Page 44 of Final Approach (Lake City Heroes #4)

TWENTY-THREE

Kristine sat in her car in her father’s driveway and sucked down a shaky breath while her knuckles turned white with her grip on the steering wheel.

Was she really going to do this? All the evidence ran through her head in a matter of seconds.

Circumstantial evidence, but it all added up.

The names cinched it for her. It was the only way everything made sense.

Yes, she had a few questions, but those didn’t matter in the grand scheme of things.

She knew what she knew.

Even if she didn’t want to know it.

She glanced at the stack of folders on the seat beside her.

Her father’s cases. She’d gone through the last box after her breakdown on her mother’s grave and now knew the connection between Marcus Brown, Erik Leary, Colleen Pearson, and the man who hijacked her mother’s plane.

She knew the person behind her own plane’s hijacking. At least she thought she did.

What would happen if she was completely wrong?

She’d ruin everything.

Say words she could never take back. Again.

She wasn’t wrong. She wanted to be, but she wasn’t.

Was she?

She looked at the park across the street.

The one her dad used to take her, Emily, and Ethan to when they were little.

When he and her mom got along and loved each other.

When they’d laughed and planned and looked at one another with love instead of the sadness and disappointment she’d come to recognize in her mother’s eyes.

The anger and ... madness? ... in her father’s.

Years in the past that seemed like yesterday.

The park was empty today thanks to the cold and the gray clouds that threatened rain, but those sunny spring days were forever etched in her memory as some of her favorite times.

She should tell Andrew to come, be here.

But she couldn’t tell anyone her suspicions, because there was that small percentage she might be wrong.

She opened the car door, then shut it. Then grabbed the files from the passenger seat, opened the door again, and stepped out. She had to do this. Oh please , God , tell me I’m doing the right thing. Give me the right words. Don’t let me say something I’ll regret.

With that prayer whispering from her lips on repeat, she walked through the two-car garage, past her father’s pickup truck and his car, up to the back door of her childhood home, and twisted the knob to step inside the kitchen.

She inhaled. Sometimes she imagined she could still smell her mom and the light flowery perfume she used to wear.

This was dumb. She turned to leave and her shoes squeaked on the floor.

“Who’s there?” her father called from down the hall.

Too late to change her mind now. “It’s just me, Dad.”

She hesitated, then pulled her phone from her pocket.

“Krissy? I’m in my office.”

“Coming.”

She sent a text to Andrew.

If what I suspect is true, it might be better if you’re here.

What do you suspect?

That my dad was behind both hijackings.

She waited.

I’m on the way. Don’t do anything until I get there.

Don’t call anyone or tell anyone. Not yet. I could be wrong.

K, it’s too dangerous if you’re right. It’s not safe to confront him.

It’s too late. He knows I’m here.

“Krissy? What are you waiting on?”

From the tone of his voice, he hadn’t discovered she’d taken the boxes from the attic. She walked through the kitchen to the back of the house where his office was and found him sitting at his big oak desk, laptop open, camera next to him. He looked up. “What are you doing here?”

Kristine swallowed. “It was you, wasn’t it?” Please look like you don’t know what I’m asking.

He stilled and his face lost all expression. “What are you talking about?”

He knew.

“I said some things to Mom before her last flight, which makes me hesitant to ask what I feel like I need to ask.”

“Quit talking in riddles. Spit it out.”

“Fine. You paid someone to hijack Mom’s plane, didn’t you?

You paid Marcus Brown to hijack mine but bought off Erik Leary to make sure the plane didn’t actually crash, because in some weird way, you do love me and don’t really want to see me dead, you just want to control me.

It was you.” She tossed the files on his desk.

“You came across these men in your cases. Tabitha Brown thought her husband was cheating because of all of his doctor appointments that he was hiding from her. Erik Leary’s boss was considering promoting him, but someone he worked with reported the man had a gambling problem and you proved he did, then paid him to make sure my plane didn’t crash.

If it looked like it was going to, he was to rush in and save the day.

Be a hero. That’s what you put in your notes.

And Mom’s plane. You hired her hijacker to throw a scare into her, but one of the flight attendants panicked when he held a makeshift knife to her throat and she punched in the code to the cockpit.

