VEILED MIRROR (21 page)

Beth crossed her legs.

Jason tried to ignore the way his skin tingled with her so near. It was too damn distracting.

“So all I have to do is give Maria some time off, and stay away from Montenegro until Connor can arrest him, right?”

Jason knew how she felt. He wanted to find Chris’s killer, too, and Montenegro was their most likely suspect. But it wouldn’t do to narrow their investigation too soon. “It’s not that straightforward, Beth.”

Beth pursed her lips. “What do you mean?”

“Everyone’s still a suspect at this point. We can’t afford to cross anybody off the list yet. We need to start over again, from the top.”

B
eth slumped where she sat on the library desk. “But we’ve been over everybody, and Eduardo is the most likely suspect, isn’t he?”

“Not everyone. There’s still the trustee, Jackson, and the other mine investors, and Chris’s bank records may turn up someone we haven’t even thought of. And then there’s Bickford’s associates, too.”

Beth grimaced and shook her head. It was still hard to believe someone had hired a hit man to kill Chris and Ellie. “Investigating all those people will take forever! I don’t have that long. Maria will have to reveal who I am at the inquest, and Connor only gave me until then, too. By Tuesday, everyone will know I’m not Ellie.”

“That’s fine with me. I don’t like using you for bait anyway.”

“But whoever hired him will disappear!”

“We’ll have other leads by then. We’ll find him, Beth.” His voice grew steely. “Ellie and Chris will have justice, I promise.”

Her mind swam with all the people they’d considered and discarded as suspects, and all the others they still had to check out. “Do you think Connor is up to this?”

Jason put a hand on Beth’s thigh. “He’s a good man. And now that we know that Bickford is from out of state, we may be able to get the Bureau involved. But that will be Connor’s call.”

The warmth of his hand raced up her leg. Beth struggled to keep her mind on the conversation. “So how do you investigate a murder when you don’t have any clues?”

Jason frowned. “I’ve never worked a homicide. But we do have at least one clue. A big one. Bickford.”

So there s nothing we can do until tomorrow?”

Jason squeezed her knee and glanced up at her with a look like a little boy contemplating mischief. “Oh I wouldn’t say that. I can think of a few things we could do.”

Beth laughed. “Oh really? Like what?”

Jason took her hand and pulled her into his lap, lifting her legs over the arm of the chair. “Like this,” he said, just before he kissed her.

His lips were warm and firm and sent shivers of pleasure rippling through her. He was already hard and she felt his erection pressing against her hip. She loved knowing she had that effect on him. Beth threaded her fingers through his thick dark hair, enjoying its silky texture.

“Mmm,” Jason murmured, as his tongue explored her mouth.

“Hmm?” Beth responded, shifting her head.

Jason pulled back just enough to say, “I like that,” then resumed licking and nibbling his way down her throat. His hands found their way up under her shirt and caressed her heated skin. Her nipples ached for his touch, and when he slid one hand around to cup her breast, the hot pleasure of it pooled between her thighs.

Jason’s tongue stroked in and out of her mouth in a familiar rhythm that made her hungry for more. Then suddenly he lifted her from his lap onto the desk. Beth squeaked with surprise before Jason covered her mouth with his again.

“The desk?”

Jason shrugged and released the button on her shorts, while she reached for the zipper on his jeans.

An unwelcome thought intruded. “What if Anderson comes back early?”

Jason stilled, then hung his head. She could see his rueful smile. “What are you doing to my brain, woman? You’re right. Bedroom. Condoms. Much better.” He pulled her to her feet, but instead of moving toward the door, he brushed her cheek with his thumb and kissed her again. Joy zinged down to her toes and fingertips.

Guilt followed hard on its heels. What was she doing? Her sister was dead. Her brother-in-law. And for what? They still didn’t know. She pulled away from Jason’s mouth. She should be thinking about solving this, not her own pleasure. Jason’s hands tightened on her waist for a moment then released her as she slipped away and went to look out the window. The wind was whipping up. Another storm was blowing in. That was good. They needed the rain.

“Why does someone kill another person?” She hated the wistfulness in her voice. She sounded more like a child in need of comfort than a woman looking for a killer.

Jason came and pulled her away from the window and closed the shutters. Did he really think someone could be out there, waiting to shoot her through the glass? The other murders had looked like accidents, after all. He folded his arms around her, and after a quiet moment he said, “I miss them too.”

