Mountain Daddy's Fate: A Mountain Man's Baby, Second Chance Romance (Mountain Men of Liberty)

by K. C. Crowne

  But here we were. Not only was he keeping me safe, he was helping to clear my name as well.

  Tears welled up in my eyes, but I wiped them away. Damn pregnancy hormones, I thought to myself. Everything makes me want to cry these days.

  I laid back on the bed and fell asleep. I don’t know how long I was out for, but I awoke to Eli talking.

  “I got in.”

  I sat straight up and rubbed at my sleepy eyes.

  “You got in?”

  “I did. She used the same password for all her social media accounts and even her e-mail. Once I got into one, it unlocked everything. Please tell me you know better than that?”

  I bit my lower lip. “I think I have two different passwords I alternate between.”

  “Do any of them have personal details, things people would know about you in them?”

  “Uhhh yeah, I might need you to help me change my passwords later,” I said with a laugh.

  “Yes, yes we do. Because Jenny here used her birthdate and what I can assume was her favorite band and that made things so much easier for me. She didn’t even try to encrypt it.”

  I was now sitting in the chair beside him, hunkered over the computer, focused on what I could make out of on the screen.

  “So most of her social media is boring - things we already saw from before her death. No messages in Facebook from anyone of interest, she didn’t seem to use it much. Her DMs are empty, and even her e-mail is cleared out - she kept a pretty clean inbox.”

  My stomach fell. It sounded like all of this was a waste of time and we were no closer to the truth.

  “But there was an e-mail in her sent folder,” Eli said. “A very interesting e-mail.”

  He turned the laptop screen to face me.

  To: Peter Simmons

  Peter,

  I can’t believe you. I had your back when you told me that Charlotte left you. I comforted you. I believed you even when she said that you hit her, even though I always said I would believe women first. But I trusted you. I thought I knew you, and that there was no way you could be a wife beater.

  How wrong I was. Clearly, I’m an idiot for ever thinking you could love me. I see you for what you are now, and we are over.

  I’m going to come clean about everything with Charlotte because she didn’t deserve any of this. You convinced me she was a monster, and that was the only reason I was willing to go along with it, but now that I know the truth… Well, we know who the monster is, and it’s not her.

  I know that once I do this, my career will be over too. All my hopes and dreams, gone. All because I was stupid enough to love you.

  Goodbye, Peter. You have officially ruined my life. I hope this haunts you until the end of your days, but somehow, I doubt you will even care. Let’s face it, you never cared about me. You never cared about anyone but yourself.

  My heart stopped.

  Peter had hurt her in more ways than one. While I was glad to have proof of my innocence, reading the e-mail made me sick. Jenny didn’t deserve this. She got pulled into a dangerous game and ended up losing her life because of it.

  I wiped at my eyes as I turned the computer back to Eli.

  “Are you okay?” he asked.

  “I just feel so bad for Jenny,” I said softly.

  “I know, it’s tragic what happened to her. Men like Peter disgust me.”

  “Do you think he killed her when he read this e-mail? Because she never did come clean, so I’m thinking he stepped in to stop her.”

  “Maybe, but we’d need more proof of that.”

  “I want to try and find the proof. I want to do this for Jenny.”

  Chapter 20

  Eli

  Shady Acres Apartments. Almost a fitting name considering all the sketchy things that went down here, I thought as we pulled up outside the apartment complex. It was Charlotte’s idea to go there and see what we could find. I wasn’t entirely certain it was a good idea for her to be traipsing around town, but she was one stubborn woman. When she set her mind to something, well, who was I to stop her? At least I was there to protect her if there was, in fact, any danger lurking around these parts.

  Charlotte was quiet as we walked up to the leasing office doors. I opened the door, and the sound of a bell went off.

  “Welcome to Shady Acres!” a cheery voice called out to us as soon as we’d entered.

  A woman with a blonde bob smiled back from behind a desk. She pushed her glasses up higher on her nose as if to take a closer look at us. Then she gasped.

  “Is that you, Eli Harvey? And Charlotte Grey too? What brings you two fine folks in today?”

  I recognized her face but could barely place her name. That was the problem with small towns though - everyone knew everyone, and sometimes people you didn’t even know knew who you were.

  Charlotte seemed to remember the woman, however.

  “Kayla! It’s been so long. How have you been?”

  The two women hugged as I stood there, the name finally ringing a bell.

