Truth is in the Darkness (Paynes Creek Thriller Book 2) Read online

  I sensed his approach. He stood directly behind me. When he placed a hand on my shoulder, I reached up and covered it with mine. I knew how I felt.

  “I’m not angry,” I said. I turned slowly and looked up at him.

  “I’m really glad to hear that.” He traced the line of hair down my face. “Because I can’t promise I won’t keep secrets in the future, when it comes to work anyway. That’s just a part of the job.”

  “I know. But we still have some things to work through. And I have even more to work through. What you’ve just told me… it’s a lot to take in.”

  “It is.” He looked up at the ceiling before looking at me again. “I was really hoping for better circumstances when we woke up together in my bed.”

  “You can make it up to me later.”

  “Deal. Right now, I need to go see why Luke is here and find out if Bree is ready to talk.”

  “She’s not talking?”

  “Not a word. But she will.” He leaned down and brushed his lips across mine. “God, I’m sorry I can’t crawl back into that bed with you.”

  “It’s okay,” I said. “I’ll keep it warm until you’re done talking to Luke. Then you come join me. You can’t investigate twenty-four hours a day.”

  He smiled. “That sounds like the best plan anyone’s had all day. But I don’t think I’ll ever rest easy again until Rudy Richardson is behind bars.”

  Thirty-One

  Coop

  “White still isn’t talking,” Luke said. “But we have bigger issues.”

  We were in my home office with the door closed. Luke had said we needed to talk where Lil wouldn’t overhear us.

  “Bigger issues?” I asked.

  “Two girls went missing late last night. Both are eighteen. High school seniors. They both told their parents they were staying at each other’s house for the night. When neither answered their phones the next day, the two sets of parents began putting two and two together.”

  “Who was the last to see them?”

  “A group of boys at a bonfire party. They heard the girls were planning to crash at another friend’s house whose parents were out of town. That friend wasn’t at the bonfire party, but the girls seemed sure she’d let them crash there.”

  “But they never showed up?” I asked.

  “They were last seen around two a.m. at a gas station near the turnoff to the bonfire.”

  I ran a hand through my hair. “Well, doesn’t that just sound a little too fucking familiar.”

  “What?”

  “Lily was taken from a gas station.”

  “Oh, right. Well, no one saw these girls taken, but it’s certainly suspicious.” Luke pulled his phone from his pocket. “There’s something else. The airport sent over surveillance from the night Lily flew into Lexington. The sheriff and I looked at it, and Daniels identified Linda Thomas on the feed.”

  He turned his phone toward me. It showed a fuzzy black-and-white still of Lil’s mom.

  “Damn.” I knew Linda had been a terrible mother, but I had trouble convincing myself she was involved with any of this. “She could have just happened to fly in that same night,” I said.

  Luke shook his head. “The video shows her leaving the airport with Lil’s suitcase, and returning with it thirty minutes later and leaving it on the baggage carousel.”

  I pulled my phone from my back pocket and started to dial.

  “If you’re calling to have her picked up, we’re already a step ahead of you,” Luke said. “A warrant for her arrest has been issued. For stealing the suitcase and for destroying property. Sheriff Daniels has several deputies out looking for her.”

  “That’s not much to hold her on. She’ll make bail if she has any friends left.”

  “No, but it will give us time to interrogate her.”

  “I want to be the one to question her. And I’m going to have to tell Lil.”

  I shook my head. Why would Linda paint the word “slut” on her daughter’s suitcase? This wasn’t a woman who’s going to win any mom-of-the-year awards, but still.

  “Looks like you’ve had a breakthrough with Lil,” Luke said. “You came clean about the job?”

  “Yeah. She knows everything. And surprisingly, she’s not angry.”

  Luke chuckled. “Sounds like you got a good one then.” He waved toward the door. “Well, there’s nothing more we can do tonight. Hopefully we’ll have Linda in custody by the morning, and we can pick things back up then. In the meantime, I’m going to go get a few hours of sleep. You should do the same.”

