Tangled Web: A Small Town Romance (The Cortell Brothers Book 6)

by Giulia Lagomarsino

  Kat grinned. “Well, that sounds like fun, but you can’t have her yet.”

  She reached forward and grabbed Lorelei’s hand, pulling her toward the group of women.

  “Sorry, what?” Lorelei asked.

  “Yeah, you’re going to have to come with us.”

  “Um…why?”

  “To be the mediator, of course.”

  “But…I just came for groceries.”

  “Andrew can do the shopping.”

  “Hey—“

  “We’ll only keep her for the afternoon,” Sofia said, grabbing Lorelei’s other arm. “Besides, with the amount of time you’ve been spending with her, we need to get to know her.”

  I tried to argue, but before I could, they were dragging her away. Sighing, I looked down at the cart full of junk food and started down the aisle to put it back. I would keep some of it, but no one needed that much junk food.

  “I’m surprised you let her go.”

  I turned to see Robert walk up beside me.

  “Let her go? She was dragged off like Sunday night dinner. Hey, have you had any trouble with Jack lately?” I asked curiously.

  “You mean besides the seven parking tickets I’ve received in the past month?”

  “Really?” My eyebrows shot up at that information. “I thought it was just me.”

  “Hell no. Eric had a few fines, all bullshit, of course. He went into Joe’s shop and tried to fine him for a noise complaint. That didn’t pan out. He’ll do anything right now to stick it to us. Will and Josh are the only lucky ones.”

  “Well, Will doesn’t live in town, so it’d be pretty hard to get him with anything. But why isn’t he going after Josh?”

  He shrugged. “Beats me. Maybe he’s saving up for something bigger.”

  I looked him over. He looked tired. Way more tired than I had ever seen him. “What’s going on? You look like you haven’t slept in days.”

  “I haven’t,” he said, rubbing his hand over his tired face. “I just keep freaking out.”

  “About what?”

  “The baby.”

  I nodded, completely understanding. When Kat lost the baby, it had hurt us all. I could see how he would be worried. “Well, that’s why we were trying to keep them all safe.”

  “No, it’s not that. I mean…of course it scares me that what happened to Kat and Eric could happen to us, but that’s not the real problem.”

  “Then what is?”

  His jaw clenched and he stared off down the aisle. “I’m worried she’s still not gonna marry me.”

  “Man, you don’t really believe that, do you? She’s crazy about you.”

  “Then why does she keep pushing me away?”

  “Because you keep pushing her.”

  He huffed out a long breath. “I just…”

  “She’s not gonna leave you,” I said firmly. “Trust me, Anna loves you. But if you keep pushing her, she’s going to push back.”

  He slid his hands into his pockets and stared down at the ground. The slump of his shoulders and the circles under his eyes proved how badly this was affecting him.

  “Look, just take it easy the next few days. Spend some time with Anna and just forget about marriage and all your worries. I promise, if you do that, she’ll come around some.”

  He sighed and nodded. “You’re right. I just need to back off.”

  I clapped him on the shoulder. “If you don’t believe your love is strong enough, how will she?”

  He smirked. “Look at you being all romantic and shit.”

  “Well, you know, having Lorelei in my life has changed things.”

  “Yeah? So, is she the one?”

  I grinned. I wasn’t sure, but I knew I wanted to find out. “We’ll see.”

  I bought out half the store to fill Lorelei’s house, and then left all the groceries in the truck. They’d stay cold outside, and when Lorelei was ready to head home, I wouldn’t have to reload the truck. Home. Yeah, it sounded really fucking good. Not that I could assume that Lorelei would want me to live with her. Hell, we hadn’t known each other that long, and she was newly widowed. I couldn’t just throw that out there. But I faced bigger problems than whether or not I would move in with her. I had to figure out what to do about the little fact that I had assumed she was a murderer for weeks.

