Eve didn’t have to guess how this would play out. “They aren’t going to like that.”
“Good. Because I don’t like the lies they’ve told us. Plus, I’d like to see how Claude reacts when I show him the memory card his wife gave us.”
Eve almost felt sorry for Annabel. Almost. But then, Annabel did have a strong motive for murder—her soon-to-be-dead husband’s money. And it was as if Annabel was trying to put the blame on either Claude or her stepson with those pictures she’d taken.
Grayson made the call to Nate, and while he was arranging the follow-up interview with the Colliers, Eve grabbed her laptop because she wanted to continue studying the photos. Before she could do that, however, she noticed the email from her doctor, Alan Stephenson.
The message was simple. “I’ve been trying to reach you. Call me.”
Eve automatically reached for her cell, only to remember she didn’t have one. It was in Grayson’s truck, which had gone into the creek. She hadn’t checked her answering machine at the condo either, mainly because Grayson had been in such a hurry to get her out of there.
“I need to use your phone,” she told Grayson the moment he ended his call with Nate.
“Anything wrong?” he asked.
“I’m not sure.” Eve took the cell and frantically pressed in the phone number at the bottom of the email. A dozen things went through her mind, most of them bad. Had the doctor been wrong about her ovulating? Had she put Grayson through all of this for nothing? Her heart broke at the thought of her being too late to have a child of her own.
She got the doctor’s answering service first, but Dr. Stephenson had left word to put her call through to him. Moments later, the doctor picked up.
“Eve,” he greeted, but she could hear something in his voice. This was not good news.
“I got your email. You’ve been trying to call me?”
“Most of yesterday afternoon. I found a private sperm donor, but as you probably already know, it’s already too late. I’m sorry.”
Her lungs were aching so she released the breath she’d been holding. “I found a donor.” She didn’t look at Grayson, but she sensed he was looking at her.
“That’s wonderful.” The doctor sounded both sur prised and relieved. “Did you use artificial insemination?”
The image of Grayson in the woods flashed through her mind. “No. There wasn’t time.”
The doctor cleared his throat. “Well, the old-fashioned way works, too.”
And was a lot more pleasurable. But Eve kept that to herself. “I know it’s probably a long shot.”
“Maybe not. Having sex when you’re ovulating substantially increases the odds. Come in next week, and I’ll run a test. We should be able to tell if you’re pregnant.”
Everything inside Eve began to spin. “Next week? That soon?”
“That soon,” the doctor assured her. “Call the office and make an appointment. I’ll see you then.”
The doctor ended the call, and Eve just sat there and stared at the phone. It was exactly the news she wanted. The doctor was hopeful that she had conceived, and she wouldn’t have to wait long. Seven days. That was it. And she would know if Grayson and she had made a baby.
But she immediately shook her head. She couldn’t think of this as Grayson’s baby.
Only hers.
“My doctor can do the pregnancy test next week,” she relayed to Grayson, though he was looking at everything but her now.
He didn’t respond. Which was just as well. Best not to mention pregnancy tests or the baby again because if this interview with the Colliers went well, maybe Grayson could make an arrest. Then, they would go their separate ways. That stung.
But it was necessary. A baby had to be enough. She couldn’t go weaving a fantasy life with Grayson when the last thing he wanted was to raise another child.
Eve cursed the tears that sprang to her eyes, and then she cursed Grayson for being able to detach so easily. She glanced at him to see if he’d had any reaction whatsoever to the test news, but he was volleying his attention between the street ahead and the rearview mirror.
That wasn’t a detached look on his face.
“What’s wrong?” she asked, turning in her seat to follow his gaze.
He reached inside his jacket and drew his gun. “Some one’s following us.”
Chapter Thirteen
Next week.
The timing of Eve’s pregnancy results should have been the last thing on Grayson’s mind, but he was having a hard time pushing it aside.
“That dark blue car is the one following us?” Eve asked. She apparently wasn’t thinking baby tests, either. She had her attention on the vehicle behind them.