That’s the story all of the text messages and phone calls from the passengers managed to put together.

No one knows what happened after that because they never found the black box. ”

He simply watched her.

“Well?” She threw her hands in the air. “Don’t just sit there. Tell me I’m wrong. Deny it and explain all this away. Please,” she whispered. “Tell me I’ve got it all wrong.”

“But you don’t,” he said. “I’m actually impressed you figured it all out.”

For a moment, she couldn’t speak. Couldn’t move. Couldn’t breathe. He was so calm about it all. Too calm. So she would have to be as well. “I have questions.”

“Ask them.”

“How did Tabitha Brown pay for your services? She didn’t know it, but they had medical bills and not a penny extra to their name. Where did she get the money?”

“She was a charity case. She came to me and asked me what I charged, told me her story. I did a little investigating, planning to blackmail Brown with his cheating, only to find out he was dying. I promised her he wasn’t cheating and that he would tell her everything in due time.”

“Only you made him an offer he couldn’t refuse instead.”

“Yep.”

“And Erik Leary? How did you meet him?”

Her father actually rolled his eyes. “We became acquainted when I had to buddy up to him to prove he had a gambling problem. Caught him on video. His boss wasn’t happy and Leary was nose-diving toward broke.

He was only there to keep the plane from crashing.

He wasn’t supposed to intervene unless the cockpit was breached. ”

“And how was he supposed to intervene? He’s not law enforcement or trained to stop a hijacker.”

“He’s a martial arts expert. He assured me he could take care of any situation that arose. I had to believe him because I couldn’t have the plane crash. That couldn’t happen again. I made that clear.”

“Wait a minute. Nothing came back on his credit report. No huge debts, he had money in his account, and so on. Nothing was flagged.”

Her father snorted. “Of course not. The people he was gambling with don’t exactly leave records for the police to find.

Nevertheless, he was getting to the point that he was going to have to sell his house.

He couldn’t clean out his bank account without his wife catching on.

He came to me for work. Asking for a job.

He’d been in the military and could do surveillance.

He needed a big payout. And he needed it fast. I realized he’d be perfect for what I needed. Again, just took a phone call.”

“I ... I...” She pulled in a ragged breath and tried to form her thoughts. “So why did he attack you at the hospital? I assume you lied and he wasn’t after your wallet.”

“Not a complete lie. He did want money. I just didn’t have it in my wallet.

I’d already paid him some, but he wanted more.

I was in the middle of promising I’d get him some just to get him to leave when you showed up.

Not that I was actually going to pay the man, but I was trying to buy some time.

I would have gotten rid of him later, the thief. ”

Gotten rid of him? As in kill him? She had a sick feeling that’s exactly what he meant. She wasn’t about to ask, but he’d already killed her mother and a plane full of people, so what would one more dead person matter? “How did he know it was you?”

He rubbed his chin. “He recognized me from when I buddied up to him during the investigation I was conducting for his boss. The one that lost him the promotion. In the end, he was happy to take my money for a seat on the plane and try to provide a distraction so you’d mess up—be accused of negligence or something—and lose your job.

But Leary didn’t really hold up his end of the bargain with that, did he?

No, I had to go and convince that woman’s family she should sue you because she got hurt. ”

She gaped. Her brain was going to short-circuit any moment now. “Wait a minute. You’re behind my suspension? What good does me being suspended do?”

“Hopefully give you time to see I was right. That you needed to find something safe, something that kept you at home. On the ground.” He rubbed a hand down his cheek. “I was just doing this for you, Kristine. I only have your best interests at heart.”

“You have no heart,” she whispered.

He scowled and she bit down hard on the words she wanted to fling at him. “One more question. Why did you kill my mother?” The words came out on a choked sob, but she refused to let the tears fall. She could cry later.

“I didn’t want to kill her. That wasn’t the plan. But ...” He stopped and breathed deeply through his nose. “She was going to leave me.” His voice was surprisingly neutral. Soft. Deadly? “She was going to take you kids away from me.”

“No. She wouldn’t have. Not if you would have agreed to counseling.”

He almost looked taken aback, then realization dawned. “You found the letter.”

“Yeah.”