I turned away, knowing what he was asking. He wanted me to open up to him, to share my secrets, but I wasn’t ready for that yet. I couldn’t tell him the things he needed to know.
“Some secrets are better left unsaid. There has to be a certain level of trust there. And if there’s not enough trust, those secrets can tear people apart.”
We stared at each other for a moment, and I could feel his need to ask or say something. I could see it in his eyes. He was so close, but then the lights flickered on and the moment was broken. He glanced away and stood, leaving the room. I got up to walk around the house, sure that the power would go out at any moment, but it didn’t.
“They must have fixed the power.” I cringed, hating that I had just stated the obvious, but things felt awkward now and I didn’t know what to say.
He walked out of the laundry room where the furnace was and nodded. “Yeah, I made sure the furnace started up.”
I could hear it kicking on and glanced around, wondering what the hell to say now. I just had to go and bring up that shit about secrets. Now he was probably wondering what all of mine were, and the longer I held out and refused to tell him, the more suspicious he would get.
He frowned and pulled his phone out. I caught sight of the very black screen as he lifted it to his ear and answered, like there was someone else on the line.
“Uh-huh. Yeah…Oh, shit…Right…Okay, I’ll be right there.”
Disappointment hit me hard, but I wasn’t sure who it was aimed at, myself or him. He had just faked a phone call to get out of here, but it was my fault because I had made the whole situation uncomfortable.
“Hey, I’m sorry, I’m gonna have to split. My brother has to go into work and his girlfriend isn’t feeling well.”
I nodded at his lame excuse, but gave him a reassuring smile. “I understand. Thanks for helping me with the groceries.”
“Anytime.” He nodded and then walked up to me, hugging me awkwardly. “Well, I guess I’ll see you later.”
He leaned in to kiss me at the same time I turned to kiss him. He ended up kissing my cheek instead and then patted me on the shoulder as he gave me a pained smile.
“Right, well, I’ll see you around.”
Code for I’m getting the hell out of here and I doubt I’ll see you again.
I heard the door close and I followed, locking it before closing myself off in the living room and wrapping myself up in the covers in front of the fire. As I stared at the flames, I thought of how different my life might have turned out. If only I hadn’t killed my mother. If only I didn’t have this huge secret about my father. If only Matthew…Shaking my head, I forced myself not to think about all the what ifs. It would drive me insane, and I already felt like I was losing my mind.
Andrew
I walked out of Lorelei’s house and sat in my truck for a good five minutes beating myself up. I was an idiot. When she said that shit about secrets, it was like she was talking to me. I thought for sure that she knew about the fact that I was investigating her, and I almost fucking said something. But then I thought maybe she was referring to her own secrets and it hit me that she wasn’t ready to tell either. She didn’t trust me. She practically said it as we sat there. She had secrets, but she didn’t feel she could share them with me. And if she didn’t trust me enough to tell me her secrets, what would happen when she found out what I was hiding?
And to make matters worse, I flaked out like a fucking coward, pretending Joe had called me so I could get out of there. I had a feeling she knew it too. What did this mean for us? How did I handle things from here on out? I had seriously fucked up, especially with that pathetic kiss and shoulder slap.
Honestly, things would never be right between us until she knew the truth. I just had to find the right time to tell her. With the storm over and the excuse to stay with her gone, I now had to figure out how the hell to proceed from here. Not to mention that now that both Carly and Kat had spent time with Lorelei, I needed to talk with them and get their opinions on her. Only that would convince Joe that she was safe to be around. If I couldn’t convince him, he would never accept her, and eventually, those fears would be spread around the rest of the family.
Taking a deep breath, I walked into Carly’s townhouse and smiled at Kat and Carly. Since Josh already knew about what was going on, I figured his house was neutral territory. I smiled and walked over to Alessa, picking her up off the ground. Holding her right in front of me, I grinned.
“Hi, Alessa. You’re getting so big.”
She grinned and held out her arms. “So big!”
“That’s right,” I laughed. “Soon, you’re going to be bigger than me.” I made an o with my mouth and she mimicked me. She was the cutest little thing. Sitting down on the couch, I held her in my arms for only a few seconds before she wiggled down off my lap and toddled over to play with some toys.
Josh walked in and slapped me upside the head. “You have to stop talking to her like a baby.”
“She is a baby,” I grumbled.
“She’s a fighter. Last night she punched me in the face. That kid doesn’t need anyone pretending she’s innocent.”
I shook my head at his antics. I knew he wasn’t serious. He would treat her like his little princess for the rest of her life.
“So, what is this all about?” Josh asked, sitting next to Carly.
“Well, as you know, Joe isn’t too sure about Lorelei, and you’ve all spent time with her. So, I want your opinions.”
“Well, she’s not really any fun,” Carly pouted. “She doesn’t like guns, knives, or bombs from what I can tell.”
I nodded. “That’s a good thing.”
She shrugged. “Maybe to you.”
“Let’s not forget that I want Joe to think she’s harmless.”
“Wait, so you want him to think that or you want it to be true?” Josh asked. “Just looking for clarification.”