“Yeah.” It wasn’t right on their tail, but the blue car had stayed several vehicles back and had made the last three turns that Grayson had taken.
“Can you see the driver?” she asked.
“No.” The noon sun was catching the tint of the windows at the wrong angle, and Grayson couldn’t even tell how many people there were in the car. Heck, he wasn’t positive they were even being followed.
So, Grayson did a test of his own.
Without signaling, he took a right turn so quickly that the driver behind him honked. But Grayson got his answer. The blue car made the same turn.
“What now?” There was a tremble in Eve’s voice, and it had been that way since she’d spoken to her doctor. But now it was heavy with concern.
“We drive to SAPD headquarters as planned.” Grayson only hoped the car followed them into the parking lot so he could confront this moron. Of course, he didn’t want to do that with Eve around, but maybe he could get her inside the headquarters building first.
Grayson made his way through the side streets and spotted the SAPD parking lot just ahead. He pulled in, heading straight toward the drop-off that would put Eve just a few yards from the front door.
“The driver didn’t turn,” Eve relayed.
A glance in the rearview mirror verified that. Maybe this idiot hadn’t wanted to risk arrest, but that didn’t mean he wouldn’t follow them when they left. Grayson would have to take extra precautions. He damn sure didn’t want someone trying to shoot out their tires again.
“I’ll park and be inside in a minute,” Grayson told Eve and was thankful she didn’t argue with him about that. The instant he came to a stop, Eve hurried inside the building.
Nate was there, just inside the door waiting for her, and Grayson caught a glimpse of Nate pulling her into his arms for a hug. It was ironic. His brothers had always loved Eve, had always thought of her as part of the family. How would they react if it turned out that she was indeed pregnant with his child?
Grayson groaned.
Maybe the better question was, how would he react?
Well, next week he’d know. By then, he’d hopefully have Nina Manning’s killer behind bars and would be able to have some time to think this all through.
He parked and went inside to join Eve and Nate who were waiting for him in the reception area.
“Eve said someone was following you?” Nate asked.
“Yeah. But he apparently got cold feet. I got a description but not the plates.”
Nate’s forehead bunched up. “When you get ready to take Eve back to the ranch, I’ll have one of the cruisers accompany you. That should deter anyone from following or launching another attack.”
You’d think, but this investigation was twisting and turning too much for Grayson’s liking. He just wanted it to end so that Eve could be safe.
“Sebastian Collier is already here,” Nate announced, leading them through the headquarters toward the interview rooms. “Claude and Annabel are on the way.”
“Did they give you any hassle about coming?” Eve asked.
The flat look Nate gave her indicated they had. “Claude says he’ll sue us for harassment.”
Grayson figured the man would use that threat, but if the DNA proved that Nina was his biol
ogical child, then that might get SAPD authorization for a search warrant to start going through not just the Collier estate, but Claude and Sebastian’s financials. After all, someone had paid off Leon Ames, and Grayson was betting it was a Collier. Unfortunately, if they used cash, then the financial records might be a dead end.
“Eve and I can watch through the two-way mirror in the adjacent room,” Nate suggested. Both Grayson and he looked at Eve, and she opened her mouth, probably to argue.
“Give yourself a break from the stress,” Grayson told her, and he dropped his gaze to her stomach.
Her eyes widened and just like that, she nodded. Yeah, it was a dirty trick considering she might not even be pregnant, but there was no reason for her to go a second round with this pack of jackals. Just being in the same room with them spiked his blood pressure.
Nate maneuvered them through the maze of halls until they reached the interview room, and he took Eve next door. Sebastian was seated, but he didn’t offer the smile and warm welcome that he had earlier.
“I’m assuming this is important?” Sebastian asked. Everything about his body language revealed his impatience and annoyance. His face was tight, and his breath was coming out in short bursts.
