Page 136 of Timid (Lark Cove 2)

“I threatened her. When we were at the motel and after she dumped Ryder, I threatened her never to come back. I guess she thought I might be true to my word because when I met her in the parking lot here, she recorded our conversation on her phone. And I threatened her again, right before I drove off. I told her if she ever came back, I’d use her body as fishing bait.”

“Oh, Jackson,” Hazel muttered, shaking her head. “You didn’t.”

“How the fuck was I supposed to know she’d end up dead? I just wanted her to leave town.” I’d been pissed and not thinking clearly. I said some nasty words in the heat of the moment and now they might cost me my life.

“Magee found the recorder in her car,” I told them. “He found her phone and got the records so he knows I was the last person she called. So the evidence basically points to me following her out of the parking lot and killing her on an old deserted road.”

“What about fingerprints? Or her time of death?” Willa asked. “If she died after you were home, then you don’t have anything to worry about.”

“They didn’t find any prints in the car other than hers. Her body was frozen so Magee said the medical examiner might not be able to pinpoint exactly when she died. They’re doing an autopsy, but it will take a while. But the bottom line is, if they come back and say she died anytime during the hour when I was driving around, I’m fucked.”

I didn’t know what the odds were that he’d find more evidence, but at least they were better now than when he’d arrested me. This morning, Magee didn’t know that I’d gone home to Willa, and without her alibi, my window of opportunity was wide open.

Logan’s phone rang and he excused himself from the table to answer. The rest of us sat quietly, each staring blankly at the table.

“You smelled like perfume,” Willa whispered.

“Huh?”

She looked up at me. “You smelled like tequila and perfume when you came home.”

“It was Mom.” I sighed. “She was wearing strong perfume and she hugged me.”

She’d done it right before she’d asked me how Ryder and I were doing. The gesture had caught me off guard, so I’d just stood there. For a split second, I’d actually thought she’d regretted her decision to abandon him. But then she’d begged me for some money, giving me some bullshit sob story.

Looking back, I think the hug and the interest in Ryder were all part of her plan. She’d been recording me at the time. She’d put on a good show, pretending to be a mother who had fallen on hard times and needed some extra cash from her oldest son.

“How did they find her?” Thea asked. “The body and her car.”

“Magee told me that a couple was out cross-country skiing and came across her car yesterday afternoon.” I felt bad for those skiers. The image on the photograph I’d seen was bad enough; seeing it in person would have been awful.

Logan returned to the table and raked a hand through his hair. “We’ve got a lawyer coming down from Kalispell. She’ll be here soon.”

“Thanks.” I appreciated that he’d called in some help. And I had a feeling he wasn’t just doing it because Thea was his wife. Somewhere over the last couple of months, Logan and I had become . . . friends. I actually liked the guy. He was funny and smart. And he cared for the people in his life, me included.

“No problem.” He nodded. “I’m sure she’ll want to meet and discuss this with you as soon as she gets here.”

“Okay.” I blew out a long breath, glancing at the clock.

I needed to talk to Ryder, but I also needed to talk to this lawyer. I was going to need legal help if the autopsy came back with an incriminating time of death. This wasn’t a road to walk alone, and for the first time in a long time, I wasn’t even going to try.

I’d let the people at this table walk alongside me every step of the way.

“Do you think Magee believed you?” Willa asked. “That you didn’t do it?”

“Yeah.” I nodded. “I do. He told me more about Mom’s death and the evidence stacked against me than he had to. If he really thought I was guilty, he wouldn’t have shown me all his cards.”

Instead, Magee had treated me like an ally. He wasn’t trying to prove me guilty, he was trying to prove me innocent. So I’d told him every little detail I could think of, hoping it would help him put the puzzle together.

Magee had done a lot for me after I’d moved to Lark Cove. In part, I think he’d done it because of Hazel. But I’d learned over the years that he was one of the most honest men I’d ever met, so if he questioned my innocence, he would have told me so today.

“Okay. That’s that.” Hazel stood and clapped her hands. “We’d better get some dinner started. It’s going to be a long night.”

“I’ll help.” Thea stood too, holding out a hand for Logan. “Come on, gorgeous.”

The three of them disappeared behind the bar and into the kitchen, leaving me and Willa alone.

“I’m sorry.” I took her hand in mine. “I’m so sorry. I should have told you the truth.”