“How did Jessica take news of her father’s death?”
“What?” Fear sparked in the depths of Ruth’s eyes as she started for me again. “That’s none of your concern.”
I shifted my attention to Eliot, another piece of the puzzle falling into place. “The boots belong to Jessica. She made the call to Jake, pretending to be her mother.”
Eliot cocked his head. “She was helping her father.”
“Don’t say that!” Ruth turned shrill. “She’s a good girl. She’s always been a good girl.”
“And that’s how he manipulated her.” I felt terribly sorry for Ruth. This woman had done the very best she could for an ex-husband who didn’t deserve it and a daughter who likely fought her at every turn. “Jessica went looking for her father and he took advantage of her.”
Ruth stopped fighting me, her eyes filling with tears. “How did you know?”
I pressed the heel of my hand to my forehead. This victory didn’t feel sweet. “I put it together. She got in trouble at some point. She was performing community service.”
Ruth nodded, morose. “She started smoking pot with her father. That grew to other things. She was arrested on minor drug charges six months ago.”
A chill ran through me. “Hypno? Was that the drug?”
“He got her hooked. I tried to get her into rehab, but she refused. I couldn’t lose her, too. I planned to keep working on her but ... I don’t know. She was a different person when she showed up at the house right after you left. She was furious, screaming that she was going to have to shut everybody up on her own.”
I glanced at Eliot. “Does she own a gun?”
“She owns a couple of them. I think she sold a few recently. She’s always broke, and I refuse to give her money. I’ve even had to hide my jewelry and lock my purse in my trunk every night so she can’t get at it.”
“I’m guessing she was working with Cal and Ray,” I said. “They went after Beau’s team because they defected and were cutting into their profits.”
“She didn’t kill those men!” Ruth was horrified. “She wouldn’t do that.”
I felt bad for her, but she could no longer hide from the truth. “She didn’t do it alone. She was with your husband and brother. Then someone — either her or Ray — figured out that Cal was talking to us and ended him to make sure nobody came looking for them.”
“It had to be Ray,” Eliot said. “He told us about the halfway house. He didn’t want to, but he would’ve garnered suspicion if he’d denied knowing where Beau had been living. They were tight for a time.”
“Which is how Cal, Jessica and Ray got close enough to kill an entire team,” I mused. “Beau trusted Ray and didn’t realize anything bad was happening until the end. He ran ... right into a train.”
“Jessica wouldn’t do this.” Ruth was adamant. “She doesn’t have it in her.”
“Drugs do strange things to a person,” Eliot countered gently. “When you couple that with Jessica’s desperate need for a father ....” He trailed off and focused on me. “We have to call Jake. You no longer have a choice.”
I nodded. “We have to get to Ray’s house. Jessica is going after him next. That’s why she’s wearing the boots.”
Eliot was already moving toward the door. “We’ll call Jake on the way there. Let’s finish this.”
“Why are you so excited all of a sudden?”
“Because when this is over, you’re going to tell your family and we’ll be well on our way to a proposal and wedding.”
My jaw went slack. I’d completely forgotten my promise to him.
He grinned. “I told you I was going to get what I want.”
He had told me that. I was starting to believe him.
27 Twenty-Seven
The sheriff’s department — led by Derrick and Jake — beat us to Ray’s house. While I wasn’t surprised, I was bitter.
“Stay there!” Derrick, recognizing Eliot’s truck, waved us off when we pulled onto the street. He strode directly up to the driver’s side window. “We’re closing off the street.”
It took everything I had not to explode. “That’s not fair.”
“Life isn’t fair. You need to turn around.”
My temper flashed. “We’re the only reason you have this tip.”
Derrick’s expression never changed. “The sheriff thanks you for your diligence as a resident of Macomb County,” he drawled. “As a token of our thanks, we would like to invite you to a news conference, time and date to be named in the future, where we will lay everything out.”
My eyes slitted as I sucked in a breath. “Do you think you’re funny?”
Eliot held up his hand to quiet my ranting before focusing on Derrick. “Are you really going to shut her out of this? Is that really how you want to play this?”
Derrick’s jaw tightened. “I don’t have a say in it. But even if I did, I wouldn’t allow her to wander around a potential crime scene. She can’t be part of this.”
I was enraged to the point of Hulk-ing out when movement on the front lawn caught my attention. I saw Jake on the front lawn of Ray’s house, hands on hips, staring directly at us. We were far enough away that I had difficulty making out his expression, but his body language told me everything I needed to know.
“Fine.” I made up my mind on the spot. “We’ll go. Just know that I will be doling out punishment for you and Jake at a later date. Perhaps it will be at the aforementioned news conference.”
Now it was Derrick’s turn to be suspicious. “Just like that?”
“Just like that.”
“This better not be one of your little games. We have people in the backyard, so you can’t sneak in that way. If you try, you’ll be arrested.”
“I’m leaving.” It was hard to force out the words, but I meant them. “You have a
