Hunted Love (A Dangerous Kind of Love Book 2) (28 page)

“Is that when Charlie tried to kill Kristen, Robin and Phoebe?”

“Who told you about that?”

“Phoebe.”

He grunted. “Patrick got word that Charlie and his men were holed up in some abandoned hospital outside of town and he decided to go end the war once and for all.”

“Phoebe said you got left behind.”

“They wanted me to kill Wade Hogan. He was a couple of years older than I was, but we had got to know each other pretty well that first month I had stayed with the O’Malleys. This was before the war between Charlie and Patrick started. Charlie used to bring Wade up to Bellemeade all the time, and when nothing was going on, he and I used to play cards in the stables. Patrick and Roger thought I could trick Wade into coming out in the open. I told them no. Wade had never done anything to me and I knew he couldn’t stand his grandpa, so I didn’t see any reason to kill him. They were so mad at me. Anyway, it was all a trick. Charlie wasn’t in some abandoned hospital. It was just a ruse to get Patrick out so he could kill the girls.” He reached for her then, bringing her back down to his side.

She rested against his chest as he slid a hand up her arm. “Why?”

“Revenge.” He threaded his fingers through her hair again, letting the strands slip through his fingers. “That’s all it was. Just pure revenge.” He paused. “Roger died at that hospital. Some of Charlie’s men were lying in wait and they killed him. I took Roger’s place after that. Suddenly, I was Patrick’s go-to guy. Cleaning up his messes. Taking care of his little problems. God, I hated it.”

“Why didn’t you run away? Run back here?”

“Because I knew they would find me. By the time I had enough and was ready to run, powerful, evil, dangerous men knew my name. The police knew my name. I made some huge mistakes in my life—”

She lifted her head and looked at him. “You were a child.”

“I was sixteen. I knew what I was doing was wrong and yet I continued making those same mistakes and hating myself for them. My parents raised me to be a good man. A good, decent, God-fearing, law-abiding, don’t lie, don’t cheat, don’t steal and most certainly don’t kill in cold blood kind of man. They did not raise me to be this. I’ve done things I’m not proud of and if I could do it all again, I would have run from Roger. I would have stayed as far away from him as I could. But I can’t change the past and no matter what I do I can’t seem to escape it either. Do you realize that the only reason you’re in danger right now is because of me and my past?” He cupped her cheek. “If that gun hadn’t have jammed when it did—”

She kissed the inside of his wrist. “But it did.”

He shook his head. “I don’t understand what made you jump in front of me.”

“I . . .” She bit her lip, trying to come up with a lie, some little white lie to keep him from knowing how much he meant to her but nothing would come. “I did it because I love you,” she finally said as the words tumbled out. “I love you so much, Jamie.” Tears threatened to spill over. “Please stop pushing me away. It hurts too much when you do. I just want—”

He pressed his mouth to her lips, cutting off whatever she was about to say next as he kissed her over and over again, only breaking away when the sound of glass breaking and something hitting the door downstairs caught his attention.

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

Sarah stood at the window several minutes later wishing Jamie would return. The wind and rain had intensified and was now battering the old house causing boards to groan and old shutters to bang against the wall. She twisted her fingers nervously looking for any sign of him moving about outside.

After they had broken apart from each other, Jamie grabbed a gun out of the nightstand and went downstairs to investigate while she waited nervously upstairs jumping at every little sound, as her mind conjured up nightmare scenarios of Fletcher sneaking through the house.

A board creaked in the hallway causing her to jump.

She ran to the door as Jamie called her name and knocked on the door. “What happened?” she asked letting him in.

“Everything’s fine,” he said removing his boots and then jacket. “The wind took off the old screen door at the back of the house. I put it in the stable.” He ran a hand through his wet hair. “I’ll be glad when this storm’s over. It sounds like it’s about to take the whole house down.”

She wrapped her arms around herself. An awkward feeling had come over her as she replayed the last few minutes in her mind while Jamie was gone and had only intensified now that he was back.

She couldn’t take back the words now. She wasn’t even sure she wanted to. She just hoped it wouldn’t drive him away. While his immediate reaction to her declaration of love was encouraging, she knew better than to press her luck. With more time to think and consider, there was a good chance he would throw up his guard once again and start shutting her out.

He looked over at her curiously. “Are you all right?”

“Fine.”

“There’s nothing to be scared of. Fletcher doesn’t know of this place and even if he did, I doubt he’d think we would come here.”

“Good,” she said tightly.

He moved around the room, locking the door, checking the fire, trying to act busy while surreptitiously glancing at her every few seconds. When he was done, he gestured to the bed. “We should probably get some sleep. You can take the bed and I—”

She lifted a hand to her head with a weary sigh. “Let’s not fight about that again. Please.”