  Propped up on my elbow, I watched Lil sleep early the next morning. Despite the heavy storms the night before, sun poured through my bedroom windows now, illuminating her with a warm glow. A sheet covered her, but my imagination was working overtime, and I couldn’t help myself from calculating whether or not we had just enough time before I had to grab a shower and head to the station.

  I ran my fingers along her cheekbone, and her eyes fluttered open. Her lips curled into a lazy grin, and I nearly lost my breath as I took in her beauty. I still couldn’t believe we’d found our way here. I’d been terrified ever since finding her stranded on the country road that getting back together would never happen. That she would return to New York before I had enough time to convince her to stay.

  “Cooper Adams, were you watching me sleep?” she asked, her voice scratchy.

  “I was,” I said. “And in case you were wondering, you don’t snore.”

  “Of course I don’t snore.” She slapped my chest. “As if.”

  I laughed, then pushed her on her back and rolled on top of her. I leaned in, kissed her, and within seconds was back inside her. I knew I needed to get up and get to work, but I also needed proof that last night wasn’t a fluke.

  Her arms wrapped around me, and she buried her face into the crook of my neck, nearly smothering the quickened breaths that escaped as I took possession of her willing body. As we both moved in a synchronized rhythm, we lost ourselves in each other again.

  “I need to jump in the shower,” I said with regret after, when she was draped across my chest.

  “How about I throw together some eggs and coffee?” she suggested. “We skipped dinner last night.”

  “I would bow at your feet for both.”

  She smiled. “I’ll hold you to that.”

  Thirty-Two

  Lil

  Clothed again in my jeans and Coop’s shirt, sleeves rolled to my elbows, I made coffee and breakfast. I certainly wasn’t the cook Grammy was, but I could scramble eggs and throw bacon in a skillet.

  But as I moved around Coop’s kitchen, I couldn’t help but be reminded that this was his kitchen. His home. I had gotten too comfortable, too quickly, in a place that wasn’t mine. My home was back in New York, and I was still scheduled to fly back at noon.

  Yet I had promised to cancel that flight. I had promised not to run.

  But what about Coop? Where might he run? He was still an FBI agent, and an FBI agent wasn’t going to stay in Paynes Creek. At any moment he might be going back to Washington, or who knows where. What were his intentions?

  By the time Coop came down, I had overanalyzed myself into a ball of tension.

  He leaned in and kissed me. “You’ve got more color in your cheeks. It looks good.”

  Did I? Last night had been good. For me. For us.

  He looked over at the skillet. “And I’d say those eggs and bacon are a decent start to putting a little meat on your bones.”

  I flinched at the statement.

  He grabbed my chin. Gently, but he guided me to look him in the eye. “I knew the minute I saw you, even in the dark when you had a flat tire, that you were too thin. And I saw the dark shadows under your eyes. I know you, Lil. You’ve been going through something. You should have reached out.”

  I pulled my chin from his grasp, tried to hide my irritation. “I’m handling it.”

  “You’re annoyed. Why?”

  I turned an
d grabbed a second mug for Coop, poured the coffee, then handed it to him. “I’m fine.”

  “When a woman says ‘I’m fine,’ she never means it.”

  “What do you want from me?” I asked. “I don’t need a lecture. Not from you.”

  “No, I guess you don’t.” He tilted his head, studying me. “What’s going on, Lil?”

  I looked at my feet. “What if what we did last night was a mistake?”

  He let his head bob in a slight nod. “A mistake,” he repeated. He lifted his mug—calm, collected—and took a sip. “Did something happen while I was in the shower?”

  I ran a hand through my hair, frustrated with myself. “No. I mean, yes. Something did. And it’s my fault.”

  “What’s your fault?”

  “This.” I motioned back and forth between us. “I came to you last night, and I changed things. Maybe I shouldn’t have. I was walking around your kitchen this morning, making eggs and bacon and coffee like I owned the place. And I don’t. You’ve made a nice life for yourself, Coop. You’ve got a career and a home and…” I let my voice trail off. What the hell was I even saying?

