Page 29 of Christmas Homecoming Secrets

SEVENTEEN

“I f you shoot me,” Jade said, keeping her voice even, “Tom will hear. He’s sitting outside.” Her phone had been vibrating in her pocket, but Heather didn’t seem to hear it. All she could do was pray it was Bryce, and when she didn’t answer, he would come to investigate.

“Tom?” Heather asked.

“Tom Williams. With the wife and two kids. He brought me here because the captain assigned someone to be with me at all times, thanks to you trying to kill me. If you pull the trigger and he comes running in, you’ll have to kill him, too.

Do you really want more deaths on your conscience?

” Because it was obvious killing Frank was eating away at her.

“The ME said Frank never saw it coming, but he was shot by someone he was facing,” Jade said softly.

“How did it happen, Heather? Did he just stand there and let you put two bullets in him?”

“I don’t want to talk about it.”

“Well, I do! It’s my life we’re talking about here. And Frank’s! And the kids’! What if Mia had been home when you set my house on fire?”

“I figured she’d stay with your parents. She always does these days.”

“But what if she hadn’t? You could have killed her.”

“Well, she’s not dead, so drop it!” Heather’s eyes flashed desperation, and that scared Jade almost as much as having the gun aimed at her. “Wait a minute. How did you get the bombs in there and then disappear so quickly? There was no car, nothing, but I know I saw you out near the barn.”

Heather shuddered. “That was a close one.”

“So, I did see you!”

“I thought for sure you’d find me.”

“But where—” She broke off. “Our secret place in the loft,” she whispered. “That’s how you were coming and going without anyone noticing you.”

“It was a simple thing to grab a horse from the pasture and bareback it up to the barn. No car necessary. No sounds to alert anyone.”

“And you know my family’s schedule so you could plan around it.” So stupid. She and Bryce had talked about the secret place and she hadn’t even looked . Because no one had known about it and it was almost impossible to find unless one knew it was there. Like Heather did.

“Check on Tom,” Heather said. “Is he sitting in the car or outside of it?”

Jade went to the window and peered out, wishing there was some way she could signal the man she needed help. But he wasn’t watching the house. He was sitting in his car, talking on his phone. “Inside.”

“Call him in here.”

“What? Why?”

“He brought you here. I can’t exactly explain why he’s not taking you anywhere.”

She planned to kill him and Jade—and probably anybody who tried to stop her. “Is that what you did to Frank? Call him over here and when he walked in, shot him?”

“Yes! I mean, no! Argh!” Heather drew in a deep breath. “Yes, I asked him to come over. We talked and he wouldn’t listen to reason. He said he was calling off the wedding and that was that. I couldn’t let him do that. Don’t you understand? I couldn’t let him!”

“So you shot him.” Jade could picture it playing out. “And then…what? How’d you get him into your car?”

“He was still alive,” she whispered. “I was going to take him to the hospital. He got up on his feet and I got him in the car and he died.”

“And you had to hide the evidence.” And no one would have searched Heather’s car.

“I drove his car home, got a shirt to put on him because there was so much blood. I couldn’t drive him around like that. Then I walked back here, changed his shirt and drove him to the mill. I buried him right where they found him, but I still had to do something with his bloody jersey.”

“And you were burying it when I showed up.”

“Yeah,” she said softly.

“Why didn’t you just bury it with him?”

“Because I just…didn’t. I’d left it in the car and only found it when I went to leave. I was almost finished when you showed up.” Her eyes clouded. “To ruin things once again.”

“Heather, I—”

“Enough. Get Tom in here.”

Jade’s mind spun and she tried to think and plan. “No. I won’t put him in danger.”

“It’s too late, Jade.” She blinked away tears. “If only you hadn’t come back. You should have stayed away. Get him in here!”

Arguing with her wouldn’t do any good. Jade took note of the layout of the kitchen and den area once again. Jade still had her weapon in her holster and her phone in her pocket. A testament to Heather’s state of mind that she hadn’t had Jade toss them out to her.

“Instead of getting him in here, if I can convince him to leave, will you let him go?”

Heather bit her lip, then sighed. “Yes.” She tightened her grip on the gun. “But no funny stuff, Jade. I know you’re scrambling for a way out of this. Trust me, there isn’t one.”

Chills danced up Jade’s spine, and dread curled in the pit of her stomach. “You’d do this to Mia? My parents? You’d take me away from them?”

