Cami nodded warily. “She nearly went over one of the mountain cliffs that day.”
It had terrified her, and Cami knew Jaymi had been shaken by it. Her brakes had failed on one of the long mountain roads. Though it hadn’t been the one the Callahans, their parents, or Clyde Ramsey had gone over.
“I’d rather you didn’t mention this to anyone who doesn’t need to know. The sheriff knows, but Dad swears her brake lines had been messed with,” Jack told Cami as he rubbed at his jaw in frustration. “He remembers it as clear as day, and there’s not a lot Dad remembers real clear these days. But he remembers Jaymi, because he swears that when he saw those brake lines after he towed the car in he told Mother Jaymi would be dead before the summer was out. He knew someone had tried to kill her and the sheriff, Archer’s father, didn’t seem interested in believing him when he went to talk to him. The lines were clean-cut, not frayed. Someone sabotaged those lines and they hadn’t meant for her to survive her drive back from Aspen.”
Cami’s chest tightened. She could feel the fear rising inside her at the knowledge that someone had tried to kill her sister before Thomas Jones had taken her.
That affirmation that she wasn’t just paranoid, that there was definitely more going on than Rafer wanted to admit to, actually terrified her.
Jack’s eyes were somber, filled with regret. But Cami knew she wasn’t able to hide that fear or the shock in her own gaze. “Jaymi never said anything about the break lines being cut. Just that the brakes must have been bad.”
She should have remembered that. She should have questioned it herself.
“Because she didn’t know,” Jack admitted, his voice hoarse as his expression twisted painfully. “Dad didn’t tell her, and trust me, Cami, neither myself nor my brother knew either. Dad says he received several anonymous phone calls that week warning him that it would be a shame if something happened to his wife and sons because he didn’t know how to keep his mouth shut about things that didn’t concern him. So he warned Jaymi, several times, to be careful. And he lived in fear of another accident.”
It wasn’t Jack’s fault. She couldn’t blame him. She wouldn’t. But she could feel the rage that no one had warned Jaymi, and the knowledge that the threat against her sister had existed months before her death was heart-rending.
Cami shook her head as she fought back her tears. To know Jaymi’s life was in danger even before she became the target of a serial killer, and hadn’t known it, terrified Cami and broke her heart at once.
Even worse, to know that someone Jaymi had trusted, someone she had called a friend, hadn’t given her a clearer warning tore at the foundations of friendship that Cami had always believed in.
But no matter who had wanted to kill her or who hadn’t warned her, still, it had been a serial killer who had stolen Jaymi’s chance to live. And that part confused her more each time she learned something new.
If Jack’s father had warned her, though, maybe Jaymi would have been more careful. At least for a few more days. A few more hours. Long enough that Cami was certain she could have convinced Jaymi to tell her who the caller was. Perhaps long enough that Thomas Jones could have been caught before he killed his last victim. Long enough that maybe Jaymi would have trusted Rafer enough to tell him the truth.
A warning of danger and a few more days could have made a difference between Jaymi living and dying.
“It was Thomas Jones that killed her, Jack, not a mechanical failure that your father didn’t warn her of,” Cami finally whispered, more for his benefit than because she believed it. Because she knew in her heart that Jaymi had been so confident, so determined, that she would have never listened.
Or perhaps she had simply been that determined to join her husband in whatever afterlife he inhabited, no matter the cost.
“Let’s say the coincidence is too fortuitous to suit me, just as it was for my father. Jaymi’s death is why he left Sweetrock and it’s why he’s continually begging me and Jeannie to move to Denver with him and Taggert. He says there’s something evil in this county, Cami, and I wonder if he’s not right,” Jack stated, his voice rough, his gaze filled with misery. “And remember, the FBI profile on those murders said there were two or more men working together. If that’s true, then Jones had a partner, if not two.”
“And serial killers don’t just stop killing,” she told Jack even as a chill raced up her spine and his declaration that there was an evil in Corbin County echoed in her head. “But I will be careful, Jack. I’m not Jaymi. I promise you, I won’t ignore the bastard when I realize who he is, nor will I keep my mouth shut about his identity.”
Because she had been warned now. Warned that whoever was watching her, calling her, had targeted her sister for the same reason. Because of Rafer. Because they were terrified the Callahans would develop ties to the county that would keep them there, no matter the cost.
They should have already realized that ties or no ties, the Callahan cousins weren’t going anywhere.
“Does Rafe know any of this?” Cami asked.
Jack shook his head. “I tried to call him a few times this morning as we drove back from Denver, but the call went to voice mail.” Just as hers had. Now she was beginning to worry about Rafer and his cousins.
“I’m assuming he’s out of town, because the ranch looked deserted when we drove by.”
“I tried to call as well,” she whispered. “He didn’t answer my call, either.”
Jeannie chose that moment to lean forward, her gaze dark with pain.
“Cami, the thing is, whatever’s going on has been going on for years,” Jeannie said then. “They need to just leave; they’ll never have any peace as long as they’re in Corbin County, nor will anyone who’s loyal to them.” She flashed her husband a speaking look as she made the last comment.
Cami knew that wasn’t about to happen. The Callahans, were back to stay. Their inheritance had demanded they stay, and in receiving it, if she had heard the rumors correctly, they had to stay at least five more years before they could leave.
“And they’ll never have any pride if they give in that easily and run,” Cami sighed, a part of her understanding why Rafe and his cousins refused to sell out and leave. “Their roots are here, Jeannie. They’re not going to destroy that last tie to their parents.”
It wasn’t her place to mention the inheritance or the terms of it. That was Rafer and his cousins’ business. And anyone who made the effort to read the court records in detail.
“Have you told the sheriff about all of this?” Cami asked the couple then.
Jack shook his head. “Phone calls, yes, the rest no. I think you should tell Rafe first, Cami. Tell him and then trust him and his cousins to take care of the rest of it.”
She pushed her fingers through her hair as she tried to think of another alternative. Going to Rafer with this right now would only end up in the inability to keep her hands off him. She would end up in his bed so fast it would make both their heads spin. Besides, he hadn’t believed her when she had tried to tell him her suspicions once before.
“Do you think Archer can be trusted?” she asked Jack then, remembering that Archer’s father had been the one who had ignored the signs that someone had targeted Jaymi.
Jack sighed heavily. “I’d trust him with my life, but I wouldn’t trust anyone with Jeannie’s, so I can’t answer that question for you, Cami. If you’re going to continue seeing Rafe, then you have to tell him what’s going on.”
“I’m not seeing him,” she objected as she leaned back in her chair and crossed her arms over her breasts defensively. “Just ask him, he’ll tell you.” She was, in his words, his occasional fuck, right? “I just want to know what’s going on and why the grandparents hate him and his cousins so much.”
“And someone doesn’t want you to know why,” Jack reminded her. “You be careful, and you watch your back. It hurt to lose your sister, Cami, but she left us in spirit the day she learned her Tye was dead. Losing you, Cami, would break too many hearts, because you’ve always been a part of the community, and a part of your friends, Cami.”
Cami stared back at them for a second before lowering her arms to the table and giving them a bitter smile. “No, Jack, everyone loved Jaymi. They tolerate me.”
“Jaymi was distant,” Jack sighed. “She was just counting the days until she could be with her Tye again. Even moving from Sweetrock didn’t interest her, despite your dad’s insistence. Everyone knew that was his plan. He wanted her to be where there were more opportunities for her. Where her friendship with the Callahans wouldn’t affect her so much.”
Everyone knew but Cami. Why didn’t it surprise her to know that her father had plans to leave Sweetrock and hadn’t even thought to tell her about it?