“It’s important,” Grayson assured him. He didn’t sit. He wanted to stand so he could violate Sebastian’s personal space and make him even more uncomfortable. “Did you have someone follow me a few minutes ago?”
“Please.” Sebastian stretched out the syllables. “I have better things to do, like last-minute shopping. Tomorrow’s Christmas Eve.” He stared at them, and then he mumbled a profanity under his breath. “Look, I don’t know why I’m suddenly a suspect, but I did nothing wrong.”
“You lied to me.”
The staring match continued, and Sebastian was the first to look away. More profanity came. “About two weeks ago Nina Manning called me and asked to meet her. She claimed she was my long-lost sister. The timing was suspicious because her call came less than twenty-four hours after my father found out he was dying.”
Grayson reserved judgment on the suspicious part. “Did you meet with her?”
“Yes. At a hotel in downtown San Antonio. I didn’t believe her. I thought she was running a scam, but because I didn’t want her upsetting my father, I was prepared to pay her off. Then, my father showed up, and after they argued, Nina ran out.”
Well, that explained Annabel’s pictures. “How did your father know about the meeting?”
“Nina called him, too. I guess she figured if she couldn’t get the money from me, then she’d get it from my father.”
Something about this didn’t sound right. “If Nina wanted money, why did she run off after the so-called argument?”
“Because she was a drug-addicted, lying little witch,” someone said from the doorway. It was Claude, and Annabel was by his side. Both looked about as thrilled to be there as Sebastian was.
Sebastian got to his feet. “You should sit, Father.”
“I don’t intend to be here that long,” Claude fired back. “My attorney is on the way, and I’ve already put a call in to the mayor. I will not be treated like a common criminal.” He aimed that remark and an accompanying glare at Grayson.
“Besides, Claude isn’t well enough for this,” Annabel added. The words were right, but the emotion didn’t quite make it to her eyes. No glare for her, but she did look uncomfortable.
“A woman is dead,” Grayson stated, looking at Claude. “She was last seen alive with your son and former employee. That employee tried to kill me and the woman who photographed Nina Manning.” He paused. “Or maybe I should call the dead woman Sophia Collier.”
“Never!” Claude’s voice boomed through the hall, and with his index finger pointed at Grayson, he stepped into the room. “That piece of trash has no blood of mine in her.”
Grayson shrugged. “Your ex-wife thought differently. She believed Nina was Sophia.”
Annabel huffed. Now, there was real emotion. “Of course Cicely would believe that. She’s mentally unstable, you know.”
“She is,” Sebastian agreed.
Grayson glanced at Claude to see if he had a comment about his ex, but Claude’s jaw was so tight that Grayson figured he wasn’t capable of speaking. Grayson made a mental note to do some digging to see if Cicely was indeed suffering from any form of mental illness.
“Since Nina’s paternity is in question, we needed the DNA sample from you,” Grayson told Claude.
“Which I gave,” Claude spat out. “But there’s no test that will convince me that she was my Sophia.”
“Your son must have thought it was at least possible,” Grayson disputed, “because he met with her again at the charity rodeo.”
“I didn’t meet with her,” Sebastian insisted. “I already told you she was there with Leon. I simply ran into them.”
Grayson just looked at them, waiting for an explanation he could actually believe—because he didn’t buy the running into them story. His stony look didn’t stop with just Sebastian, either. When Grayson let his intense stare stay on Annabel, her breath began to tremble, and she actually dropped back a step, probably because she thought she was about to be outed about the memory disk she’d given him. And Grayson considered it, but if either Sebastian or Claude was the killer, then that might make Annabel the next victim.
There was a soft knock, and since the door was still open, Grayson didn’t have any trouble seeing who’d made the sound.
Cicely.
She was holding her leather purse in front of her like a shield, and she looked at them as if trying to figure out what was going on. Grayson knew how she felt.
“By any chance were you the one who followed Ms. Warren and me?” Grayson asked.
