weren’t going anywhere.
“Does Rafe know any of this?” Cami asked.
Jack shook his head. “I tried to call him a few times this morning as we drove back from Denver, but the call went to voice mail.” Just as hers had. Now she was beginning to worry about Rafer and his cousins.
“I’m assuming he’s out of town, because the ranch looked deserted when we drove by.”
“I tried to call as well,” she whispered. “He didn’t answer my call, either.”
Jeannie chose that moment to lean forward, her gaze dark with pain.
“Cami, the thing is, whatever’s going on has been going on for years,” Jeannie said then. “They need to just leave; they’ll never have any peace as long as they’re in Corbin County, nor will anyone who’s loyal to them.” She flashed her husband a speaking look as she made the last comment.
Cami knew that wasn’t about to happen. The Callahans, were back to stay. Their inheritance had demanded they stay, and in receiving it, if she had heard the rumors correctly, they had to stay at least five more years before they could leave.
“And they’ll never have any pride if they give in that easily and run,” Cami sighed, a part of her understanding why Rafe and his cousins refused to sell out and leave. “Their roots are here, Jeannie. They’re not going to destroy that last tie to their parents.”
It wasn’t her place to mention the inheritance or the terms of it. That was Rafer and his cousins’ business. And anyone who made the effort to read the court records in detail.
“Have you told the sheriff about all of this?” Cami asked the couple then.
Jack shook his head. “Phone calls, yes, the rest no. I think you should tell Rafe first, Cami. Tell him and then trust him and his cousins to take care of the rest of it.”
She pushed her fingers through her hair as she tried to think of another alternative. Going to Rafer with this right now would only end up in the inability to keep her hands off him. She would end up in his bed so fast it would make both their heads spin. Besides, he hadn’t believed her when she had tried to tell him her suspicions once before.
“Do you think Archer can be trusted?” she asked Jack then, remembering that Archer’s father had been the one who had ignored the signs that someone had targeted Jaymi.
Jack sighed heavily. “I’d trust him with my life, but I wouldn’t trust anyone with Jeannie’s, so I can’t answer that question for you, Cami. If you’re going to continue seeing Rafe, then you have to tell him what’s going on.”
“I’m not seeing him,” she objected as she leaned back in her chair and crossed her arms over her breasts defensively. “Just ask him, he’ll tell you.” She was, in his words, his occasional fuck, right? “I just want to know what’s going on and why the grandparents hate him and his cousins so much.”
“And someone doesn’t want you to know why,” Jack reminded her. “You be careful, and you watch your back. It hurt to lose your sister, Cami, but she left us in spirit the day she learned her Tye was dead. Losing you, Cami, would break too many hearts, because you’ve always been a part of the community, and a part of your friends, Cami.”
Cami stared back at them for a second before lowering her arms to the table and giving them a bitter smile. “No, Jack, everyone loved Jaymi. They tolerate me.”
“Jaymi was distant,” Jack sighed. “She was just counting the days until she could be with her Tye again. Even moving from Sweetrock didn’t interest her, despite your dad’s insistence. Everyone knew that was his plan. He wanted her to be where there were more opportunities for her. Where her friendship with the Callahans wouldn’t affect her so much.”
Everyone knew but Cami. Why didn’t it surprise her to know that her father had plans to leave Sweetrock and hadn’t even thought to tell her about it?
“What had they been waiting on?” she asked, wondering why Jaymi hadn’t told her. “They could have left at any time.”
“They were waiting for you to get out of high school from what Jaymi said,” Jack related. “Your parents didn’t want you to have to deal with changing schools.”
No, her parents ha
dn’t wanted her to be with them, period, she guessed. If they had, they would have told her their plans rather than remaining silent.
Even her mother.
God, that hurt. Even Cami’s mother had remained silent about the move. Had they been that determined to escape her?
At least she knew Jaymi hadn’t intended to leave. Tye was buried closer to Sweetrock than to Aspen. She would have never left him.
“We have to go.” Jack glanced at his wife before they rose from the table. “I’m sorry, Cami; I know what Dad did was wrong—”
“It wasn’t you, Jack.” She shook her head at the apology as she rose from her own seat. “And thank you for coming to tell me what you had learned.”
He gave a sharp nod before glancing at his wife and wrapping his arm around her. “You know, Dad might be right. Maybe it is time we leave Corbin County. The lock certain families have on this place sickens my gut, and to learn how they use their influence only makes me ashamed to be a part of this place.”
“I can’t blame you for feeling that way,” she said as she faced them, knowing that wasn’t an option she was willing to choose yet.
Once everyone who disagreed with those families was gone, who would be left to teach the children differently?
She couldn’t help but consider the kids she taught. Third graders were sharp as hell; they saw so much more than people realized and were so much more influenced that it was frightening.
As Jack and his wife left, Cami glanced around the kitchen and breathed out heavily.
Tonight was the Spring Fling Social, the first night of the year’s social activities. For all its undercurrents of intrigue, Corbin County and its residents had made inroads to protect their children that she hadn’t heard of in other towns.
The weekend social gathering that was held in the town square during clear weather had begun unofficially the night before. The crowd that had gathered had been part of the volunteers stringing lights and decorating for the first weekend to celebrate spring. And if the weather didn’t cooperate, then they gathered in the large community center.