  When I got upstairs, I remembered that I was going to check into Lorelei’s dad. I wanted to kill that fucker for what he had done to her. Apology letter or not, what he did was wrong. Nobody had the right to treat another person like a punching bag. I quickly grabbed my laptop and looked up the number for the sheriff’s department from her hometown. If Barty hadn’t given me this file on her, I wouldn’t know exactly where she grew up. I had to thank the man for at least that.

  “McDowell County Sheriff’s Department,” a man said on the other line.

  “Uh…yeah, I’m looking for some information on a man in the area.”

  “What kind of information?” he asked suspiciously.

  “I’m trying to find my girlfriend’s father. They haven’t spoken in years. I was just wondering if he was still in the area.”

  “What’s the name?”

  I quickly looked through her file. “Uh…Larry Colson.”

  “Hold please.”

  I waited for over five minutes, listening to the worst sort of elevator music. I kept glancing at the door, thinking Lorelei would walk through at any second and I would be busted.

  “Sir?”

  “Yes.”

  “Larry Colson, you say?”

  “Yes.”

  “Is your girlfriend’s name Lorelei?”

  “Yes.”

  There was silence for a second and then he said, “Yeah, I remember Larry. Times hit that family hard…”

  “From what Lorelei tells me, the whole town had it hard.”

  He grunted. “Ain’t that the truth. When the mine shut down, everyone lost out. Almost everyone went looking for work, but Larry was stubborn. He kept thinking he would find work in town.”

  “Do you know what happened to him?”

  He sighed and I could hear some papers ruffling in the background. “The police were called out to the house one night, and your girlfriend had been beaten up pretty badly.” My fists clenched hearing about it, but I took a deep breath and listened as he continued. “We searched for him for a long time, but he never showed up again.”

  “What about the letter he sent her?”

  “Not much to go on there. There was no return address. He must have been in town still and stuck it in the mailbox. Lorelei and her friend Matthew used to tell us that they saw him around from time to time, but it sounded like he was too ashamed to show his face. And then Lorelei moved out of town and everyone stopped looking for him.”

  “So, he never showed up again?”

  “Not as far as anyone around here knows. Wherever he is, he’s probably drunk off his ass.”

  I sighed in frustration. “Do you think he would still try and make contact with her?”

  I really hoped not. I never wanted him to see Lorelei again, let alone speak to her.

  “Honestly, after his wife died, he wasn’t the best father, if you could call him that at all. I can’t see why he would go seeking her out after all this time.”

  “Thank you,” I said honestly. While I wanted to know where he was, knowing that he wasn’t considered a threat was even better.

  “I can take down your information, call you if we hear from him. But after all this time, I doubt that’ll happen.”

  “No, that’s okay. She didn’t want to see him. I just wanted to make sure he wasn’t a problem anymore.”

  “Understood. You have a good day now.”

  I hung up and picked up the file with Lorelei’s face staring back at me. After everything she had been through with her old man, I was surprised she was still so strong. Maybe it was like that phrase, what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.

  I gathered up her file
and took it into my room, hearing the apartment door open and shut while I was stuffing everything in my closet. Thank God Lorelei hadn’t walked in. She would rip me a new one, not that I didn’t love her feisty side. I grinned as I thought about the first time I was with her. There was nothing that compared.

  “What’s that smile for?” Joe asked, coming out of his room as he pulled on a shirt.

  “Nothing, I was just thinking about Lorelei.”

  He grinned at me, nodding his head like he knew. “So, got yourself a little lady, did ya?”

  “She’s not a little lady. In fact…never mind.”

  “No, hey, you can’t just say something like that and then say never mind. That’s not how this works.”

  I chewed my lip as I thought this through. I shouldn’t tell him, but I really needed advice. I glanced behind him to the bedroom.

  “Is Sofia still out with the girls?” I whispered.

  His face turned stony. “Yes,” he bit out. “Not that I had any choice in the matter.”