“Just tell me if you think she could be a killer,” I said frustratedly.
“Well, she’s a damn good hostage negotiator,” Kat grinned. “And she’s really fast. You should have seen the way she was whipping us around the store on the shopping cart. The woman has some mad skills.”
“But is she a killer?”
“You don’t know?” Josh smirked.
“I know she’s not, but I want other people to think so also.”
“You know, I never thought I would see the day when I would want one of my brothers to be in the same position as me.”
“Wondering if your girlfriend is a psychopath?” Carly grinned.
“Exactly. Although, the funny thing is, nobody seemed to care that you were part of the mafia. Maybe that’s the most disturbing part of the whole thing.”
Frustration mounted as they continued to banter. My fists clenched and my teeth were gnashing together. I was ready to burst.
“You guys, let’s just put him out of his misery,” Kat said. “He looks like he’s about to have a coronary.”
“Thank you.”
Kat nodded and continued. “From what I could tell, she seems perfectly normal. I don’t see how anyone could think she’s a serial killer.”
“So, no weird vibes from you?”
She shook her head. “No, she seemed like the new girl in town that seemed confused by all the crazy people.”
“And you?” I asked Carly.
“Well, like I said, she doesn’t sound like much fun, but then again, I didn’t think any of you would be any fun.”
“Hey,” Kat said, trying to sound hurt.
“Can you blame me? The most fun you have is on poker night. It’s a huge let down to go from running for your life to having a quiet life. Every once in a while, I would love it if we had some excitement around here.”
“Ooh, we could start a town poker night.”
“That’s not a bad idea,” Carly nodded at Kat’s suggestion.
“That’s not—“
Carly interrupted me. “An
d we could have theme nights.”
“Poker nights are sacred,” Josh frowned.
“Nobody cares about your sacred poker nights,” Kat waved him off. “I think it’s a great idea. We could get the whole town involved. Maybe do it once a month!”
“Maybe we could have a riverboat theme, like in the movie Maverick.”
“Can we get back on topic?” I asked.
“And we could have a bar,” Kat said excitedly.
“You’re pregnant,” I pointed out.
“And we could have drinks that match the theme of the night,” Carly suggested.
“You girls don’t know anything about poker,” Josh pointed out.
“How hard could it be?” Kat asked. “All reds, full hand jack, and black man’s hand…Sounds simple to me.”
Josh shook his head. “None of that made sense.”
“Well, I can learn as we go.”
“Is it like Bingo when you call out your hand?” Carly asked.
I shook my head, rubbing my hand over my eyes. This was a terrible idea, and way off point of what I was trying to discuss.
“Can we just get back to Lorelei?”
“Oh, she would probably be a lot of fun to play poker with,” Kat exclaimed.
“Not the poker!” I shouted, trying to gain some control here. “The killer thing!”
“Relax, Andrew,” Carly sighed. “She’s fine. There are no crazy vibes there.”
I sighed in relief.
“Of course, if she really is a serial killer, she could just be really good at hiding it, in which case you’ll never see it coming. We’ll just find your body one day.”
“Thanks,” I said sarcastically. “That should really help me convince Joe that she’s totally normal.”
“Well, you know what they say, keep your friends close and your enemies closer.”
I frowned at her. “How does that apply here?”
“Well, if she is a serial killer, and you’re sleeping with her, hopefully you’ll find out some information before you end up dead.” She shrugged like it was no big deal. “It seems pretty clear to me that the closer you are to her, the safer you are.”
“Unless she really is a black widow,” Kat interjected. “Just don’t marry her and you should be fine.”
I scoffed. “Thanks, everyone. This has been very helpful.”
Josh grinned. “Hey, I say ride that crazy train. Look how it ended for me.”
“Yeah, I remember how that ended. I don’t think I want to take that route. Jack hates us enough as it is.”
Josh’s face turned hard and he shook his head. “I can only apologize so many times. I understand that he lost Natalie and it’s killing him, but I didn’t make that psycho come after us.”
This was the first time that I had heard Josh actually take the stance that Natalie’s death wasn’t his fault, and it was nice to hear. I hated the guilt that ate away at him. As sad as her death was, it was because of a man that had a screw loose, not because of him. If someone was stalking one of the women and someone ended up dead because of the stalker, we wouldn’t blame the woman. It just didn’t make sense.
“Well, this hasn’t been helpful at all,” I said standing, “but at least I can say that you don’t think she’s a killer for now.”
“That’s the spirit,” Kat grinned. “Look on the bright side of things.”
I was just about to head into the bakery to get some food when my phone rang. I grimaced as I looked down at the caller ID. It was Barty. I was tempted to let it go to voicemail, but that wouldn’t do me any favors. He would just keep calling.
“Hello?”
“Andrew, I’m calling to check on the progress of your investigation.”
I nodded, looking around town. “Yeah, it’s going.”
“And?”
I scratched the back of my head and sighed. “Look, honestly, I’m not finding anything more than you already have.”
“Are you serious? You come highly recommended and you mean to tell me you’ve found nothing?”
