Love Inspired Suspense April 2021--Box Set 2 of 2

by Laura Scott

  “I don’t want to leave Jonah here with only a babysitter,” Liam said, a frown inching across his brow.

  “I’ll call Shelley,” Paige offered. “I’m sure she’ll be glad to have him.”

  Five minutes later, she ended the call to her friend who said she’d be happy to have Jonah stay with her family.

  The following morning, the specially equipped pin attached to her jacket lapel, Paige called Jerry and arranged a meeting. He sounded surprised, but not alarmed, to hear from her.

  When she showed up a half hour later, he greeted her genially. “Ms. Walker. Good to see you again. How can I help you?”

  “It’s more how we can help each other. I suppose you heard about Reva Thomas,” Paige said with no preliminaries.

  Jerry gave a cautious nod. “Who’d have thought it? Her being mayor and all and killing those people.”

  “She told Liam and me that she was being blackmailed.”

  “No kidding?”

  “No kidding,” she mimicked, her tone openly mocking. “I know what you’ve been doing, Jerry. Blackmailing Reva. It’s too bad that the well has dried up. But I’m sure you’ll find another angle to play.”

  He raised a brow and regarded her quizzically. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  “Don’t you? Reva told us all about the blackmail. She just didn’t know who was behind it. It didn’t take much to figure out that it was you. Don’t worry. I didn’t tell Liam. Or the police. Yet.” She paused, letting that sink in. “We’ll keep it just between the two of us. I can see a bright future for us.

  “It’s time you shared some of the wealth, Jerry. Consider this payment for the blackmail. Give me half of what you got from Reva and I’ll keep my mouth shut.”

  “You’re imagining things, lady.”

  “No. I’m smart. When Reva told us what she was being blackmailed for, I knew it had to be you.”

  “Still don’t know what you’re talking about.” Though he hadn’t made a move, his voice had taken on a sinister note and the corners of his mouth turned down ever so slightly.

  “Okay. Try this. Sam was different after the accident. You said so yourself. Liam said he was real quiet on the way home from the game. It was easy enough to deduce that he had seen what Reva had done and had put it together. Only Sam was a good guy. He’d never consider blackmail. In the end, he told you. Maybe he didn’t want the secret to die with him.”

  Jerry’s expression smoothed out into its ordinary blandness. “Is that what you think happened? You don’t have any proof.”

  “I think I can make a good case if I go to the police. Once they know where to look, they’ll find the proof. You’re sneaky, Jerry, but you’re not all that smart.”

  “You’re really good at putting things together.” He pulled a gun from behind his back and aimed it at her. “Too bad it’s gonna cost you.” He gestured with the gun. “Toss your phone and the weapon under your jacket over here.”

  She did as he instructed. He kicked the gun away, then stepped on the phone, smashing it into pieces.

  “When you called this morning, I had a feeling you might have put things together. It doesn’t surprise me, you being super smart and all.”

  “What are you planning to do?”

  He looked surprised. “Kill you, of course.”

  “Just like that? Of course, you’ve already caused the deaths of three people. What’s another one?”

  Jerry looked affronted. “Hey, I didn’t kill those people. That’s on Reva.”

  “You started it when you sent the first blackmail demand. Didn’t you care what would happen?”

  “That’s a lie. She started it when she drugged Old Goat Pope’s water fifteen years ago. I just made it work for me. Too bad Sam didn’t tell me what she’d done way back then. I could have milked this thing for years. Come to think of it, though, she wouldn’t have had any dough back then, so I guess it worked out okay.” Anger twisted his features into an ugly scowl. “I had a good thing going, and then you and that boyfriend of yours put an end to it.”

  “Do you expect us to apologize for stopping a murderer?”

  “You could have minded your own business. You didn’t have to get involved.”

  “You’re as bad as she is.” Keep him talking. Give Liam time to get in position.

  “I don’t remember blackmail being part of the Big Ten.” At her blank look, he said, “You know, the commandments that they’re always preaching about in church.”