  “Okay, what I say has to stay between us.”

  “Well, you’re in luck that I already updated the town Facebook page on you then.”

  “You did what?” I asked, pulling out my phone. I scrolled through the page and then stared at the page in shock.

  Andrew Cortell, last single brother of the notorious Cortell family, finally met his match. As many of you did over the past few days, Andrew spent his time hunkered down and avoiding the cold. Only he wasn’t alone. That’s right, ladies. Andrew is officially off the market, rescuing the lovely Lorelei as they were caught in the winter storm at her house. And when the power’s out, there are only so many ways to stay warm.

  “The notorious Cortell brothers?” I asked.

  “What?” he shrugged. “This town only has any form of entertainment because we create it.”

  “That’s not something to be proud of.”

  “I am,” he said, as if it was his shining moment on stage.

  “Why the fuck would you put that on the page?”

  “I don’t know. Why would you assume that Sofia was a gold digger?”

  I narrowed my eyes at him. “You know I love her. I’ve apologized. You didn’t need to do this.”

  “I didn’t need to, but it sure was fun. Besides, I posted it before the whole hostage situation at the grocery store. Had I known that was going to happen, there wouldn’t have been a need for this.”

  “There wasn’t a need for it anyway,” I growled. “So, this is why I’ve been having people come up to me and ask questions,” I said to myself.

  “You can thank me later, man,” Joe said, slapping me on the shoulder. “When she sees that you guys have made the town Facebook page, she’s gonna be stoked.”

  “Stoked?”

  He frowned. “Did I use that wrong? Fly,” he said to himself, shaking his head. “No, that’s not right. I’m pretty sure it’s stoked.”

  Ignoring his ramblings, I pointed out the obvious. “Somehow, I don’t think she gives a shit if she makes the town Facebook page.”

  “Right, well…you can’t please everyone. So, what were you going to tell me about her?”

  I sighed, sitting down at the kitchen table. “So, I didn’t exactly meet Lorelei by accident.”

  “What, like you sought her out?”

  “Sort of.”

  “Was this because of Eric?”

  I shook my head. “I got a call about this job, and I met this guy in town. He showed me all these things about a woman that kills men…And that woman was Lorelei.”

  He stared at me wide-eyed, his eye twitching just like Eric’s did when he got all weirded out. “Wait, you’re telling me Lorelei is a serial killer?”

  “No—“

  “She’s with my wife right now!”

  “Sofia’s not your wife,” I said calmly.

  “And you slept with her? What the fuck is wrong with you!” He stood and started pacing the room. “Christ, I thought Josh had problems, but then you run off and start fucking the local serial killer. What the hell is going on in this town? It’s like we’re being overrun by crazy people. I need to call Kat. No, that would tip Lorelei off. I’ll call Corduroy.” He stopped pacing and stared at his phone. “On the other hand, Jack would probably handle the situation better, even if he does hate us.”

  “She’s not a killer,” I said loudly, trying to calm him down.

  He stopped pacing and turned to me, a frown marring his features. “Wait, she’s not a serial killer?”

  “Not that I can tell.”

  “Oh, well, that makes me feel better. So, she gives good head or something and suddenly she’s not a serial killer,” he said, throwing up his hands.

  “That’s not what I meant.”

  “Then what did you mean?”

  “Look, I started out investigating her and…trust me, there are definitely some weird things in her past, but it doesn’t add up to her being a serial killer.”

  “So, did you ask her about those things?”

  I just stared at him. “And how the hell would I do that? Hey, Lorelei, you know I really like you, but when I first talked to you, it was actually because I was investigating you and your serial killer motives. But it turns out, I don’t actually think you’re a serial killer. However, I still would like some clarification on these odd events that happened in your past, so maybe you could tell me what really happened.”

  Joe grimaced slightly. “Well, I wouldn’t put it like that.” Sighing, he sat down at the table with me. “Okay, what kind of weird stuff are we talking about? And make it quick. I don’t want Sofia with a serial killer for too long.”