“Look, if we were talking about cybercrime, that would be a different story. You’re asking me to find something from police reports of events that happened years ago.”
“Maybe you don’t understand what’s at stake here.”
“I do, trust me, I completely understand. But I haven’t found anything that would give you a legitimate cause for concern. I’ve tried getting to know her, to get something to slip, but I’m telling you, there’s nothing there.”
“She got to you,” he accused.
She had, and it was fucking unprofessional of me, but the fact was, there was nothing here.
“Barty—“
“Excuse me?”
“Bartholomew,” I said, rolling my eyes. “The fact is, you need solid evidence and it doesn’t exist. Aside from her admitting to killing anyone, there’s nothing there for you to take to the police. I can’t find anything to suggest that Matthew was killed. And while Murray’s death looks suspicious, unless you can find the random fiber they found in the car, there’s nothing to prove she was there. There were a few strands of hair found in the car, but again, no suspect to match. And even if you could match someone, how do you prove that the suspect was in the car at the same time as Murray?”
“What about the lug nuts?”
“I checked with the shop that changed the tires on Murray’s car. According to their records, it was a kid that changed the tires. He was fired after investigators talked to them, even though it was considered an accident.”
“And the tire tracks on the road?”
“All they prove is that he lost control of the vehicle.”
“I thought you said you were good at your job.”
“Again, cybercrime. This is not a cybercrime. I checked into every account she has. Other than the money in her joint account with your father, she has no hidden accounts. She hasn’t moved money around and she’s not hiding it in the Cayman Islands. She has nothing,” I stressed. “This is a dead end.”
“So, you said it would take a confession to make any of this stick.”
“That and so much more. I mean, I’m not a lawyer, but even I can see this is all thin.”
“If you find anything, I want to know immediately.”
My eyebrows shot up in surprise. “You want me to keep going on this?”
“Mr, Cortell, you may be blinded by my step-mother’s charms, but I’m not. I know what she did. Now, you find me that proof and do the job I hired you to do.”
He hung up before I had a chance to say anything else. What the hell was I supposed to do? Keep digging into something that was going to end up nowhere? This was ridiculous. Not to mention that the closer I became to Lorelei, the worse I felt about hiding the fact that I had been looking into her, that I suspected her of murder. I knew now that she couldn’t be a murderer, but that didn’t mean she would be so forgiving about me digging into her and coming over all the time just to get close to her. In fact, I was pretty sure that would be a relationship killer.
Lorelei
I had been painting all day and while it was coming along nicely, I couldn’t help but think about what it would have been like to have Andrew here with me. I hadn’t heard from him in three days. It felt like so much longer. I wanted to call him and apologize, but I didn’t know how to do that without bringing up the topic of secrets. That would blow up in my face big time.
As I stood back and studied my handiwork, sadness crept over me. I thought that once I was back to living in my own space and beginning my new life that I would be happy. But it seemed like my past would follow me around wherever I went.
“Hey, we’re heading out for the night,” Eric said as he walked into the kitchen.
I turned and smiled, though I didn’t feel like it. “Thanks a lot. How’s it coming?”
“Well, I think your bedroom will be a lot easier than we thought. And the windows are supposed to be in this weekend. Things should really warm u
p after that.”
“Thank God,” I laughed. “I won’t have to sleep in front of the fire anymore.”
“You know, I’m sure Andrew would be fine with you staying with him.”
I ducked my head, ashamed to admit that I had screwed up. “We’re not speaking right now. I…I said something and…well, I think it might have ended things between us.”
He looked uncomfortable, shifting from one foot to the other. “Well, we all fuck things up from time to time. Maybe just give him some time.”
I nodded, but I wasn’t sure that would help anything. Eric and his crew left shortly after and I started cleaning up from my project. All that had to be done in the kitchen now was for Eric to put in the crown molding. A knock at the door had me dropping what I was doing. I assumed Eric had left something behind, but when I opened the door, Andrew was standing there.
I stood there, shocked and unsure of what to do. “Uh…hey.”
“Hey,” he nodded.
I still stared at him. “How are you?”
He chuckled slightly. “Can I come in?”
Flustered, I stepped back. “Of course. I’m sorry.”
He stepped inside, but didn’t take his coat off. I was so out of my comfort zone right now. I had always felt so sure of everything around Andrew, but that was before I had gone and fallen for him. Now? I was a ball of nerves.
He ran his hand over the back of his neck and sighed. “I’m sorry about the other night, about running out on you.”
“It’s okay. Your brother needed you.”
He smiled humorlessly. “I think we both know that’s not true.”
I shrugged slightly. “I made you uncomfortable.”
“No, it wasn’t you. It was me. You see…there’s something that I haven’t told you, and I think there are things you haven’t told me. So…I don’t know where to go from here.”
“I don’t know either,” I admitted. “I really like you, Andrew, but I’m not sure you’re ready for what I have to tell you.”
He nodded. “Same here.”
Tangled Web: A Small Town Romance (The Cortell Brothers Book 6) Page 21