“Yes.” And Cicely didn’t hesitate, either. “I wanted to see if you’d run to Claude and tell him everything I said to you.” She gave a smug nod. “But instead you ordered him to come here. Did he deny it?” Cicely asked, sliding her venomous gaze at Claude.
Claude had some venom of his own. The veins on his forehead and neck started to bulge. “If you’re talking about that woman claiming to be Sophia, of course I denied it. She wasn’t our daughter.”
“I told you that I did a DNA test,” Cicely said between clenched teeth.
“A test that could have been faked,” Sebastian interrupted. “You’re so eager to find your long-lost daughter that you’re willing to believe anything.”
“I faked nothing, and neither did Sophia.” Cicely was so angry now that she was shaking, and she opened her purse and snatched something from it. Something encased in a plastic zip bag. She slapped it onto the table.
Grayson walked closer to see what it was. He’d expected a photo or something else that might shed light on this.
But it was a diamond bracelet.
Grayson frowned. “Is this connected to the investigation?”
“It is.” Cicely pointed to Annabel. “She gave the bracelet to Sophia as a bribe to get her to leave.”
Annabel, Sebastian and Claude all disagreed, and they weren’t quiet about it, either. “I’ve never seen that bracelet before,” Annabel insisted. She reached for the bag, but Cicely snagged her wrist.
“Sophia said you gave it to her and demanded that she sell it and use the money to get out of town. I sealed it up because I’m betting the police can find your DNA on it.”
Maybe. But that wouldn’t prove anything other than perhaps Annabel had told him another lie. It didn’t mean she was a killer.
“How did you get the bracelet?” Grayson asked Cicely.
And with that one simple question, the room fell silent, and all eyes were on Cicely.
Cicely lifted her chin as if insulted by the implication of the question. “When Sophia came to my house, she had the bracelet with her and said it was a bribe from Annabel. She also said she was scared, that she thought Annabel would kill her if she didn’t leave town and not try to stake a claim to her rightful inheritan
ce.”
“It’s only a rightful claim if she was my sister,” Sebastian tossed at her. “And she wasn’t.”
That started up another round of accusations, and Cicely was loud and liberal with the name calling—especially the names she called Annabel.
“Shut up!” Grayson practically yelled. And he turned back to Cicely. “Why would Sophia leave the bracelet with you?”
Cicely didn’t jump to answer that. In fact, she swallowed hard. “She didn’t say, exactly, but I think she knew something bad was going to happen to her. I think she wanted me to have it so I could prove that Annabel was her killer.”
Annabel gasped and caught on to Grayson’s arm. “I didn’t kill her. I…” But she didn’t finish, and the grip she had on his arm melted away. “I didn’t kill her,” she repeated.
Sebastian moved closer as if checking to make sure Annabel was okay. When his attention came back to Cicely, his eyes were narrowed. “Mother, why don’t you tell the sheriff about your association with Leon Ames?”
“Association?” Cicely pulled back her shoulders. “I don’t know what you mean.”
“Really?” Sebastian challenged. He walked toward his mother. Slow, calculated steps. “Leon visited you often. In fact, he visited you in the past week.”
Cicely didn’t deny it, and when she tried to look away, Grayson got right in her face. “Is it true?”
The woman finally nodded, prompting an I-told-you-so huff from Sebastian. Neither Annabel nor Claude seemed surprised with Cicely’s admission, which meant they had likely known.
“Leon was my friend.” Cicely’s voice was practically a whisper.
Friend. That was an interesting relationship, especially considering Leon worked for Claude. Of course, that didn’t mean he hadn’t been secretly working for Cicely, as well. Since Grayson believed that Leon had likely killed Nina, now he had to figure out who had given the man orders to kill.
“Leon was your lover and would have done anything for you,” Sebastian accused. He was smirking when he looked at Grayson. “My mother has an affinity for associating with lowlifes. That’s probably why she was so eager to believe that woman when she claimed she was Sophia.”
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