Night Is Darkest by Jayne Rylon (books recommended by bts .TXT) 📕

“We’ll come back, little one.” Tyler guided her hand to his heart.

“Someday.” Mason nodded. “I promise.”

The correctional facility had granted their request to speak with Jackson. The official sign off had come through less than an hour ago. She checked her watch. Two thirty. Maybe if she stalled a tiny bit longer, they’d miss their four o’clock appointment, though the guys had insisted they could make it in time.

“What if we go all the way there only to find out the email was totally unrelated to Rob’s murder?” Her gut ached at her cowardice but she hadn’t quite wrapped her logical side around the surreal developments of the day before.

“That could be, Lacey. But my instincts say this jerk is involved.” Mason refused to budge from his position. “Even if he isn’t, I still want to set him straight on a few things.”

They’d packed the truck and checked for any items they may have forgotten in the bathroom or under the bed. She couldn’t generate even one more excuse to linger so she watched the quaint cabin until it disappeared behind a copse of trees.

Tyler patted her hand when she sighed.

During the drive, Mason peppered them with potential scenarios while he developed the lines of questioning he intended to use to uncover the truth. Ty devised suggestions she would never have imagined like, “Did you take out a contract on Rob Daughtry?” Things that made her blood run cold to consider. She tried to ignore their strategizing.

The insistent chirp of Mason’s phone put an end to that delusion. He hit the speakerphone button to initiate hands-free operation. “What news?”

“Hey. It’s JRad. You’re not there yet are you?”

“No. We’re about ten minutes out. Why?”

“I finally scored the records from the phone company. We traced Lacey’s caller. The woman attempted to make contact one hundred thirty-seven times over five days. Mike and James headed over to check out the address on file.” The efficient cop seemed unusually rattled. A huge sigh crackled through the pathetic output of the phone.

“What is it, Jeremy?” she whispered.

“Oh, crap. Am I on speaker?”

Tyler didn’t give her a chance to answer. He radiated tension from beside her. “Spit it out. What’d they find?”

“Another body. The woman, Irene Stolkholm, bled out on her living room floor.” He hesitated again.

“What aren’t you telling us, JRad?”

“You sure you want Lacey to hear this?” His skeptical tone filled her with dread.

“Go ahead, Jeremy. I’ll find out sooner or later. Do it quick.”

It irritated her that he didn’t continue until Mason said, “She has a right to know.”

“The vic was stabbed to death. The angle is awkward but looks self-inflicted. Her prints are on the knife handle, a single wound to the abdomen. The blade matches our general guess for the murder weapon. The forensics lab is taking it from here.”

“Oh, God.” She buried her face in her hands.

“I’m so sorry, Lacey. The woman left a note. Said she made a terrible mistake. That she felt guilty and deserved to suffer for what she did. It…it took her a while to die.”

Her stomach cramped until she feared she might be sick. The men exchanged rapid- fire questions she couldn’t understand through the roar in her ears. It took her a few minutes to realize Mason had pulled to the side of the road.

Then their conversation penetrated her shock. “Did the woman match the description you got from the food prep guy at the hospital?”

“No. Her hair was platinum blonde.” Jeremy’s disappointment rang through.

“She could have worn a wig.” Lacey wanted it to have been random, to have been threatened by someone who could no longer hurt her.

“Possible. But we haven’t found any sign of one in her apartment. And she’s nowhere near the build the barista indicated. He’d have to be way off. From her appearance, and the enhancement work she’d had done, I’m guessing she used to strip at the club near the alley…”

He cut off just short of mentioning Rob’s murder.

“If we don’t get going now, we’re going to miss our appointment.” Tyler broke the tense silence.

“We’re still going? I thought…this woman… Jackson couldn’t have done this. He was in jail.” She scrambled to sort out the chaos in her mind.

“We’re almost there, we might as well pay him a visit. I can’t shake this feeling that we’re missing something, doll.”

Tyler broke his pensive silence. “One thing doesn’t make sense to me. When this woman called Lacey, she kept saying she wanted to get her side of the story. Remember, that’s why Lacey thought she was a reporter. What’s that all about? Mason’s right. We don’t have all the pieces yet. I think we better keep digging.”

Lacey wished she’d worn a heavier sweater. Tyler put his arm around her shoulders as Mason guided the vehicle back onto the road.

“We shouldn’t be longer than an hour, JRad. Call us if you get anything more by then.” He ended the call.

She nestled into Ty’s secure embrace to soak up his warmth as they crested the top of a ridge. In the valley below them sat a huge, ugly, cement compound ringed with sniper towers and miles of barbed wire fences. The gaping black windows seemed hostile. The dull walls flamed red in the last rays of the sun dipping below the mountains.

“You don’t have to go in with us if you don’t want to.” He peeled her fingers from where she had clamped them on his bruised ribs.

“I’m sorry, Ty. Did I hurt you?”

“Nah, I’m fine.” His grimace called him a liar.

“It hurts us more to know you’re frightened of this bastard.” Mason’s white knuckles glowed in the dusk. “If you’re not up to this, you don’t have to come. Ty can stay out here with you while I run in and chat.”

“I want to go. If he had something to do with Rob’s murder, or the accident, I want to know. I need to know why. Did I cause all this?” Shame tinged her response. Of course, Ty caught it.

“You’re not