He lost his best friend
. He was so stoic, so strong, that he made it easy for her to lean on him. She kept forgetting that he’d lost someone he cared about, too. She turned in the circle of his arms and hugged him back, then she stepped out of his embrace. She ought to shoulder this herself instead of adding to his grief. “I’m serious. Why do people commit murder?”

Jason sighed and answered her question. “Most homicides are committed in the heat of the moment, but that doesn’t apply here. The most common causes of murder are drugs, gangs, and domestic violence. But Chris wasn’t involved with any of that.”

“I should say not!”

Jason held up his hands in surrender. “Since we re not talking about an impulse killing, we look at motive. The big three are love, money, revenge.”

“Well, we ve eliminated love. Connie is happy as a clam with Eduardo.”

“And you said Elle didn’t have a jilted boyfriend hoping to pick up the pieces of her broken heart.”

“No. No one serious. Besides, why would he want to kill Ellie too?”

“Jealousy. You know, the old, ‘If I can’t have her, no one will?’ Was she having trouble with anyone?”

Beth shook her head.”No. There was no one like that.”

“Okay. Then there’s money.”

“We’ve already ruled out Hendricks and Palmer. That leaves us with Montenegro.”

Jason perched on the corner of the desk.“Or someone we don’t know about yet.”

Beth grimaced in frustration. “So how do we find out who had a motive to kill Chris and Ellie?”

“Now that the sheriff is on board, we can subpoena Chris’s financial records and have a forensic accountant go through them. That should tell us something.”

“The lady at the bank said we’d have the bank statements tomorrow.”

“That’s only part of it. We’ll need to see the trust records too.”

“Okay. I’ll call Jackson tomorrow.”

Jason frowned. “I’m thinking that we should wait for the subpoena.”

“Why?”

“If the trustee
is
involved somehow, we don t want to tip him off and give him a chance to cover his tracks.”

“You think Jackson … ?”

“I don t know who to suspect right now, so everyone is on the list.”

“We could ask Bob if he s noticed anything funny going on with Palmer’s money,” Beth said.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea—”

“You don’t trust him?”

“I don’t trust anybody right now.”

Did that include her? “Not anybody?”

Jason seemed to understand what she was asking. “I’m
sleeping
with you,” he said.

Beth rolled her eyes.
As if that answered the question.
“You also do undercover work.”

Jason’s eyebrows rose. “Not that kind.”

Beth was silent. What else would he say? How much did she really know about him, anyway? They’d talked a lot on the phone, but he obviously was good at keeping secrets. What else hadn’t he told her? They were all reasonable doubts, but her heart rebelled.

“I trust you, Beth.”

Shame washed over her. “Even though I lied to you?”

Jason shrugged and smiled. “You’re a special case.”

Her heart leapt, but she tried not to read too much into his words. “Why?”

Jason sobered. “Don’t misunderstand. I don’t like it that you lied to me. But …” He lifted his hands in a broad shrug. “I know you.”

“It must be hard to go through life suspicious of nearly everyone.”

Jason smiled again. “I’m not suspicious of everyone, I just don’t trust people until they earn it.”

Which brought them back to where they’d started.

“Then you’d better go see Tom now.”

Jason’s brow furrowed.

“If you don’t trust Bob,” Beth continued, “then you won’t want to leave me alone with him, right?”

“So you’ll come with me.”

“No. Please. So much has happened in the last week …” A sudden welling of loss and turmoil brought unwelcome tears. Beth turned her head, blinking them back. “I feel like if I don’t get some time to myself my chest is going to explode.”

Jason put his hands on her shoulders. She liked the warm steady feeling that gave her.

“Please. I’ll keep the house locked up tight. I won’t even answer the phone.” At Jason’s frown she hurried on. “You’ll only be gone an hour. You’ll be back before Bob gets back from church. I’ll be fine. Besides, we don’t even know for sure if someone hired that guy who tried to kill me, or if he was working on his own.” She looked up at him, and one of her tears rolled down her cheek.

Jason pulled her to him, and she went willingly into his arms. More tears fell as horrible reality crashed over her and the emotions she’d kept locked away escaped.
Ellie is dead. Ellie is dead.
And no one could take her place.

Jason rocked Beth back
and forth as she wept like her heart would never be whole again.

He ached for her. She’d held it together through trauma and loss, an attempt on her life, and in front of crowds of people at the memorial service and the wake. The wonder wasn’t that she was crying, it was that she hadn’t come apart before now.