  “You went to church?”

  “Only because my ma made me. Like I said, blackmail’s not one of them.”

  She stared at him incredulously. “That’s your excuse? That blackmail isn’t listed in the Ten Commandments? Your blackmail caused three deaths. I think that makes the Big Ten, as you call them.”

  “I know what you’re doing. You’re stalling, waiting for McKenzie to show up. Guess you and me have the same thought. I can hardly wait.” Glee lit his eyes.

  The sly expression on his face had her tensing.

  “Now we got us some things to do. Want to have you all nice and ready for when that white knight of yours shows up.” Using his weapon, he pointed to a chair. “Sit down.” He produced a roll of duct tape and started wrapping her wrists to the arms of the chair, then bound her ankles together. “We’ll just wait for McKenzie to come and then we’ll have ourselves a nice little going-away party. Get it? You and your boyfriend are going away. Forever.”

  She got it. “I thought you didn’t hold with killing.”

  “I never said that. I just said that I didn’t kill the folks who already died.”

  “Your distinction is a fine one.” Her sarcasm appeared wasted on him, for he grinned.

  “You don’t want to kill Liam. He was Sam’s friend.”

  “You think that matters to me?”

  “It should.”

  “Why should I care about Sam’s friend when I could barely tolerate my brother? He was always being held up to me as what I could be if I only tried. I was a screwup. I was never allowed to forget that.”

  “And that means you should kill his friend?”

  Smug added mean to the smirk. “No. It means I don’t care that I have to kill his friend and you.”

  Paige stared in shock at the casual attitude toward life. “I’m sorry.”

  “Are you?”

  “I’m sorry for anyone who regards life so cheaply.”

  “You’re a fine one to talk. I did some digging on you. Didn’t you get your fiancé killed when you were with the ATF?”

  His words sucker punched her. Hadn’t she said the same thing to herself? Hearing them uttered by someone else intensified her guilt.

  “Nothing to say for yourself?” The derisive laugh that followed poured acid on the open wound.

  “You’re despicable.”

  He snickered. “Better that than dead.” He checked the bindings around her wrists and ankles. “Make yourself comfortable while we wait.”

  “Tell me how you came up with the idea of blackmail.”

  “He didn’t.” A voice from behind caused her to start.

  She recognized the voice. That was a twist she hadn’t counted on, though it made sense now. Pieces clicked into place. The same class picture she’d seen at the Hawkins’s home sat on the mantel in the Newley living room. If only she’d made the connection earlier.

  He made a half circle around the chair and faced her, a .38 tucked in the waistband of his jeans.

  “Calvin Pope Jr. Or do you go by Hawkins like your mother?”

  “It’s still Pope.” His face drew into taut lines. “I can’t stomach that woman. The last thing I wanted was to change my name with her, though I pretended to go along with it.”

  Paige recalled Liam wondering if Cal and his mother had been worki
ng in tandem. Liam had one part of the partnership right but had been off base in the other.

  Cal and Jerry. It made sense. Two men the same age, both feeling that life had given them a raw deal.

  She looked from one to the other. “You two were in it together.”

  “Sure we were,” Jerry said. “We were in the same class until Cal’s ma up and moved them out of town. We stayed in touch off and on. When he read about Sam dying, he came to the funeral. He stayed on after everyone left. We got to talking, and I told him what Sam told me. Cal here’s got a real talent for knowing how to use information.

  “It was him who came up with the idea of getting you and McKenzie out to that old trailer. It would have worked, too, if you hadn’t gotten out at the last minute.”

  “Pretty neat trick,” Paige said. “Too bad we survived.”

  “I knew you and McKenzie were trouble soon as you paid that visit to Ma,” Cal said. “I’d hoped that the Thomas woman would take care of you, but she failed. She couldn’t do anything right.”

  “Why?” Paige asked, directing the question to Cal. “Why blackmail Reva? Sure, you and Jerry got some money, but divided two ways, it’s not that much, not worth going to jail for.”