  “It’s just a house, Lil. It’s not a home without—”

  He was cut off by the sound of his phone.

  “Cooper Adams,” he answered. He paused, listening. “When? Any sign of the two girls?” His eyes found mine. “I’m on my way.” He hung up and took a step toward me. “Lil… they arrested your mother early this morning.”

  “What for?” I asked, though honestly I didn’t care.

  “It appears that she was the one who painted the obscenity on your suitcase. Surveillance footage from the airport confirms it.”

  I took a step back as if I’d just been slapped across the face. I focused on Coop’s eyes. He was rock solid. He didn’t sugarcoat the information, but the compassion was there.

  “I guess a part of me isn’t surprised,” I said. “It wouldn’t be the first time she called me a slut. But why now? And why like this?”

  “I don’t know. But I have to go. I’ll call you when I learn more.” He backed me up against the kitchen island. “And Lil,” he said, crooking a finger under my chin, “you did change things. And damn it if they didn’t need changing. You and I are not, and never were, a mistake.”

  I just stared into his eyes, looking for the answers I desperately needed. I hated myself for questioning everything. Why couldn’t I just let things be?

  He dropped his hand and left the room, returning a moment later with his gun strapped to his side and a sports jacket in his hand. “Look at me, Lil. Cancel your flight. Do not get on that plane today. It’s not safe, and we need more time.”

  “Coop, I—”

  “Cancel the flight, Lil, or my first call when I walk out the door will be to Barb to explain how much trouble you’re in, and my second call will be to the PCPD to have a second officer come out here and sit on you in addition to the one already at the end of the driveway. Until we know who killed Tricia, and why your mother seems to be harassing you, and how they’re both tied to Rudy Richardson, you’ll stay here.”

  “I can’t stay here twenty-four hours a day.”

  “Then call Bryn or Drew and have one of them come get you. Don’t go anywhere alone.”

  Coop’s phone chimed with a text. He winced when he read it. “I’ll call you as soon as I can.”

  “You go. I’ll be fine. Don’t worry about me.”

  With a gentle touch to my cheek, he kissed me. “It was not a mistake. And it will happen again. Now lock the door behind me.” After another kiss, he left.

  I canceled my flight and sent Winn back to New York with a promise that we would conference call about publishers. I was beginning to form a plan for continuing my writing and art from wherever I lived. I didn’t need to be in New York. I could start over elsewhere.

  Maybe even in Paynes Creek.

  Starting over here would give Coop and me time to see if there truly was something long-term between us. Or if we were simply hanging on to a past that should stay in the past. One way or another, I had to know.

  But one thing I already knew was that I was not going to hide out in Coop’s house all day. So I called Bryn and asked her to come get me. I would work at the coffee house this morning, then meet up with Jake later to talk about my new ideas.

  While I waited for Bryn, I returned to Coop’s office to study his evidence wall. I had a right to know where the investigation was going, didn’t I? Because somehow, all of this was about me. And had been from the very start.

  The thought unnerved me. Why me? Was it because I was in the wrong place at the wrong time all those years ago?

  It just didn’t make sense.

  My thoughts were interrupted a few minutes later by a knock on Coop’s front door. I opened it to find a very cheery Bryn standing on the other side in a bright orange crewneck sweater and green chinos, face fixed and colored to perfection.

  I looked down at my blue jeans, purchased—on purpose—with a hole in the right knee, my plain black sweater, and my laptop tote over my shoulder. My hair was thrown up in a messy bun on top of my head, and I wore minimal makeup.

  “Why do you always look so bright and happy, and I look like someone in need of a handout?” I asked.

  She threw an arm around me. “You’re gorgeous no matter what you wear, and you look like an artist who’s ready for a day of writing and sketching.”

  “And I have a meeting with my attorney.”

  “Who certainly doesn’t care what you wear. Multimillion-dollar horse farm owners walk into Jake’s office with their muddy work boots, jeans, and dusty barn jackets all the damn time. You live in central Kentucky; you don’t judge books by their covers.”

