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

if he was the attacker he wouldn’t be dumb enough to try something, but he might be here to mine information. Colt would tread lightly. “Georgia, he’s clear. You good with him coming inside?”

She nodded and Ryan entered. “Sorry about all that’s happenin’ to ya.”

“Thanks. You want a piece of fresh apple pie?”

Ryan jammed his hands in his pockets. “No, thank you. I appreciate it, though. I’m here because the truth is I lied all those years ago, and I was going to lie again, but it’s not the Christian thing to do. I’ve been going to church the past few years, and some things in my life have changed.”

Seemed like lying and coming clean was the theme of the night. “What part did you lie about?” Colt asked.

“About Chance being with us all night. He was for like twenty minutes, and then he said he had something to do and he’d catch up with us later.” He massaged the back of his neck. “The next morning he called and told me if anyone asked where he was, he was with us all night.”

“Where was he really?” Colt’s stomach knotted.

“I don’t know. He wouldn’t say then or over the years when we asked. But his daddy gave me and Joey each ten thousand dollars as a college scholarship from his firm two days after Jared died.”

Hush money. Whatever Chance did that night, he’d confessed to his dad—who made sure one of the best attorneys was around to bail him out of trouble.

Had Ryan unknowingly accepted blood money?

A couple days had passed since they’d been shot at and now, Georgia sat in an uncomfortable chair across from the interview room at the SO.

Yesterday had been spent trying to find out if James Kreger was a legit person who purchased the property at 4214 Pine Road or if he was fictitious and something like a shell corporation had been used to buy the land. Still, there would be red tape to cut through. Who had access to scissors?

Terry Helms, the booster and the president of First Hope Bank & Loan, which happened to be the premiere bank in Magnolia. The team had interviewed him yesterday about illegal recruiting and the property. Naturally, he dismissed it as nothing more than their wild imagination and the need to pin it on someone, but Terry could have easily fudged documents and secured the land under a false name. Colt said they didn’t have enough to secure a warrant for his financials, but they’d attempted it anyway. Judge Herron had denied it. But then, Judge Herron hit the back nine with Terry on Saturday mornings.

The prints hadn’t come back yet on Jared’s watch, and the fibers hadn’t turned up anything that would lead them to the location where he’d been murdered. Colt’s team had received the video footage of Dandy’s carjacking and murder—which Georgia declined to watch, preferring the CliffsNotes after the team viewed it.

The summation was whoever killed Dandy likely killed Harry Benard. The knife wounds were identical and the assailant’s stature from the video matched the likeness of the man who attacked Georgia on that Friday night.

The killer had approached the car with a knife and forced Dandy inside. An altercation broke out. Dandy appeared to go on the offensive, but she’d been stabbed and the killer exited the vehicle. He’d worn dark clothes and a solid-colored ball cap. Not one angle had revealed his face. Georgia shivered, thankful she hadn’t watched.

The only trace evidence found at Dandy’s crime scene were fibers from Wrangler jeans, which could be purchased anywhere by anyone. But due to new information, the MPD was going to look at new angles as well. Their investigations would now overlap.

With the information Ryan Sedgwick had given Monday night, they were going to talk with Chance Leeway again. Ryan had no intentions of admitting to Chance that he ratted him out, but he knew it would probably come to light in further interviews.

Georgia toyed with her picture key chain. Wyatt and Doc sitting on her porch steps. While she missed them terribly, even after visiting them yesterday, she decided to let Dr. Reed kennel them for a few more days. She couldn’t risk her babies getting purposely hurt or indirectly finding themselves in the crosshairs. Dr. Reed had a huge area for play, and they would have fun with other dogs, but she wanted them with her and knew they’d want to be with their person. Sometimes decisions were hard but for the best.

Like the decision not to pursue anything in the present with Colt. Monday night’s kiss circled back to the forefront of her heart. That kiss had revealed more than passion. More than the need to connect. It was full of hope and promise.

And then she remembered the lung-crushing panic as his shoulder had bled from a gunshot wound. This time he was safe. But what about next time? Or the next? Maybe not today or tomorrow, but next year or five years from now.

She couldn’t do it. Couldn’t take the risk. Revealing the truth of the past was the right thing. Kissing him hadn’t been. Because all it gave was false hope and a watery promise. Georgia had been protecting herself and him all those years. She’d done it the wrong way—with a lie. But by not getting involved now, meaning no more kissing, she was protecting them both again. Her from triggers and a life saddled with constant anxiety, and Colt from being tied to all that entailed. Talking her off one ledge in the woods was nothing compared to dealing with her worry and fearfulness over him and his job on a daily basis.

Her phone buzzed. Charlie. Since the drama had unfolded, he’d absorbed her responsibility of the classifieds so she could focus on the big story. She read the text and laughed.

Why do so many people want John Deere equipment?

“What’s so funny?” Colt asked and entered the room, looking like a solid ten. Gray dress