  “The money was all right, but when I learned what she’d done to my pa, what she’d done to my family, I wanted payback. You saw how my ma is. I have to live with that day after day and take care of her. Things weren’t good at home before the accident, but they got bad afterward. Real bad, especially after my old man left. All because some spoiled brat decided to play a trick. Reva Thomas needed to be taken down a peg, and I knew just how to do it.”

  Revenge.

  Paige had dismissed the idea of revenge being the motive behind the killings. From the start, though, Liam had maintained that revenge was involved. He’d been right, but he’d missed the true reason for it.

  “I helped Jerry figure out how we could make what Reva had done work for us,” Cal said. “From there, it was simple enough to send the blackmail notes. She was willing to pay through the nose to avoid having her secret come out.”

  Cal was obviously the brains of the partnership, causing fear to take root in Paige’s heart. Liam was going to show up, expecting he’d have only Jerry to contend with. Cal Pope presented a much more able opponent. She reminded herself that Liam was more than a match for these two amateurs, but the element of surprise worked in their favor.

  She had to free herself. Now.

  She twisted her hands, struggling to find some give in her bindings, but Jerry had taken pleasure in making them as tight as possible. Her hands and ankles were growing numb as the circulation was all but cut off.

  “Please, I can’t feel my hands,” she said, injecting tears into her voice. Disarm them. Make them see you as helpless.

  Jerry smirked. “Not going to work, lady. You might as well stop trying to free yourself. Think I don’t know what you’re doing? I might not be as smart as Cal here, but I know a con when I hear it.”

  She stopped struggling against the bindings. Jerry pulled out his cell, checked the time. “Your boyfriend’s late.”

  “He’s not coming. I told you.” She injected a note of indifference in her voice. “This was my play. Why should I split the money with him?”

  “Oh, I think he’ll come all right,” Cal said. “I saw how he looked at you when you visited my ma. You two ruined a good deal for Jerry and me. Reva would have kept paying. She would have had to if she wanted to keep that fancy life of hers, but you and your boyfriend put an end to that.”

  “She murdered three people because of the two of you.”

  Cal’s mouth stretched in an ugly sneer. “No skin off my nose.”

  She glared at the men. “Don’t either of you feel any regret at all for what you did?”

  “I got a bunch of money,” Jerry said. “That’s the best feeling in the world. All my life, I had to do without. Now I have a nest egg. Once I take care of you and your boyfriend, I’m home free.” He gave a high-pitched giggle, the sound obscene coming from a grown man. “Except I won’t be at home.” Another giggle. “I figure to do some traveling. You know, hobnob with the rich and famous.”

  “How far do you think that money is going to take you?”

  “Far enough. I don’t really care as long as it’s away from this Podunk town.”

  “You could have gotten a job, done something with your life.”

  His eyes shifted away from hers, then came back to pierce her with stinging hate. “I got better things to do than work some stupid job.”

  At that moment, Liam burst through the kitchen door. He caught Jerry shoulder-to-chest and gave him a hard bump. Liam then feinted right and slid in behind his opponent and thumped him hard in the back so that Jerry fell to the floor.

  “I was counting on you showing up,” Cal said as casually as though he were talking about the weather. “You’re so predictable. Once a hero, always a hero. Too bad we have to kill you.” He held his weapon against Paige’s temple. “Drop your gun or your girlfriend’s toast.”

  Liam did as directed.

  “You’re so sure of yourself,” Cal taunted. “You could have stopped looking for the blackmailer, but you didn’t. This is on your head.”

  Out of the corner of his eye, Liam saw Jerry start to get up and jerked his elbow back and upward, catching Jerry in the jaw and sending him sprawling once more. Liam snatched his weapon from the floor.

  Jerry stared up, eyes wide in disbelief. “You weren’t supposed to do that.” He sounded like a child, protesting the unfairness of an action.

  Cal looked at his partner in disgust. “You always were a whiner, Jerry.”