  “True,” I agreed.

  “So how’s Coop?” she asked when we were on the road.

  “He took off early this morning to question Linda, who is in jail for stealing my suitcase and painting ‘slut’ across it.”

  Her head jerked in my direction. “Get the fuck out! Are you lying to me?”

  “It’s impossible to make up things about Linda that are worse than the truth.”

  “It’s hard to believe you came from her womb,” Bryn said with a shake of the head. “Does this mean she did all the other stuff, too? The rabbit blood, the dead fox, all the shit in New York?”

  I shrugged. “I don’t know. None of it makes any sense. But let’s talk about happier things. What’s going on with you and Jake?”

  Her smile faded, and she stared straight ahead at the road.

  “Oh, no. What happened?”

  “He’s just acting all weird again. I swear we go through this every single time. Just when I think everything is going smoothly, he pulls back, gets all distant, and… I swear he’s seeing someone else.”

  “What?” I shook my head. “No way. I don’t believe that for one second.”

  She waved a hand. “It’s whatever.”

  “Aww, sweetie. I’m sorry. You’re in love with him. And you’re scared.”

  She looked over at me again, her eyes pooling. “I really am. When we’re together one on one, he’s so sweet and kind to me.”

  “You know what Grammy always says.”

  “If it’s meant to be, it will be,” we said together. “And if it’s not? Fuck ’em.” We both laughed.

  That was Grammy’s motto about most things.

  “So…” Bryn said. “What about you and Coop? I see that you decided to stay with him instead of me. I would tell you I’m hurt, but I’m kind of glad he’s there for you.”

  I turned my face toward the window.

  “Lil?” she said. “Look at me.”

  “What?” I said, turning my flushed face toward her.

  “Oh my goodness. You slept with him.”

  “So what if I did?”

  “I think that’s just perfect,” she said matter-of-factly. There was no teasing in her tone. “The two of you have been through so much. You both d
eserve some good in your life, and it would make me so happy to see you working things out together.”

  “What if I’m not as sure as you? Or as Coop? I mean, I thought I was sure when I went to him last night.”

  “You don’t make decisions you’re not sure about. This is just a big one, and I gotta believe it’s got you thinking about leaving New York for good. Give it some time.” She grinned. “And tell me more about last night. I want every last detail.”

  Now there was the teasing tone I’d expected. But I waved her off. I refused to kiss and tell.

  “Oh, you’re no fun,” she said. “Tell me about the case then. Any leads on who killed Tricia? I really want them to catch that bastard.”

  “No leads that he’s shared with me,” I said. “He left with Special Agent Luke Justice this morning to talk to Linda. And he received a text that he didn’t look all that happy about.”

  “Ooh, Luke Justice. Now there’s a scrumptious addition to Paynes Creek. I didn’t realize he was back in town.”

  “Is he hot? I hadn’t noticed.”

  Bryn laughed. “Sure you didn’t. I heard he fell hard for Faith Day, and then she up and left town. I assumed he was long gone from Paynes Creek once he closed the books on that case.”

  “I heard about all that. Strange story.”

  “It was even stranger to watch it unfold. Talk about a girl who’s been through a lot with her family.”

  “No kidding. I feel like she and I are kindred spirits.”

  When we arrived at the coffee house, Bryn got straight to work, but I lingered a bit over a cup of coffee before opening my laptop. Drew showed up and sat with me for a while, and we ended up talking about Grammy and her search for another buyer for her house. But eventually Drew had to get to work, and so I did the same.

  I started with some sketches and illustrations for a brand new children’s series I had in mind, and soon I was in the zone. I even made time to work on a personal sketch—something that had been bouncing around in my head that I simply felt the need to get on paper. I worked through lunch and into the afternoon, taking only a moment when Bryn set a sandwich in front of me, and didn’t even look up from my work until my phone alarm sounded, alerting me that I was due to meet Jake at his office.