“A little hard to do when you always have your hands on my girlfriend,” Maxwell launched back. “Just admit it. You want to fuck Jacey.”
Asher stood perfectly still while staring at Maxwell. The look on Maxwell’s face suddenly turned to horror, as he must have realized what he’d said. Without warning, Asher swept Maxwell’s legs out beneath him, dropping him to the floor on his backside. Asher pounced on top of him, pressing his knee into Maxwell’s chest, and clutched his throat in his hand. Asher’s expression never changed as he glared at the gasping man beneath him.
“You better fucking believe I love Jacey,” Asher casually snarled. “I’ve loved her longer and deeper than you ever could. If you ever disrespect her like that again, I’ll happily tear out your throat.” Asher smirked in a sinister manner. “Are we clear on that?”
Maxwell gasped and managed a slight nod. Asher released him and sprang back to his feet. He straightened his jacket, offered a pleasant smile, and walked away, leaving Maxwell half sitting up, clutching his throat, and gasping. While someone continued to record, Brain rushed into the room and assisted Maxwell. As Asher approached the doorway and the camera, the video abruptly ended.
Jacey leaned back in her chair while holding her breath. “Well, that explains why Asher put some distance between us,” she muttered.
Jacey eyed the thumbnails a little closer, appeared curious, and pressed the next one. She watched the pornographic video clearly taken from a strategically placed spy camera. Jeannette was seen receiving oral sex by someone in the video, although it was hard to tell who she was in bed with. The video was date stamped, taken almost two weeks prior to the museum fundraiser. Despite wanting to stop the video, she allowed it to play. She wanted to satisfy her curiosity about Jeannette and Nathan, especially since it proved they were having an affair prior to Doyle’s death. The person on the bottom edge of the video straightened and moved closer to Jeannette to kiss her. Jacey stared with surprise at Roxy as she kissed Jeannette.
“Roxy?” Jacey gasped softly.
She paused the video and stared at the image of Roxy with Jeannette, detailing their affair. Jacey sank into thought. The video was obviously recorded without either woman’s knowledge. The angle was horrible, indicating neither woman attempted to keep the other within the frame. That had to mean the video was crudely set up and taken by a third-party. Jacey considered the situation a moment then came to only one conclusion. Doyle set up the camera to catch his wife having an affair! By the age of some of the photos and videos, he was probably behind most of the collected blackmail. Was Doyle blackmailing his fellow board members and club buddies? But that didn’t explain Asher and Brian. Doyle was dead long before that fight would have taken place. Obviously, it wasn’t Brian doing the recording of Asher and Maxwell. Brian had also mentioned someone attempting to blackmail him as well. She considered all the evidence a moment longer then came to a startling conclusion. Roxy recorded the fight between Asher and Maxwell! She started dating Brian shortly after the museum fundraiser. She could have been at the museum and witnessed the fight!
Jacey suddenly had to ask herself if Doyle’s death was really a murder suicide, or was it actually a double homicide? It was almost too much information for her to process at once. Then the envelope popped into her head. The flash drive had been mailed to Asher written in Jeannette’s handwriting. Why would Jeannette mail proof of blackmail to Asher? She certainly wasn’t blackmailing him. The incident in the video wasn’t damning enough. Why send him proof that her husband had blackmailed others at the club? Wouldn’t she realize Asher would turn it over to Sheriff Monroe? Then it dawned on her. Jeannette called her right before she was murdered claiming to have urgent information regarding Asher. Jeannette wanted the information turned over to the police! She must have known someone was after her and realized she could count on Asher to do anything in his power to destroy the country club. If Sheriff Monroe was intimidated to act because of those involved, she knew Asher would make sure it got out. A few things didn’t make any sense though. Roxy didn’t kill Jeannette. She ran into the killer at Jeannette’s house. He was definitely male. The facts didn’t add up in her mind.
Davis staggered into the reception office doorway while clutching his bleeding temple. His presence startled Jacey, causing her to eject the flash drive hastily from the computer. When she realized Davis had been injured, she shot up from her chair. Davis appeared to be in bad shape and obviously had a run-in with the killer himself. He appeared equally surprised to see her as well then appeared relieved.
