Page 122 of Cold Case, Warm Hearts

He was still trying to sit up when he felt her pick up speed. He peered out the front. “You’re going the wrong way! You’re supposed to take the…”

The explosion shook the ground beneath them, nearly sending them off the road.

Somehow, Jane kept the car on the narrow drive.

He was screaming, screaming at her to turn around. Everybody would see. They’d be caught.

But the Jane he saw in the rearview mirror wasn’t the woman he’d fallen in love with. Her eyes were wild. Her hands were clenched on the wheel as she raced down the hill from the burning remains of the lumber company. She was talking, but her words made no sense. Or maybe he just couldn’t comprehend them in light of what she’d just done.

Whatthey’djust done.

When they reached the bottom of the hill, he ducked while she took the corner too fast. All those cars. All those people would have heard the explosion. They would have come outside. They’d see Jane’s car.

It was over. It was over, and they were going to prison.

For murder.

CHAPTER THIRTY

It wasn’t even nine a.m. when Aspen drove through Coventry the following morning. Grace had taken her before work to pick up the rental car.

Clouds hung low over the mountains with the promise of snow, but it hadn’t started yet. With any luck at all, Aspen could be packed up and out of town before the first flakes fell.

Her phone rang. She’d neglected to connect it to the rental’s Bluetooth, so she pulled over in the middle of town—right in view of anybody who cared to look. She didn’t care. They could glare at her and gossip about her all they wanted. If Dean happened by, he wouldn’t dare try to hurt her with the whole town as witnesses. Besides, if Garrett had reported back to his uncle that she was leaving town—and she felt confident he had, considering he’d been reporting back to his uncle all along—then Dean had no reason to hurt her now.

She yanked her phone from her pocket and saw Jaslynn’s name. She hadn’t spoken to her best friend since the night she’d pulled into town.

She connected the call, but emotion gathered in her throat and cut off her words.

After a few seconds of silence, Jaslynn asked, “Are you there?”

Aspen cleared her throat. “Yeah. I’m here. Your timing is…timely.”

“Your redundancy is…redundant.”

Aspen smiled. “I miss you.” Her voice pitched high, revealing the despair she’d hoped to hide. The truth, like the emotions, had risen from deep in her heart. She missed her best friend. She missed her father. She missed feeling loved and cherished. She’d thought, maybe, with Garrett… But what they’d had was an illusion.

“Oh, honey,” Jaslynn said. “I miss you too. What happened?”

“I’m going home. I can’t stay here anymore.”

“Because of the guy who ran you off the road?”

Aspen had texted her friend a little bit about that night and asked her to pray. She hadn’t told her she believed the driver had been trying to kill her, though. No sense worrying her. By the tone of Jazz’s voice, she was worried enough without all the information.

Aspen said, “That and I found out… It seems Garrett’s been passing information about me to his uncle.”

“Garrett, the hunky contractor?”

“I never called him hunky.”

“I read between the lines. Are you sure?”

“I overheard them talking. He denied it, but, really, what’s he supposed to say? He’s not going to admit to getting close to me just to spy on me, to kissing me?—”

“Hekissedyou?”

“It didn’t mean anything.”