“This is stupid … I’m sorry … I’m getting your shirt wet.”

“Shush. It’s all right.”

Several minutes later, Beth sniffed and stepped back. He let her go, but kept one hand on her back as he reached over to the desk for a tissue.

“Thanks.” She dabbed her eyes, then turned her head and blew her nose.

He handed her another tissue and she used that too.

She drew a deep breath and blew it out through pursed lips. “Okay. I’m better now.”

“You don’t have to hide your grief from me, Beth. I understand.”

She looked at him with watery eyes, then turned away. “I know. It’s just … I don’t know what to do with all these feelings. It’s like I’m drowning. It’s not just Ellie. It’s Mom and Dad, and all the friends we left behind every time we moved. There’s nothing to be done about any of that now. It’s all in the past. But I can’t …” She stood there rigidly, hardly breathing, with her arms crossed tightly under her breasts as though she were holding herself together.

He reached out to touch her, but she shook her head. He let his hand drop. “Beth—”

“Please. Go to the Hendricks’. I just need a little time alone.”

Jason hesitated. He looked at her watery eyes and red nose. She was barely keeping it together. He didn’t want to push her over the edge again. If he hauled ass, he could be back in less than an hour. “All right. But don t go anywhere, or let anyone into the house while I m gone, okay?

“Okay,” Beth gave him a damp smile.

“And don’t go near the windows.”

“I won’t.”

Jason nodded and squeezed her shoulders, but couldn’t make his feet move.

“I’ll be fine. Really.”

He nodded again and after a moment he finally managed to find the strength to leave her.

“Jason?”

He turned back.

“Pick up some condoms on the way back.”

He grinned. “What color?”

Beth lay on the
yellow comforter with Ollie by her side, and willed herself to fall asleep. If she could nap, if she slept alone, away from Jason, Ellie might come to her again.

It wasn’t working. She’d had two nights of restful sleep in a row, and she’d only been awake for a few hours. She’d been lying there for twenty minutes, but she didn’t feel in the least bit drowsy.

Tires crunched on the gravel drive out front. Beth tensed, then cautiously peeked out the window. It was Bob’s maroon Taurus.
What’s he doing back so soon?
Then she remembered that the door was locked and hurried to let him in.

She hesitated with her hand on the door. She’d promised Jason she wouldn’t let anyone in, but she hadn’t known that Bob would be back early when she said that.

The door knob rattled. Then the doorbell chimed.
Good grief. We spent all night in the same house with him, and he didn’t kill us in our sleep. I can’t leave him in the heat on the porch.
She opened the door.

“You’re back early,” she said as he stepped into the foyer.

“Yes, well, I got to the church too late. The service had already started, and I didn’t want to make a stir,” Anderson answered as they walked into the library. “Where’s Mr. Blackforth?”

“He’s running a quick errand.” Something prompted her to add, “He should be back any minute. Did you need to ask him something?”

“Nothing that can’t wait,” he said with the first broad smile that Beth could remember seeing on his face. “I’m going to change out of my church clothes. I’ll just be a moment.”

Beth sat on the couch in the library, tucking her feet beneath her, and pulled a magazine into her lap. It had to be one of Ellie’s. She couldn’t imagine Chris subscribing to Country Living. A few minutes later she heard Bob talking to Ollie in the kitchen, then Anderson went back to his room.

Ollie started barking and whining from somewhere down the hall, as Anderson glided into the library and paused just inside the room. He was still wearing the same clothes he’d had on.
That’s odd. I thought he was going to change.
Ollie continued barking.

Beth called, “Ollie? Come here, boy!” The dog didn’t come.
What is that dog’s problem?
She got up and headed toward the door. As she passed Bob, she asked, “Do you know what’s bothering Ollie?” The next moment his hand fisted painfully in her hair and a gun pressed into her back.

Beth froze as terror iced her spine.

“Come with me. We’re going for a drive.” Anderson’s voice was high and nervous.

Jason pulled to a
stop in front of the house feeling pleased with himself. He’d pushed the poor rental car hard and had made the trip—including a stop at the convenience store—in less than forty-five minutes.

He stopped smiling as he approached the house. Somewhere inside, Ollie was going ape-shit, and the front door was open. The door didn’t look damaged.
Damn it!
Beth must have let someone in. Cold fear clenched his heart.
I shouldn’t have left her.
With his back against the wall, he racked the shotgun, chambering a shell.