He must be tired
, she thought as he quickly undressed, then pulled down the bedding and climbed into bed without arguing.

“We have a lot to do tomorrow,” he said as she settled next to him.

“Like what?”

“We have to come up with a safe place for you to hide,” he said.

“Me?” she repeated not too terribly surprised that he was already trying to put some distance between them. “Just me?”

He turned off the bedside lamp and laid down. “Just you.”

She hit the pillow, trying to mold it into a more comfortable shape. “What are you going to do once I’m gone?”

“I’ll be looking for Fletcher.”

“Whoever hired him will just hire someone else. We need to figure out who killed Robin. If we do, then hopefully, this madness will stop.”

“Don’t worry, Fletcher will tell me.”

“He doesn’t seem like the chatty type.” Sarah rolled onto her side away from him. After a moment, she rolled back around. “I’m not leaving. You can try to push me away but I’m not going anywhere. It’s my life on the line now and I have a right to say what happens. We need to stick together and figure out who killed Robin.”

“Sarah—”

“No, listen to me. I’ve been thinking. Whoever hired Fletcher must be the same person who killed Robin. This whole nightmare started when Kristen and Phoebe started talking about finding her real killer. Talking about hiring a detective. Getting you involved. Getting the case re-opened. The killer is obviously nervous. That’s why he hired Fletcher to take Kristen and Phoebe out. He only went after me in order to bring you back so Fletcher could get rid of you too.”

“Sarah, I’m not trying to push you away. I’m trying to protect you. I don’t want what happened to Robin to happen to you.” He pulled her close. “I need to know that you are safe and the only way I can do that is by taking care of Fletcher.”

“Who’s going to keep you safe then?” she muttered against his neck. “Jamie, you were willing to run away with Robin. Why can’t you run away with me?”

“What?”

“Listen,” she said softly pulling back to look at him, “I’m not trying to replace Robin in your heart. I understand how much you loved her and that you’ll never get over her.” She pressed her hand to her heart. “Believe me I get that. I understand. You both were young and she was beautiful. Add in the fact that she was forbidden and I know she must have been hard to resist. I know you still love her. All I want is to—” She frowned as he began to laugh. “What’s so funny?”

“You are such a romantic. Who told you that I’m in love with Robin?”

“Brian.” She narrowed her eyes. “Why?”

He nodded as if he expected that answer. “Figures. I am not now nor have I ever been in love with Robin. And trust me, it wasn’t that difficult to resist her. She made it rather easy.”

Sarah leaned further away from him. “What?”

“She was kind of mean,” Jamie said, “and even if she wasn’t, I still wouldn’t have touched her. When I first arrived at Bellemeade, her father threatened to cut bits and pieces of my anatomy if even I thought about touching Kristen or Robin.”

“What do you mean you didn’t love her. She was your girlfriend.”

“Well,” he said slowly drawing out the word, “that’s not exactly true.”

Her frown deepened as she struggled between being happy and being angry. Part of her was relieved she wasn’t battling a ghost for Jamie’s love but another part of her was angry she had been duped. After a moment’s consideration, she finally settled on anger. “What part of it wasn’t true?”

He hesitated a second before blowing out his breath. “All of it.”

“But her father caught you two together on her twentieth birthday.”

“Not exactly. Patrick O’Malley heard Robin fooling around with a boy in her room one night, but by the time he busted through the door the boy was gone, out the window. Unfortunately, I was just leaving the stables at the time. Anyway, Patrick went flying down the stairs and out the door just as I rounded the corner. He put two and two together and assumed I had just come from Robin’s bedroom.”

“Why didn’t you tell him the truth?”

He snorted. “I did, several times that night. Over and over I told him it wasn’t me. Oddly enough, he didn’t just take my word for it. I begged him to go get Robin so she could tell him who she had been with.”

“Did he?”

“Oh, yeah, only she didn’t say what I expected her to say.   She wrapped her arms around my neck, told her daddy we were in love and begged her father for forgiveness. Patrick went for the gun in his gun case and I turned tail and ran out toward the stables. I ran straight through and out back intending to disappear into the woods, but I didn’t make it that far. I accidently tripped over Brian who was hiding in the bushes buck naked.”

Her eyes widened. “Brian?”

“Yep. He took off toward the woods. I was just getting to my feet when Danny, Moose, and several of the others tackled me. Knocked me out cold. I woke up in the hospital with three broken ribs, a broken arm, and a concussion.”

“Why didn’t you say anything?”

“Oh, I did. I threatened to kill both of them when they visited me in the hospital, but they both begged me to keep my mouth shut, so I did. Brian’s like my brother. We all knew Patrick wouldn’t hesitate to kill Brian if he found out the truth. He always hated Brian. Besides, I figured that if I took a beating for him, I then would have something to hang over his head for the rest of his life.” He grinned. “I can pretty much get Brian to do anything I want now.”

