Page 59 of The Perfect Hosts
Lucy laughs. “I didn’t. I mean, I did, but it was joke. I put them in Trent’s shirt, but that was after Mellie hid them in my room first, along with some cash. By the way, I’m keeping that. Something’s not right with her.”
“Oh my God,” Madeline says, rubbing her forehead. “What about the photo?”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“So now you’re going to tell me you didn’t send me this picture?” Madeline pulls out her phone, brings up the photo with Trent, and shows it Lucy.
“Wow, Mads,” Lucy says. “Getting frisky with the hired help. I didn’t know you had it in you.”
“Dammit, Lucy, I’m serious. Did you take this picture and send it to me?”
“I kind of wish I had, but it wasn’t me,” Lucy says. “Trust me, it was her.”
“Let me see your phone,” Madeline says.
“What? Really?” Lucy asks.
“Yes, hand it over.” Lucy unlocks her home screen, navigates to the photo app, and hands it to Madeline. First, Madeline flicks through the photos and then brings up the recently deleted pictures. It’s not there.
“Do you believe me now?” Lucy asks. “I mean, what do you really know about her? You gotta get her out of your house. Seriously, there’s something really off about that girl.”
“Funny,” Madeline says, slapping the phone back into Lucy’s hand, “she says the same thing about you.”
Chapter 29
Jamie
Jamie stares at the photograph on the computer screen of Wes stepping into the barn minutes before it exploded with Johanna inside. It wasn’t Dalton Monaghan like Mellie Bauer reported. Had she been confused? Add in Johanna’s journal entry and the text messages on her phone, things aren’t looking good for Wes. Could the same person who saved him decades earlier also be capable of murder?
He knows he’s fucked things up coming to Nightjar. And all for what? Because he couldn’t let the past go? Because he couldn’t let his missing sister—no, dead sister—rest in peace? Because she has to be dead.
Well, that’s harsh, Juneau whispers in his ear, and he brushes away the tickle. Jamie needs to get out of this office, think about something else for a few minutes. He backtracks and grabs the yearbook that Laura Holt gave him.
“Ruby,” he says, “I’m going to grab a bite to eat and then head over to the Drake ranch. Call if you need anything.”
“Sure thing,” she says.
Jamie hurries to his car, climbs inside, and pulls out his notebook to review what he knows about Mellie Bauer. Twenty-one years old, moved to Nightjar months ago, waitresses for a catering company that worked the Drake gender reveal. Mellie is pregnant and was intent on talking to Johannaabout being her midwife, and both seem to have had an overly familiar relationship with Wes Drake. More coincidences? Maybe. His brain is so muddled, he’s not thinking straight. Always a dangerous thing. He starts the car and peels out of the parking lot, narrowly missing a vehicle pulling in.
Jamie grabs a gas station hamburger and a pop and eats while he drives to the ranch. Jamie tries Tess again, and it goes straight to voicemail. He knows he’s been an asshole, and now Tess is punishing him by freezing him out.Do you blame her?It’s Juneau again, sitting in the passenger seat, arm out the open window trying to catch the breeze in her cupped hand.Here you’ve been walking down memory lane, while your poor wife has been at home waiting for you to call.
Jamie rolls up the window, cranks “Even Flow” by Pearl Jam, and tries to ignore his sister.
Once at the ranch, Jamie moves toward the stables and finds Wes saddling a sway-backed butterscotch-colored horse with soft, sleepy eyes. Another horse, this one black-and-white and all muscle, is already saddled and pawing at the ground as if itching to get moving.
“Agent Saldano,” Wes says. “Madeline mentioned you haven’t had the opportunity to ride a horse before, and I thought it would be a shame if you left Nightjar without getting the chance.”
This is not what Jamie anticipated when he walked into the stables. Though the words are friendly enough, there’s an edge to Wes’s voice.
“After we talked the other day, I got the impression you were done speaking with me, especially without your lawyer. Did something change, Wes?” Jamie asks.
“I’m sorry about that. A bomb was planted in my barn, and my wife’s best friend was killed,” Wes says, looking appropriately contrite. “I want to find out what happened on our property more than anyone.”
“That’s why I’m here,” Jamie explains. “Let’s talk.”
“But let’s do it while we ride,” Wes says. “And don’t worry, Nell here is a big old softy,” he says, tightening the saddle straps. “You won’t have to do a thing but go along for the ride. What do you say?” He has a smile on his face, but his eyes are hard and locked on Jamie’s face.
Jamie stares right back. He knows that going off into the mountains with a possible murder suspect is not advisable, especially since Jamie isn’t familiar with the area and has never been on a horse before, but he finds that he wants to. He wants this time with Wes, to hear how he’ll explain the photos of him entering the barn just before the explosion. And Wes doesn’t know that Jamie has Johanna’s phone, that he knows about the phone calls and texts between the two of them. Jamie has the chance to catch Wes in a lie, to dig a hole deeper than the one he’s already in.