Harlequin Love Inspired Suspense March 2021--Box Set 2 of 2 by Dana Mentink (good fiction books to read .txt) 📕

“Thanks for coming.”

She nodded. “I figured maybe I’d do a house call in case I could be of help.”

Beckett’s phone rang and he answered. “No, it’s okay. Just leave it there. Thanks, Herm.” He stuck his phone in his pocket. “Wait.” He jerked his chin to one side as if he’d been struck.

“What is it?” Irene said. “Do you need to sit down?”

Was he ill? “Beckett?” Laney called, moving to him.

He stared at her. “I think I figured out where Rita might have hidden the proof.”

Laney felt as if she must have been dreaming. She gave herself a shake. “How could you know that?”

“Herm just called to ask me if he should store the patio cushions in the basement since there’s a storm forecast. It got me to thinking about our pancake dinner. When I went to fetch the flour from the basement, the door was slightly open.”

“It doesn’t shut properly,” Laney explained to Irene. “We’ve all learned how to lift the handle while we’re closing it.”

“Right, but it hadn’t been closed like that. It had to have been shut by someone who didn’t know the door trick.”

She could not stop the hope that fluttered in her body like a clumsy baby bird on its first flight. Could it be? Or were they grasping at straws?

“And you think Rita left some kind of proof down there?” Irene said. “About Pauline’s murder?”

“Going to find out.” Beckett pulled his phone out and called Levi to ask him to come over. He disconnected. “He’ll be here in ten minutes.”

Irene whistled. “This is just like a treasure hunt.”

“Go,” Laney urged. “Look right now before something else happens. I’ll be fine here. I’ll lock the door and Levi will be here in a flash.”

“I…”

She took him by the shirtfront and gave him a shake. “Please.”

“I’ll stay with her until Levi comes,” Irene put in. “After all this drama, I can’t leave now, can I? You two are much more exciting than the paperwork I have waiting back home.”

“Lock the door behind me.” Beckett waited until they did so. Through the window, she matched his half-raised hand. So many emotions were in that tired face…hope, anxiety, fear…and something else that lent a softness to it.

Irene joined her at the window to watch Beckett sprint into the darkness.

“It’s all going to end soon,” Irene said softly.

Could Laney dare believe it? She felt a sudden prick on her neck.

And darkness closed around her too.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

Beckett smacked on the light and took the basement stairs two at a time. He started examining the shelf of jams Aunt Kitty had spent last summer putting up. The first shelf revealed nothing. He started in on the lower section, peering behind string beans and tomatoes, checking underneath dozens of batches of pickles. Again, nothing out of place.

Had he been wrong? Rita’s message was meant to relay something else? He shoved down the prickle of worry as he started in on the next section, extra flour, a sack of sugar, a massive jug of maple syrup. Where might Rita have hidden something? Everything was neatly in place, concealing nothing.

Was it possible he’d misheard her altogether? Had his ears constructed a scenario to give his heart a shred of hope? He continued to prowl and poke. The stack of newspaper sat on the floor, the top a recent issue that no one had time to read. He could imagine the next day’s headline.

Second Murdered Woman Found on Hotsprings Hotel Property. And the stain of it, the suspicion that would stick to Beckett would cling to Laney, as well.

“It’s gotta be here,” he muttered.

He ruffled quickly through the newspapers. Underneath the bottom issue, his fingers found a packet a couple of inches thick. Breath held, he slid it free. It was a large manila envelope marked Beckett on the front. With hands gone cold, he undid the clasp. There was a neatly wrapped stash of a dozen or so clear bags, filled with labeled pills…gabapentin, promethazine, bupropion, ritalin. Prescription drugs? He didn’t know much about the black market, but he was sure this pill stash was worth a bundle. There was a set of papers also. The papers hadn’t slid clear when the basement steps creaked. Kenny stepped off the landing and smiled, his gripped knife catching the glare of the bare bulb.

“Kenny…” he started, but he was cut off.

“I heard you did it again. My sister wasn’t enough.”

“If you’d just listen to me for a…”

He pointed the knife at Beckett’s heart. “New plan. You die now, before you can kill anyone else. Then I’ll deal with your wife.”

Beckett waved the packet. “What I’ve got in this envelope will show us who really killed Pauline. Rita hid it here, and that’s why she was killed too.”

“You’ve always got a story, don’t you?” He stepped closer. “It may have convinced the police, but it’s not going to help you this time.”

“The police are likely on their way here now.”

He grinned. “Good. They can mop up the mess after I split. I told Uncle Leonard to go on ahead. He’ll find us a place to start over after I kill you and yours.”

At least Uncle Leonard wasn’t on the property, ready to pounce on Laney and Irene. Levi would be there by now. Maybe he would figure out something was amiss and call Jude.

Beckett held the envelope at Kenny. “All right. So you’re going to kill me. I can’t convince you of the truth, but what’s it going to hurt to look at what’s in here? A minute or two more before I die. What’s the harm in it?”

“More time for you to keep breathing.”

“One minute more.” He paused, his gut wound tight with tension. “You can read, can’t you?”

The gibe made Kenny prickle. “You won’t look so superior when you’re dead. Okay, I’ll let you squirm for a while longer. You open it. What’s it say?”

Beckett pulled the folded papers from the envelope. There were two sheets, printed screenshots from