  In the confusion, Liam kicked the gun from Cal’s hand and slammed him to the floor, knocking him unconscious. He tied up Jerry, then undid Paige’s bindings and helped her up. When she stumbled, he caught her and eased her back down in the chair. “Easy.”

  “Sorry. Guess my circulation is a little off.”

  “Stay right here. I’m going to check on him.”

  Blood gushed from Jerry’s mouth. Liam had little desire to help this man who had caused so much pain, but he stooped to hand Jerry a handkerchief to staunch the bleeding from his lost teeth. “That should hold you for a while.”

  “It wasn’t supposed to go down this way.” The wail in Jerry’s voice caused Liam to regard him with disgust.

  “Your brother was one of the finest men I ever knew. What happened to you?”

  But Jerry was too busy blubbering. “You hurt me.” The incredulous words delivered in a childish tone would have been funny if the situation weren’t so tragic.

  “Consider yourself fortunate that I didn’t kill you.” Liam turned back to Paige. “Are you all right?”

  “I am now.”

  Liam sent a contemptuous look in Jerry’s direction.

  Focused on Liam, Paige didn’t see that Cal had gotten to his knees and had pulled a knife from the back of his waistband. When he plunged it into Liam’s left side, she screamed and delivered a chopping blow to Cal’s windpipe.

  But she was too late.

  FIFTEEN

  Pain was a bright sphere blossoming in Liam’s side. He must have blanked out for a moment, because the next thing he was aware of was hands going through his pockets.

  Why was someone going through his pockets? Did he ask the question aloud? He must have said something, for a familiar yet frantic voice said, “I’m looking for your phone. Jerry took mine.”

  Paige’s voice.

  He held on to it.

  “Back pocket.” Did he get out the words? With his mind floating, he wasn’t certain.

  More talking, though he was pretty sure it wasn’t to him. He let the words float over him. If he concentrated too hard, the pain returned. With a vengeance.

  “I called 91
1. Help will be here any moment.” Paige’s voice again.

  Help? Yes, he needed help. He couldn’t catch his breath, couldn’t speak. He tried, but even to his own ears, the words sounded like gibberish.

  “P-Paige.”

  “I’m here. Right here. Don’t try to talk.”

  “You...all right?”

  “I’m fine. Thanks to you. Cal pulled a knife from his waistband. I should have been watching, should have...”

  He tried to focus, but her voice faded in and out. Or maybe it was he who was fading in and out. He couldn’t tell.

  “I can’t remove the knife, Liam. It has to stay there.” Tears coated her voice, turning it murky in his mind.

  Still, he did his best to listen. Paige was all right. That was what mattered.

  “D-don’t cry.”

  “I’ll cry if I want to.”

  That was his Paige. Fierce. Feisty. And no quarter given.

  Footsteps. Voices. Noises he couldn’t identify. And always that pop of pain that refused to go away. He regained consciousness enough to note the arrival of the police and EMTs.

  “Liam.” Paige’s voice again. He concentrated on that. “Help’s here. It will be all right.” But the sob in her voice negated her words.

  Don’t cry, he wanted to tell her.

  A voice he recognized. Reineke’s. There was no mistaking the Boston accent.

  “Let’s turn him over.” A second voice. Firm. Reassuring.

  Liam struggled to say that he didn’t want to move, didn’t want hands probing where the pain was radiating in ever bigger circles.

  “You’re going to be okay.”

  But the words failed to register. A prick in the arm startled him. Why was someone sticking something sharp in his arm when he was already hurting more than he’d ever hurt in his life? He wanted to protest but found the effort too much.

  More voices. One insistent. Another calm. Why were they arguing when he just wanted to sleep? He tried to tell them to be quiet, but once again the words came out as gibberish.

  Darkness beckoned, the oblivion of it welcoming. He fought against it, though he wasn’t sure why. Hadn’t he just told the voices that he wanted to sleep? Nothing made sense, least of all the images in his mind that kept shifting from one scene to another. The more he tried to force his mind to work, the greater the pain grew. He struggled against the fog of semiconsciousness.