Tangled Web: A Small Town Romance (The Cortell Brothers Book 6) by Giulia Lagomarsino (an ebook reader txt) 📕

The prints were smaller, definitely a woman’s shoe, but since it was winter when the accident occurred, it was hard to say exactly what size in the snow. The person could have been wearing snow boots. There were also fibers found in the car that appeared to match a scarf. That was all the investigators could find. They had the brand of scarf, but there wasn’t any DNA they could pull off it since it was just a few fibers. And since the scarf was popular, sold at Target, it could have been purchased by anyone.

I looked over the photos for hours, trying to find anything the investigators had missed, but there was nothing. I analyzed the tire marks on the road, and I had to agree with the reports, it looked like someone was jerking the wheel. Then again, if the lug nuts were loose on the tire, it was entirely possible that the erratic driving was because a tire was coming off, which was why the investigation said it was a single person crash. They brushed off the footprints as a passerby that came upon the scene of the crime and then ran away. It didn’t make much sense, but without having any proper evidence that someone else was in the vehicle, and not being able to prove who was there, it was really the only way to close the case. Murray Claybourne’s death was marked as an accident and that was the end of everything.

I leaned back in my seat and rubbed at my eyes. I just wasn’t sure what Barty thought I would find that the police didn’t. Yes, I was very good at my job, but this wasn’t a cyber crime. I couldn’t follow any evidence if there was none to follow. I had looked extensively into Lorelei’s records and there was absolutely nothing there that was suspicious. She didn’t have any accounts with exorbitant amounts of money. In fact, until she married Arlen, she lived on a tight budget. There were no accounts to track to the Cayman Islands and no weird internet searches. She was essentially a poor girl that married up. So, even though I found all of this extremely suspicious and even worried whenever I was with her that she might kill me off, I couldn’t find anything to prove that she had anything to do with the deaths of these other people.

I should really talk to her some more. Yeah, that would help me solve things. I needed to see her, look her in the eyes again. That would definitely give me more to go on. And it had nothing to do with the amazing sex I had with her, or the fact that my heart skipped a beat when I was around her. In fact, it was probably skipping a beat because she was slowly poisoning me.

I rolled my eyes at myself and stood, shutting down my laptop and storing everything in my room away from prying eyes. I showered quickly, putting on some aftershave, though I rarely wore it, and whistled as I headed for the door. I was just about to leave when Sofia came walking through, grocery bags overflowing in her arms. I quickly snatched them from her, scowling at her idiocy.

“Why the hell are you carrying all this stuff? And where’s Joe?”

“Joe has better things to do than follow me around. You know, he’s working to support us. He won’t even let me work at the front desk because he said that Eric reprimanded him for letting me work such odd hours.”

“Damn straight. It’s bad for the baby.”

She flung her hands on her hips like the old days and scowled at me. “And apparently, Anna isn’t allowed to leave Eric’s office without an escort. She’s not even allowed to have her tasty treats from the bakery because they could give her gestational diabetes!”

“Well…I don’t know about that, but I do know that you shouldn’t be walking up and down these stairs by yourself, and you shouldn’t be carrying these heavy groceries. And milk! Seriously? Do you know how much that weighs?”

“Yes, a little over eight pounds. I’m carrying around more weight with this baby than the gallon of milk weighs.”

“Now, that’s just not true and you know it. You just have a little basketball baby. It’s really cute.”

I got down on my knees in front of her and pressed my ear to her belly, something I really liked to do, even if the kid wasn’t mine. It had just started moving around in her, and every once in a while, I could feel little bumps against my cheek.

When I got a small kick, I rubbed her belly and smiled. “That’s right. You like your Uncle Andrew. You know, he saved your life. If it wasn’t for Uncle Andrew, you’d still be in that house of horror.”

Sofia sighed, “Would you please stop referring to yourself in the third person?”

“I want him to know who I am. He needs to know who Uncle Andrew is.”

“Did you ever think that you’re confusing him because he doesn’t understand third person? So, he’s hearing your voice, but hearing you talk about Uncle Andrew, and as far as he knows, that’s another person.”

I frowned and leaned back. “Do you think?”

“Who knows? And since you insist on talking to the baby as much as you do, this baby will probably be born thinking that you’re his father.”

I scoffed at that. “That’s not gonna happen…”

She quirked an eyebrow at me. “Are you sure about that? Because he hears your voice and feels your cheek against my belly. And I even heard you arguing with Joe the other day about being in the room during the delivery. Now, I’m no genius, but I think any logical person would come to the conclusion that this baby will be very confused when he’s born.”

I sagged slightly. I didn’t want to take anything away from Joe, but I loved this baby so much already.