Love Inspired Suspense April 2021--Box Set 2 of 2 by Laura Scott (free e reader .TXT) 📕

“Only the thing with Sam sticks out.” Liam hunched his shoulders in a defeated gesture. “And I’m not even sure if there was really something there or if I imagined it. I don’t want to waste our time on something that might not even be real.”

“Memories can be tricky, especially after all this time, but you’re an observant guy. If you say there was something there, I believe you.”

He flashed a smile. “Thanks.” His smile vanished as quickly as it had appeared. “Even if there were, what would it matter? Sam died before the killings started. He can’t have anything to do with what’s going on now. Not that he would. Sam never hurt anyone. It wasn’t in him. He was the kindest, gentlest man I’ve ever known.”

“I don’t know that it does matter,” Paige said. “I’m reaching, trying to come up with something that would explain why these accidents/murders started when they did. You said they started about six weeks ago. When did you say Sam died?”

With her memory, she already knew the answer, but he understood that she wanted him to make the connection.

“Six weeks ago,” he said. “But that doesn’t mean anything. It can’t.”

“The timeline fits,” she pointed out.

“Coincidence?”

She raised a brow. “I don’t put much stock in coincidences.”

“Neither do I,” Liam admitted. “I still don’t see how Sam could be connected to what’s happening, but I can’t deny the timing.”

“I think we need to take a closer look at Sam Newley, see if we can find something that connects him with the killings. Something happened to him that day, something that turned him—how did you put it?—‘real still.’ I have a feeling it could be important.”

“Important how?”

“That’s what we need to find out.”

Like Paige, Liam didn’t believe in coincidences. In fact, a healthy skepticism of them had saved his life more than once when he was deployed. One incident in particular stood out.

A local shopkeeper, one who had refused to help the Americans in the past, had suddenly experienced a change of heart. He sought out Liam and told him that a certain warlord would be at the marketplace in two days’ time. It just so happened that Liam’s unit had been searching for the man for months.

Liam and his unit had shown up, but not at the time the shopkeeper named. Instead, they arrived early to see him deep in conversation with a known associate of the warlord. It had been a setup from the first. They’d taken the associate as well as the merchant prisoner and had leveraged them for information.

If Liam had allowed himself to believe in such a beneficial coincidence, he and his team would have been wiped out.

So when Paige suggested a visit to Sam’s brother, Liam was on board.

They drove to Sam’s family home. Sam had bought the house from his parents as an investment and had invited his younger brother to live with him. It was a brick ranch, solidly in the middle class, with a well-kept yard fronting it and neat flower beds flanking it on either side.

Jerry Newley opened the door, gave a surprised look, then welcomed them inside. He was of medium height, with dark hair that failed to disguise a slightly receding hairline.

“Liam McKenzie. I didn’t expect to see you here.”

Liam made the introductions.

Jerry shook Paige’s hand. “Ms. Walker, glad to meet you.” He turned his attention back to Liam. “I’ve been meaning to call you and say how much I appreciated you coming to Sam’s funeral and for the flower arrangement,” Jerry said. “He always liked you.”

Liam flushed at the thanks he didn’t deserve. “I should have visited more often. I didn’t realize how bad things had gotten with Sam. The last I’d heard, he was in remission.”

“Sam didn’t want his friends to know that the cancer had come back. If you remember, he was always kind of private, didn’t want any attention.”

“I remember. Still, I should have come to see him more. We shared something important.”

“The accident.” Jerry’s voice went flat. “It changed everything, didn’t it? I was too young to remember much about it, but I knew that Sam changed after it. He closed in on himself for a while, like he didn’t want anything or anyone to touch him. I always thought that’s why he went into research.”

When he paused, as though overcome with emotion, Liam glanced around the room. It hadn’t changed much since the years he and Sam had been friends. Family pictures topped a mantel, including one of a school class. From the year stamped on it, it had to have been Jerry’s class.

Something nudged Liam’s memory, something that could be important. The more he tried to recall it, though, the more it eluded him.

Jerry talked nonstop. Not at all like his tall older brother, who had given new meaning to the word quiet. Jerry kept up a constant stream of chatter that Liam did his best to sift through for any nuggets he and Paige could use.

Liam let a nod answer for him during Jerry’s recollections. He didn’t want to color any impressions Jerry might have gleaned from Sam with his own memories.

“You might have heard of the accidents that killed three of the survivors in the last six weeks.”

Jerry’s nod was a quick jerk of the head. “I have. In a way, I’m glad Sam is gone, that he didn’t have to see that. He said there was a bond between the survivors that could never be broken.”

Liam worked to contain his excitement that Jerry had brought up Sam’s memories himself. “I wondered if Sam might have said something else to you about the bus accident.” He kept his voice casual, not wanting to let on how much he was hoping for answers from Jerry.

Jerry angled his head, slanting Liam a curious look. “Like what?”

“Nothing in particular. Maybe he remembered something, something he shared with only you. After all, you were brothers.”

“Sam never talked about it much. He told me flat out