Deceptive Truth: Cowboy Justice Association (Serials and Stalkers Book 4) by Olivia Jaymes (reading women .txt) 📕

Well, that's creepy as hell.

Knox wasn't going to bring it up, however. Clearly, Hedgcock was quite delusional about his relationship with Lori. Yet, he was obviously functioning as an adult at some level, keeping a job, paying his bills, and appearing to lead a normal life. Unfortunately, it looked like his personal life was mostly fantasy. He'd stuck on Lori and couldn't seem to move forward. He needed professional help.

Knox cleared his throat again. "Did you ever meet Cal Owens? Talk to him?"

A look of distaste crossed Hedgcock's features. "He came to the office a few times. I can't say that I liked him much. He seemed rather arrogant if you ask me. Lori didn't like that about him. In fact, no one in the office liked him much."

"When was the last time you saw Lori or talked to her?"

Hedgcock rubbed his chin in thought. "I guess it was a few weeks ago. Right before she left on her trip."

A few weeks?

"Can you remember the exact time? It's really important."

Jenna had reached out, her fingers curling around Knox's forearm. She was biting her lip, her face pale of color. Knox now regretted even bringing her here with him. This had to be fucking upsetting to hear. But if he'd tried to leave her at home, he knew he would have had an argument on his hands. Fuck, this was shit.

"She was here on my birthday," Hedgcock said. "June third. That's for sure. We rented a cabin by a lake for the weekend. She made steaks and baked potatoes for my birthday dinner. She got me a tie, too. Do you want to see it?"

"That's okay," Knox said. "So she was here at the beginning of June. Did you see her after your birthday?"

"Of course, she's my girlfriend. It was two weeks later that she left. She told me she had some work to do, and she'd be back."

"Do you have any emails or text messages from Lori?"

The other man shook his head. "She doesn’t like phones. She liked talking face to face."

They weren't going to get anywhere here. Brett Hedgcock's world only resembled the real one. What they needed was probable cause for a search warrant. Knox would love to see what the man had hidden around his home and yard.

"I think that's all I have," Knox said, turning his attention to Jenna. "Do you have anything?"

She shook her head, looking almost nauseous. "No. Nothing."

They'd need to have a long talk when they left here. This meeting hadn't been good for her at all. He'd buy her a strong drink and let her lean on him for as long as she needed to.

They stood to exit but Jenna stopped when they were at the door, frowning at the coat tree near the entrance.

"Is that Lori's cardigan?"

Brett smiled and plucked it from the tree. "It is. It will be here for her when she gets back. I know that it's one of her favorites."

Jenna grabbed onto Knox's arm again, her nails digging into the flesh. "I bought that for her for Christmas a few years ago. Lavender is her favorite color."

The way Hedgcock was clutching the sweater there was no way he was going to hand it over peacefully. Jenna looked like she wanted to grab it from him, but she didn't, simply bidding goodbye and hurrying out of the door. Knox thanked Hedgcock again and said that they'd be in touch if they had any more questions. When he walked outside, she was already in the vehicle waiting for him.

"I think I might be sick," she said when he pulled out into traffic. "Like really, really sick. That was...shit, I don't even know how to describe that. Was it even real? Did I imagine all of that? Because it was fucking weird. It was weird, right?"

"That was very weird," he replied, his tone grim. "Completely strange. I think we can safely say that Brett Hedgcock might need some professional help."

"He had a photo of them together," Jenna said, her voice going up. "But I've seen that picture of Lori before, Knox. Michelle took it one day when we were having a picnic and he wasn't there. He wasn't in that picture. It was me and Lori."

"It was doctored," Knox said, reaching across so he could hold her hand. Her fingers were icy and he lifted them to his lips to press a kiss on the knuckles. "He put himself in that photo. Shit, he probably stole it off her desk at work or something."

"They couldn't have talked about having kids," Jenna went on as if he hadn't spoken. "Lori couldn't have children. She had a hysterectomy about five years ago due to lots of medical issues. She was always in pain. She was okay with it, though, because she wasn't sure she even wanted kids."

Knox navigated into an empty parking lot and put the vehicle into park before turning to Jenna. Unclipping his seat belt, he scooted as close as the truck console would allow him to, smoothing her golden hair back from her pale face. She was shaking in his arms, her skin ashen.

"It doesn't matter what Hedgcock says. All of that wasn't reality, honey. That was all his fantasies. We know that Lori and Cal dated. For real. You also say that Lori told you about all her boyfriends and she never mentioned Brett. Not even in passing or a casual remark. This is something that he's built up in