“Oh, Jacey,” he gasped softly and lowered his bloodied hand from his head. “Thank God I found someone. The entire club is abandoned. I don’t know what happened.”
While Davis was busy looking at the blood on his hand, Jacey slipped the flash drive down her shirt. She hurried around her desk toward him where he remained in the doorway. She visually assessed his bleeding temple. He’d sustained a hard hit with fresh blood running freely from the wound and down his sideburns to his neck. Davis’ look suddenly froze as he stared past her at the exposed dead man’s hand and traces of blood outside Nathan’s office.
“My God, Carl,” Davis suddenly gasped.
Jacey glanced back at the office doorway then met Davis’ transfixed gaze and the horror in his eyes. Her mind was now reeling.
“We need to get you out of here,” she insisted then twitched with concern. “Something bad is about to happen.”
“Not without my daughter,” he launched back. “I’ve been looking for her all evening, but she’s gone. Something’s happened to her, I know it.”
“Roxy’s fine,” Jacey informed him. “She went with Professor to get help.”
“What’s going on, Jacey?” he suddenly demanded. “What happened to Carl? Where is everyone?”
Jacey stared at him a moment, took a deep breath, and attempted to remain calm. “I have reason to believe someone intends to frame Asher for Carl’s murder,” she replied.
Davis was stunned. “What? Who?”
She hesitated and gently rubbed her chilled shoulders. “If I’m correct, Nathan’s behind this.”
“Nathan?” he suddenly gasped. “That can’t be.”
“Have you seen him tonight?” she questioned with an accusing, raised brow.
Davis then hesitated and sank into thought. He gave Jacey an odd stare. “As a matter-of-fact, I did,” he suddenly gasped. “I saw him heading for the file room stairs as I was approaching the office. I called to him, but he didn’t hear me.”
“The file room, of course,” she replied. “That makes sense. He’s expecting to find a few hostages down there.” She looked back at Davis. “I have to go after him.”
“What? No!” Davis shook his head then immediately regretted the action and clutched his head. “If Nathan’s a killer, he won’t hesitate to take you out, Jacey. Leave it to the police.”
“You don’t understand,” Jacey announced with concern. “If he is behind this, the only way to get away with it would be to burn the place down. A fire in the file room would spread rapidly. That place will go up in a matter of minutes, destroying this area and all evidence of Carl’s murder.”
“You can’t go after him alone,” Davis insisted and boldly straightened. “I’m going with you.”
She nodded. “I thought you might.”
Chapter Thirty-six
Jacey and Davis cautiously walked down the stairs to the basement file room with Davis in the lead. As they approached the bottom of the stairs, they saw Nathan lying on the floor with blood surrounding his head. Jacey hurried past Davis to Nathan’s motionless body and checked for a pulse, even though she was almost certain of his condition. Asher appeared from the end aisle with his gun aimed at them. Jacey jumped with surprise and quickly straightened. Asher gave her a bewildered look and slowly lowered his gun.
“Jacey, what are you doing here?” Asher almost demanded, clearly surprised to see her.
“Flushing o
ut a killer,” she casually replied.
Asher’s expression hardened as he aimed his gun at them. Jacey’s showed little reaction as she turned toward Davis behind her and saw the gun he aimed at her head. It was the same gun taken off her at Asher’s cabin. She eyed the familiar gun then her boss. He frowned with annoyance and appeared almost saddened by the outcome.
“It wasn’t supposed to happen this way,” he gently informed her. “It’s nothing personal, Jacey.”
She frowned and folded her arms across her chest. “It never is.” Jacey shook her head while studying him. “Award-winning performance on showing surprise to Carl’s murder. Unfortunately, you wouldn’t have known it was Carl’s body from where you were standing. Since it was Nathan’s office, you should have assumed it was Nathan who was dead.”
“Pretty stupid,” Davis muttered.
“You never were good at bluffing,” Asher muttered.
Davis frowned while staring at Jacey. “I didn’t want to involve you,” he announced.
“Then why did you abduct me and drag me here?” she demanded while raising a brow.