“I don’t understand. Patrick and Robin are long dead, so why are you and Brian still pretending you were the one Robin loved?”

“Brian’s afraid that if the truth comes out people might start to wonder if he was the one who killed her and not me.”

Sarah’s eyebrows went up. “No kidding. Well, I guess he has a point. What makes you so certain he didn’t kill her?”

“Brian’s not a killer. He’s a coward. When something goes wrong, he runs and hides. Besides, he doesn’t have a motive. I saw him the day Robin died. He was happy. The happiest I had ever seen him. He told me that he and Robin were planning to get married and running away together.”

“What did you say?”

“I told him he was crazy and a dead man. He wouldn’t listen to me though. The only one he cared about was Robin and she had him wrapped around her finger.”

“Phoebe said that Robin called her that night crying. Something must have happened between them, otherwise, why would she be crying.”

“Brian told me that once he got to the pub and saw the money she had stolen from her father lying on the desk, he freaked out. He got scared and broke things off with her. He swore to me that when he left the pub she was alive and well and I believe him.”

“Why?”

“Robin left me a voice message that night, remember? She said that she was alone and she needed to talk to me. Obviously, the fight between her and Brian must have already have happened. Why else would she call me? I figure she must have wanted me to talk to Brian and get him to come back.”

“Well, who’s to say he didn’t come back. He could have been hiding someplace waiting for her to get off the phone.”

Jamie sighed. “I don’t know. It’s possible.”

“What happened when you got there?”

“I walked in the office, saw a pile of cash sitting on the desk, and her body on the floor. When I bent down to check for a pulse someone rushed through the door and hit me on the head.”

“Did you get a good look at them?”

“No. I only got a look at his feet.”

“His?”

“It was definitely a man. He was wearing black suit pants and black wingtip shoes. There was nothing special about them. Could have been anyone. I woke up a little while later to find a gun had been placed in my hand and the money and the engagement ring Brian gave her was gone. The cops busted through the door a few seconds later.”

“The killer took the money and her ring? I hate to say it, but doesn’t that give Brian a motive? What if he wanted the money more than he wanted Robin? Who else knew the money was there for the taking besides him?”

Jamie yawned. He rubbed his hands across his eyes. “I don’t think robbery was the killer’s prime motivation. Others would have liked to kill her. Robin was always pushing people’s buttons. I can’t think of anyone who spent any time with her that hadn’t wanted to kill her at one point or another.”

“Over and over, all I’ve heard about her was how great she was.”

He snorted as he laid back and closed his eyes. “The canonization for sainthood process didn’t start until after she was dead. Before then, pretty much everyone but Brian and maybe Danny had tried or at least threatened to kill her at some point.”

“You’re kidding.”

He opened one eye. When she looked at him doubtfully, he added, “Her father threatened to bury her alive. Kristen pushed her down the stairs in a fight. Phoebe tried to run her over with a horse one year. Nathan started walking around like the walking dead shortly after their engagement party, and even easy going Moose threatened to leave her on the side of the highway after chauffeuring her around for a week. Robin wasn’t the easiest person to get along with. Only Brian and Danny seemed to like her and that was only because she was nice to them. To the rest of us she was a nightmare.” He laid his head back down and closed his eyes. “Still, she didn’t deserve to die.” 

“Who else knows about Brian and Robin?”

“Hmm?” he asked sleepily.

“Did you tell anyone else that Brian was the one she loved?”

“No one but you.”

“Did they?”

“Brian was too scared to tell anyone and she didn’t trust anyone. She had burned too many bridges in the past to trust anyone with her secrets.”

“Phoebe seems to think Danny killed her. She says he was obsessed with Robin.”

“Maybe.” He kissed her head as he brought the blanket up closer around her shoulders. “Let’s think about it tomorrow,” he said over another yawn. “We have all day.”

Closing her eyes, she snuggled closer to him, waiting to fall asleep. Minutes passed by as she lay there listening, as his breath evened out and the storm outside grew worse. No matter how hard she tried, sleep refused to come. All she could think about was Robin and who could have possibly killed her. Everyone who knew her had a motive but who knew she was going to be at the pub that night, sitting there alone with all that money?

Kristen and Phoebe knew. So did Jamie and Brian. Jamie said it was a man who knocked him out so that cleared Kristen and Phoebe. Only Brian was left, and out of all of them, he seemed to be the most likely to have killed her. They were involved and Jamie did say he was a thief. But . . . he also said Brian was too much of a coward to be a killer. Someone else had to have known she was there, but who?

Danny, maybe. He lived across the street. Perhaps Phoebe was right. Maybe he saw the money and the girl that he loved there. Realized she was about to leave and killed her in a jealous rage. And since the money was just sitting there, he took it with him when he left.