“I’m sorry, I really am, but I’m not going to prison. Now, either get Tom in here or convince him to leave. You have five minutes. Use the phone in your pocket that keeps buzzing and put it on Speaker.”

Jade removed the device and dialed Tom’s number. “Everything okay?” he asked, his low voice rumbling into the room.

“Everything’s fine,” she said with a glance at Heather’s unrelenting eyes. “Like we discussed in the car, Heather’s going to take over protective duty and drive me home. You can leave.”

“Now, Jade, you know I can’t do that. The captain would have my head.”

Jade closed her eyes for a brief second.

When she opened them, Heather’s granite features hadn’t changed.

“You know Heather’s been going through a tough time.

We’ll be here a while. I don’t want you to miss out on your lunch with your cousin.

” Don’t give me away, Tom, please. “Why don’t you do that and come back.

It’s going to bug me to death if I’m the reason you miss out. ”

For a moment, he didn’t answer, and she wondered if he’d remind her that it was his wife and kids he’d planned to lunch with, not a cousin. Then he sighed. “All right, if you’re sure. You know Darryl should be here any time now. You want me to let him know not to come?”

“Yes, please. Heather can take me home. She’ll have my back while you have a nice steak.”

“Right. Talk to you soon.”

She disconnected and noted the three missed calls.

“Who’s been calling you?” Heather asked.

“Bryce.”

“Gotten chummy with him, haven’t you? I suppose he’s in love with you, too.”

The venom in those words slapped Jade in the face. “I never really knew you at all, did I?” she asked. “It must have been so very hard being my partner and pretending to be my friend all this time, but I have to say, you’ve given an outstanding performance.”

Heather’s expression never changed. “Is he gone?”

Jade glanced out the window. “Yes.”

“Throw your phone over here.”

She tightened her fingers around the device, then tossed it onto the sofa.

“Only you would send away your only hope of rescue,” Heather said.

Her finger tightened, and Jade dove behind the kitchen counter, pulling her weapon from her shoulder holster as she rolled.

The crack of Heather’s service weapon rang through the house.

“I’ve got my gun out,” Jade shouted, “and I will shoot you. Put it down!”

“Not a chance.” Another shot. One of anger as there wasn’t any way that she could have hit Jade.

“How could you, Heather? We were friends. All four of us. You killed Frank and now you’re going to kill me? Bryce is going to figure it out once he reads the journal. Are you going to kill him, too?”

“Don’t talk to me about Frank. Do you know he actually said he cared about me and hoped I’d find someone to love me like I deserved to be loved—and that he had to find you and tell you what he’d done and how he felt?

And then he was going to ask your forgiveness.

” A harsh bark of laughter slipped from Heather, and Jade frowned.

“I was the one he should have been begging forgiveness from.”

“So, what now, Heather? How long can we stay like this?”

“As long as it takes. Because whoever comes to the door looking for you is going to get a bullet.”

“Bryce knows I’m here.”

“Then Bryce will die unless we’re gone before he gets here.”

Jade drew in a deep breath and knew she was stuck.

She wouldn’t put Bryce at risk. Mia needed at least one of them alive.

Anger coursed through her at the lives Heather had already turned upside down—and the lives she’d continue to upend if she managed to kill Jade.

Even if she was caught and found guilty, Jade would still be dead.

“Jade? I’m not playing around. Slide your gun out here and walk to the front door.”

Hearing the resolve in Heather’s voice, Jade knew there was no way she was letting Bryce walk in and be confronted by the woman’s bullets. She sent up a prayer. “Fine. Let’s go.” She sent her weapon skidding across the plywood and stood, holding her hands where Heather could see them.

She connected her gaze to Heather’s and found no softening of the woman’s resolve. Scrambling for a plan, she walked to the front door, and Heather fell into step behind her. Jade didn’t have to turn to see the gun still pointed at her back.

Heather stayed close, and Jade figured she was using Jade’s body to hide the weapon in case one of her neighbors decided to look out a window.

Heather had parked her small Honda in the driveway since she kept a lot of her art supplies in the one-car garage, and with each step toward the vehicle, Jade knew she was going to have to do something.

A horn blasted behind her and she whirled, kicked out and caught Heather’s arm with the side of her foot.

Heather hollered and went to her knees while the gun spun away from her.

Jade lunged and slammed an elbow into Heather’s head.

The woman screamed but didn’t lose her balance.

Instead, she threw her body forward and wrapped her hand around the weapon.

“Jade!”