"He couldn't have known that Brett would become obsessed with Lori, though."
"He didn't. That was pure luck. Lori started to complain about Brett and that's when they figured out that they could use him. So he and Michelle played with Brett's reality. She pretended to be Lori, leading him on, but making it look like he was stalking her at the office. They planned to pin Lori's disappearance on him. You threw a spanner in the works on that by insisting it was my brother Cal."
She rubbed at her pounding temple. The same one Michelle had hit. Luckily, Jenna's sister was in terrible shape and she'd only give Jenna a concussion, not a lethal brain injury. She also liked to fool herself by thinking that maybe Michelle's heart wasn't really in it when she'd hit her. That maybe she'd only been doing it half-heartedly.
I am a fool.
"I owe your brother an apology."
"Trust me when I say that he owes many apologies to many people. He can wait."
Knox had put his family on something of a timeout. They were still his family but he had decided to keep them at arm's length. Even Randy. He wasn't happy about what his little brother had pulled at the birthday party. As for Ben Owens? Knox was officially done. His dad had already had drinking issues in the last few months. Nothing had changed.
"It doesn't make any sense. Michelle and Tom wanted me to hire a private investigator."
"Yes, because they wanted to gently prod the investigation toward Brett Hedgcock. Michelle even continued to pretend she was Lori, visiting him and leaving Lori's things at his house. The poor bastard never had a chance."
Brett was currently receiving outpatient treatment and supposedly making good progress.
"That's so cruel, playing with his mind like that. He wasn't crazy at all. He really was seeing Lori and talking to her."
"I don't think Tom really gave a shit. Just like Detective Mike Bauer. Your brother got lucky there, as well, with a detective that hated his job and didn't want to do it. Tom thought he'd won the lottery and that the investigation would stay closed. If it didn't, and you kept pushing it, he would put Brett up as his star suspect."
"But just because they got rid of Lori didn't mean they were in the clear. There was still me."
"My boss Logan says that criminals are rarely brain trusts and I think he's right. Your brother was pretty smart, actually. He played the long game and he came close to winning it. His mistake was staying in the history club with Brett."
"And hiring you," Jenna said. "Any other investigator would have just gone with Brett and been done with it."
"I'd like to think that most others would have done what I did. Of course, the big break came when Michelle made her mistake and hit you in full view of your mother's security camera. She should have known better."
"I think she was scared."
"She should be."
"So was she the one that sent me the threatening texts from Lori's phone? And what about the garage fire?"
"She did send the texts. She was visiting Brett again as Lori and sent them. As for the fire, Tom set that, hoping that it would scare me off. He also sent Michelle to Lori's townhouse to make it look like a break-in. Apparently, there were more copies of that key than you thought. Tom liked the status quo of the cops thinking that Lori ran off on a vacation but he realized when I came onto the scene that he wasn't going to be able to hold onto that. Also, Michelle never went to Miami. She stayed in the area but out of sight, gaslighting Brett."
It was a lot to take in and digest.
"They were eventually going to kill me? And then the inheritance would be split between them?"
"And make it look like an accident. Tom had suggested cutting your brake lines or putting poison in your food. They were going to wait, though. Probably next year. Michelle had suggested making it look like a suicide, and that you were bereft from Lori's passing."
Finally, the last question to be answered.
"Where...is Lori?"
Clearing his throat, Knox's own eyes were glittering with tears. "Tom buried her on the property where the family cabin is located. The police will start looking for her right away."
Jenna's dad had had a fishing cabin up in the mountains near a lake. He'd go there with his buddies to get away for a few days and drown some worms. Tom had liked going there with his dad as well.
"They were...diabolical. All the effort, lying, subterfuge. I never wanted the money. I would have given it to them if they'd just said to me that they didn't think it was fair. I just wanted the family. I didn't care about the inheritance."
"It was about more than just money, babe. Michelle resented you for years. As far as she was concerned you'd taken her sister, mother, and father. She wanted you out of her life. Tom just resented everyone. Period. I don't think he ever planned to share with Michelle when it came right down to it. I think he eventually planned to get rid of her too at some point."
Jenna still had nightmares watching Tom shoot Michelle...the bloodstain, her sister's shocked face. Michelle hadn't expected Tom to turn on her.
"Does Tom know that Michelle made a deal?"
"He does by now. I don't know whether that will change his defense. They'll point fingers at each other but I don't think that's going to work. They have a star witness in you. He held a gun to your head and told you that you were as good as dead. That's pretty powerful."
"I dread testifying."
"I know. If it comes to that, I'll be there for you every second. Hell, everyone is going to be there for you. They won't leave you alone."
His friends and their wives had truly been a blessing since she'd come back here and lived with Knox. His co-workers were amazing and she'd made friends with the females as well, now counting them as her friends too.
"I guess you and I are going to have to build a new family."
Kneeling down in front of her, he cupped her face in his hands. "I've been thinking about that a lot. I know it's fast and that we should wait, especially after everything that you've been through, but dammit, I just love you so much, and want to spend every day with you from now on. You're my future and my whole damn world."
It was the greatest and most wonderful run-on sentence she'd ever heard. The words had come tumbling out so quickly she almost hadn't understood. But she did comprehend. His expression said more than all the words he'd just spoken.
"I love you too, Knox Owens, and the answer is yes, I will spend the rest of my life with you."
His smile widened and his blue eyes had turned a deep color. "You're saying yes? Because I asked you to marry me, woman. Just in a sort of roundabout way."
She pressed her lips to his, her heart fluttering in her chest. He was the light in the dark. She'd follow him anywhere and everywhere.
"I said yes. You can't back out now."
"I don't want to back out. I want to build a family with you."
"You mean kids?"
"At least two. Maybe three. And maybe a dog too."
She reached over and turned off the burners on the stove. "Then dinner can wait. We better get started on those kids."
To her delight, he swung her up in his arms and carried her toward the bedroom. It wouldn't be easy; they both had scars, some deeper and uglier than others. They'd fight, they'd make up, they'd love and grow, building a life and a family together. As a team.
She couldn't wait for the future.
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I hope you enjoyed Deceptive Truth! There will be more in the Serials and Stalkers series coming soon.
Thank you for reading.
About the Author
Olivia Jaymes is a wife, mother, lover of sexy romance and cozy mysteries, and caffeine addict. She lives with her husband, son, and two spoiled dogs in central Florida and spends her days typing on her computer with a canine on her lap.
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She is currently working on a new cozy mystery series – A Ravenmist Whodunnit - in addition to her other ongoing romance series world – The Cowboy Justice Association.
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Visit Olivia Jaymes at
www.OliviaJaymes.com
Deceptive Truth: Cowboy Justice Association (Serials and Stalkers Book 4) Page 25
