Page 119 of The Murder Club

Chapter 25

Bailey stared at the older woman with a dull sense of confusion. Dorinda had shared the conversation she’d overheard years ago that’d suggested Lorene was running from her past. But this . . .

“Lorene Donaldson.” Bailey forced her gaze toward her captor. “She’s your mother?”

“Can’t you see the resemblance?” he demanded.

“Not really,” she rasped.

“No, neither can I.” He released his hold on her head and Lorene’s head dropped back to her chest. The older woman wasn’t unconscious, but she was obviously in a state of shock. “Not that I’m disappointed. The bitch abandoned me when I was just a child.”

“She’s the reason you came to Pike?”

“Her and my dear, disgustingly spoiled brother,” he agreed.

“Logan.”

Thorpe’s features twisted with disdain as he stepped away from the slouched woman. As if he wanted space between them despite the fact that he’d kidnapped her.

“Mommy couldn’t wait to bail on me, but she was devoted to her beloved Logan.” He paused, visibly regaining command of his fraying composure. “At least she was devoted to him until I tainted his precious image.”

“What did you do to him?”

“Oh, it was delicious.” The disdain vanished as the green eyes smoldered with an icy satisfaction. “It all started when my brother fell in love with Roxanna Novak.”

“Who?”

“A college student who is studying nursing in Prague.”

Bailey had never heard the name before. Certainly Logan had never mentioned he had a girlfriend.

“Is she from Pike?”

“God no. She’s from my imagination.” He smirked as Bailey’s brows arched. “And made real by the lovely photos I found online of a Swedish model.” Lifting his hand, he sent a chef’s kiss in her direction. “Tall, blond, and willing to share naked pictures of herself. Logan was in lust from the minute I created my profile and contacted him through the dating app.”

“You catfished him,” she accused.

“Like a pro.” He chuckled. Or at least she guessed that was what it was. It was a weird, wheezing sound. As if he didn’t do it very often. “You know what, I am a pro. I’ve spent my whole life pretending to be someone else, haven’t I? Until now.”

She ignored his boasting. Who cared? “What was the point?”

“To tarnish what I never had,” he retorted without apology. “A mother’s love.”

“By pretending to be naked Roxy?”

“Roxanna Novak,” he snapped, as if insulted by her lack of appreciation for his alter ego. “She was not only beautiful, she was also very, very expensive.”

Bailey grimaced. “Logan sent her money?”

“Of course. She was a woman.” Logan shrugged. “She demanded lavish gifts, assistance to pay for her rent, and even money for her textbooks.” He sent a smirk toward the silent Lorene. “It ended up being quite a large sum, didn’t it, Mother? Seventy? Eighty thousand dollars.”

Bailey belatedly understood. She’d never had an online relationship, but it made sense that it would work like any other relationship. Including the exchange of money. It also explained Logan’s growing desperation.

“That’s why he started stealing from the residents,” she muttered.

“After a little encouragement from me,” Thorpe told her, his smirk lingering as he recalled the pleasure of conning his brother. “He’d emptied his bank account and maxed out all his cards, but poor Roxanna desperately needed money to pay for a visa so she could come to be with Logan.” He batted his lashes as if he was an actress in a cheesy movie. “I can’t express my joy to know he was ruining his life for a woman who didn’t even exist.”

Bailey shuddered. Logan was an immoral creep for stealing from the residents, not to mention an arrogant idiot, but she almost felt sorry for him. To be so deeply hated by someone you didn’t even know existed was awful.