  I rolled my eyes and got started. “Well, her mother died in her chair at home. They didn’t have an autopsy done or anything. They just had a funeral.”

  “How old was she?” he asked, his brows furrowed in thought.

  “Thirty-eight.”

  “That’s a little young to just die of natural causes.”

  “That’s what I thought too.”

  “Okay, what else?”

  “Well, her friend Matthew died of a heart attack at eighteen.”

  He nodded. “Another young death.”

  “And her fiancé died in a car crash. He was about eight years older than her at the time.”

  “Wait, didn’t her husband just die?”

  I nodded. “But he was older,” I said quickly.

  “How much older?”

  I winced. “Late forties?”

  “Christ,” he said, running his hand through hair.

  “The stepson wanted me to investigate her. He thought she was a black widow.”

  Joe shook his head. “No, she’s not a black widow.”

  “See? That’s what I thought.”

  “No, she’s just your regular old-fashioned serial killer.”

  “No—” I started, but he interrupted me.

  “Yes, I hate to break it to you, bro, but you have a killer on your hands. Tell me this…have any weird things happened since you met her?”

  I thought back to all those accidents and shook my head. “They were all accidents.”

  “Sure,” he nodded. “So, bad things just naturally happen around her.”

  “It would seem that way.”

  “No, it really is that way. You’re just too blinded by her to fucking notice.”

  I sighed and slumped back in my chair. “I knew I shouldn’t have told you about this.”

  “Right, because then when you disappear, I wouldn’t have any leads. Good plan.”

  “I’m telling you, I’ve spent time with this woman. She’s not a serial killer.”

  “Fine, prove it.”

  I looked at him incredulously. “How?”

  He shrugged, arms crossed over his chest. “If she’s as innocent as you say, then prove that she’s not a serial killer.”

  I scrambled for some way to explain what I felt about her, or how it all just seemed like random coincidence
s, but there was no way to prove it. So, I just threw out some shit and hoped it was enough.

  “Every time something has happened, it’s really random, like there’s no way she could have been trying to kill me.”

  “Like what?”

  “Okay, like there was this time that she threw a wrench and it just barely missed my head. But her head was under the hood of the car. There’s no way she could have seen me.”

  He stared at me with a bored expression. “Serial killers are always aware of their surroundings.”

  “Okay, but when the tub fell through the ceiling, she couldn’t have known the floor would give out.”

  He leaned forward. “Unless she already knew how weak the floor was and knew how much pressure to apply to make the thing fall through the floor.”

  “No—“

  “The problem is, you’re not thinking like a serial killer.”

  “Okay, fine, you want proof?”

  “I think a little proof is in order here.”

  “Fine, every time I show up at her place, she’s doing something different.”

  “Ooh, you really got me there. A serial killer with varying interests. Now I’m convinced.”

  “I’m serious, man. She paints and crochets. She fixes cars and she’s amazing with an axe—“

  “I thought you were supposed to be convincing me of her innocence.”

  “I’m telling you, she’s told me about her past and there’s no way she’s a serial killer.”

  Joe sighed and leaned back in his seat, rubbing the heels of his hands into his eyes.

  “Look, you believed that Sofia had changed when she came here. You saw something that none of the rest of us saw. Isn’t it possible that I see the same thing?”

  “Like, you think she’s suddenly given up her serial killer tendencies?” I growled in anger and he held up his hands. “Alright, alright. Let’s say that this woman isn’t a serial killer. Unlikely, but let’s give her the benefit of the doubt. So, she’s just a random chick and bad shit happens to her.”

  “Yeah,” I nodded.

  “So, your problem is that you investigated her, dug into her life and got close to her so that you could find out if she actually was a serial killer.”

  “Black widow,” I corrected.

  “Right, well, so now your problem is that you feel you need to tell her.”