“He was just supposed to get one of Asher’s guns,” Davis insisted. “You weren’t part of the deal. I honestly didn’t know he’d brought you here until I saw you in the office.” Davis frowned then glared at Asher while keeping the gun aimed at Jacey, being certain she was in Asher’s line of fire to keep him from shooting. “You can just toss your gun aside, if you don’t mind.”
“But I do mind,” Asher announced while staring at Davis with an icy look.
Jacey cast a quick glance at Asher several feet behind her. “He’s not going to shoot me,” she insisted then glared at Davis with a crazed look in her eyes. “Shoot him, Asher.”
Davis was surprised by her words. He held the gun aimed at her with more conviction, although the fear showed in his eyes. “Drop it or she dies,” he growled as beads of perspiration formed on his forehead and his finger tightened on the trigger.
“Shoot him!” Jacey shouted at Asher.
Asher and Davis stared at each other for an uncomfortable moment while Davis kept his gun on Jacey. Jacey knew her position between the two men with guns was preventing Asher from getting a clean shot. She knew she’d have to force her body to dive out of the way, but she was having a hard time convincing herself to do that. Although she was convinced he’d never shoot her, any sudden movement from her might cause Davis to pull the trigger accidentally. Asher kept his eyes locked on Davis. Asher then sneered and tossed his gun aside. Jacey groaned and felt her entire body sag with defeat. She cursed herself for not diving to the floor and letting them shoot it out. She was confident Asher had better aim and faster reflexes. Davis aimed the gun at Asher and appeared more confident now that he was the only one holding a weapon.
“Why, Davis? What made you snap?” Jacey suddenly asked, although not as fearful as she should have been.
“It pretty much began with Doyle Cobbler blackmailing the rest of us on the board as well as other prominent members at the club,” Davis replied. “When he had his accident, we thought the blackmailing died with him. Then a month later, it started up again. It didn’t take long for us to realize Jeannette must have found the incriminating evidence her husband left behind and decided to continue where Doyle left off.”
Jacey stared at Davis with surprise. “You mean you killed Jeannette? That was you I ran into at the house?”
“No, I didn’t kill Jeannette,” he remarked. “My partner was upstairs. He killed Jeannette. I was looking for the evidence Doyle had over us when I ran into you.”
“Why Brian and the other board members?” Asher asked as he moved closer to Jacey from behind.
Jacey tensed at Asher’s closeness to her. She knew he was putting himself into position for an attack. She panicked at the thought. The moment she was out of Davis’ line of fire, Asher would be gunned down.
“Brian’s death is a little harder to explain,” Davis remarked but refused to elaborate. “It wasn’t until Nathan found blackmail evidence in Brian’s office at the museum that we realized it had been you and Brian behind the blackmail and not Jeannette. Unfortunately, Nathan tried to extort money from me to keep quiet about other information he’d discovered as well. Carl revealed that information to me. I couldn’t risk it getting out, so they both had to go.”
Asher appeared dumbfounded while staring at Davis just over Jacey’s shoulder. “Brian and I weren’t blackmailing you,” Asher boldly announced. “That’s ridiculous!”
“Don’t bother denying it,” Davis launched back. “Brian was blackmailing you, so you’d help him financially destroy the rest of us. That’s why he wanted you on the board, so you’d side with him. For all I know, you were actually the one who murdered Brian, so he wouldn’t tell Jacey the secret you’d been keeping.”
Jacey glanced at Asher and raised her brow in question. He caught her look.
“It’s not important right now,” Asher informed her while keeping his attention on Davis.
“Brian witnessed a fight between Maxwell and Asher,” Davis boldly offered, answering her silent question. “Asher admitted he’d been in love with you for years, and Maxwell threatened him to stay out of your lives.”
Jacey stared at Davis in silence and with little emotion. Apparently, he was expecting a bigger reaction, or any reaction from her. She didn’t bother to mention that she already found out, since its significance was irrelevant now.
“The blackmail had to stop,” Davis insisted. “Brian’s gone, so that only leaves you, Asher. Unfortunately, arranging for you to have an accident wouldn’t be nearly as easy as it was with Doyle. Taking you down required a lot of planning and a lot of collateral damage.” He then looked back at Jacey. “I’m sorry you had to get in the middle of this, Jacey, but there’s no turning back now.” Davis drew a deep breath then exhaled and looked back at Asher. “This is how it’s going to go down. You went over the deep end after discovering Nathan was not only blackmailing you with the evidence he found in Brian’s office, but he’d also been secretly seeing Jacey. When you came down here to confront him, you discovered Nathan and Jacey hooking up. It’s really a clever plan, if you ask me,” he remarked. “Everyone knows how jealous you are over Jacey and how you hated Nathan. The police will have no trouble believing you killed them in a fit of jealous rage over their affair.”
“Huh? Pity no one’s going to believe that,” Jacey announced while raising her brow. “Unfortunately, the lab tests will show that I’d been with Asher earlier. Enough people will vouch that I was a virgin when I broke up with Maxwell. I wouldn’t doubt forensics would reveal I’d lost my virginity as early as this afternoon.” She shook her head. “No, it’ll be hard to make your story stick against DNA and forensics.”
Asher’s eyes didn’t leave Davis despite Jacey’s remarks. Davis appeared surprised and looked at both.
“There’s no way. You two wouldn’t--” Their looks told him it was true. Davis suddenly sneered possibly due to more than just crushing his fictional story. “You certainly ruined that plan, but it doesn’t change the end result.”
“No, just makes it sloppy,” Asher bluntly informed him. “You’ll look suspicious no matter what story you tell now.”
“No matter. There won’t be anything left of this place,” Davis announced. “It’s as Jacey suspected. I’m going to burn it and all evidence to the ground. It’s the only way to be sure. There’s just one loose end I need to tie up.”
Davis aimed the gun at Asher and squeezed the trigger. Jacey cried out and leaped in front of Asher. The bullet hit her in the chest and threw her backward into him. As Asher caught her, he was unable to contain the horror on his face.
“Jacey!”
As she collapsed to the floor, Asher sank to the floor with her. Davis stared with horror at the fallen woman in Asher’s arms. For a moment, he appeared almost as stunned as Asher. Anger crossed Davis’ face, and he again squeezed the trigger, wanting to k
ill Asher for his own blunder. The gun clicked empty. Davis groaned and took two quick steps toward Asher. Asher sprang to his feet with rage and was prepared to fight. Davis struck him on the side of the head with the gun. Asher collapsed to the floor near Jacey while clutching the cut on his temple. Davis sneered at the fallen man and shook his head.
“I wanted you dead,” Davis lashed out. “I never wanted to see Jacey harmed. It’s your fault she’s dead!”
Asher continued to clutch his head while attempting to focus on Davis, but he was unable to move from the floor. Asher watched helplessly as Davis set fire to a bag of shredded paper in the aisle then piled boxes of files near the burning bag. The boxes quickly caught fire. Asher looked at Jacey where she lie and pulled himself closer to her.
“Oh, Jacey, no.” He gathered her into his arms and sobbed softly. “No, Jacey. No!”
Asher continued to rock her in his arms while sobbing. When he looked up, Davis was standing over him. Several feet behind Davis was Asher’s gun, partially hidden beneath one of the shelves. He only eyed it a moment then looked up at Davis, who stood over him.
“I’m not stupid,” Davis scoffed lowly while glaring at him. “I won’t allow you the opportunity to get away. I know your reputation too well.”
Davis revealed the baton style flashlight and coiled back to strike him where he knelt with Jacey partially on his lap. Asher suddenly jetted upward like a striking rattlesnake and tackled Davis across the room. They crashed into several bags of shredded files. Asher punched Davis several times with accurate hard hits then pulled him to his feet and resumed the beating with a sharp, fast kick in the chest then alongside his head. Davis was thrown backward again. Asher grabbed him by the throat with his left hand and slammed him violently against the wall. Asher coiled back with his flattened palm and sneered.
“If I’m going to hell, I’m taking you with me!”
Asher was about to deliver a deadly blow when someone struck him in the face, throwing him back. Nick stood over Asher as Davis nearly collapsed to the floor from his brutal beating. Nick frowned while glaring at Davis and shook his head with disgust.
The Deadliest Institution Collection Page 42