  “Kayla? As in Kayla Pickens?”

  “The one and only,” the woman said with a thick, southern drawl. Before I knew what hit me, the woman rushed over to me and hugged me. I stared past her at Charlotte, who was at least smiling. It was the first time I’d seen her smile all day honestly.

  “Wow, I thought you moved away from these parts?” I muttered as she let me go. Everything about the woman was different - then again, she had moved away from Red River sometime in high school, so it had been a long, long time since I’d seen her.

  “Well, you know, this town-- when it sinks its claws into you, it’s hard to let go, right? You know what I mean, Charlotte. Anyway, after graduation, my mom and dad moved back. And after college, well, I followed them back too.”

  Charlotte’s eyes fell at the mention of her running back to town - not that Kayla would have understood the history between us and all that.

  “What brings you back into town, Eli? Last I heard, you were living in Colorado?”

  “Utah actually,” I corrected her.

  “Oh, right,” Kayla said, scrunching up her face as if trying to pull a memory out of her head. “Not sure where I heard Colorado. But I’ve never been out west of the Mississippi, so it’s all the same to me. How the heck have you been?”

  “Well, I’ve been good, all things considered,” I said.

  “And you, Charlotte?” Kayla’s face shifted into one of pain. “I heard about the wedding drama. I don’t know the full story, I try to avoid the gossip, especially about old high school friends.”

  “I appreciate it, Kayla. I really do.”

  “So, what brings the two of you in today? I mean, I know Shady Acres is the premier apartment community in Red River and all, but you two don’t seem like the apartment-renting type.”

  Truth be told, Shady Acres was anything but premier. They tried to dress it up and make it seem fancier with a new marketing gimmick, but it was just your regular old apartments built in the 1970s with very few upgrades since. But I wasn’t about to diss the place to Kayla’s face.

  “Well, truthfully, we were hoping to speak with the apartment manager,” Charlotte said.

  “Good thing you’re looking right at her,” Kayla said with a big smile. “What can I do for you?”

  “Well….” Charlotte looked over at me before continuing. “I’m hoping to get some answers about what happened to Jenny Hancock.”

  Kayla gasped. “Oh, that poor thing. I wasn’t working the day they found her, but I was called in. Such a tragedy. She was such a sweetheart; I can’t imagine what would cause her to do such a thing.”

  “I know, I feel the same way, and I have some questions about what happened that day. You wouldn’t happen to have any security footage? Or any other information about that day?”

  “Hmm, well we do have security cameras, but the cops have already looked over them.”

  “Would it be okay if we also took a look?” Charlotte asked. I didn�
�t even have to step in, she seemed to be handling this well on her own. I stood there with my hands in my pockets, just backing her up in case she needed it. Which from the way things were going, she didn’t seem to.

  “Well, I normally wouldn’t let just anyone check out the security cameras, but I know you two, and I know that you were close to Jenny, so I think I can make an exception this time,” Kayla said, winking. “For friends.”

  “Thanks, Kayla, I really appreciate it.”

  Kayla called out to someone else in the office and asked them to watch the office as she led us to a back room. She flipped on a light and took a seat at the computer. There was another seat there, which I motioned for Charlotte to sit down in. I stood behind them as Kayla pulled up the footage.

  “So, this is the footage from that day,” Kayla said. “As you can see, we monitor the walkways and there’s a camera right outside Kayla’s apartment. That’s her door right there, in fact.”

  People came and went, and Kayla sped up the video. No one came in or out of Jenny’s place for some time. But then she paused, as if she knew what was coming.

  “This is about two hours before the police arrived, and at least an hour before she died according to police.”

  Peter walked into the frame and seemed to be banging on the door. There was no sound, but the way he slammed his fist into the door, I could hear it mentally.

  “He goes inside, he’s in there for about twenty minutes, and then as you see here, he leaves,” Kayla said. “And then no one was in or out until the police arrived.”

  “Do you know why the police were called to begin with?” I asked.

  “No, I’m not sure who called the police or why. But one of the neighbors said she heard arguing before the police arrived.”

  Charlotte looked as pale as a ghost. “That must have been horrible,” she said, her voice low.

  “Do you mind if we talk to the neighbors? See if they remember anything else from that day?” I asked.

  “You’re free to ask, I can’t stop you, but I’m not going to give you permission to disturb my residents. In fact, professionally, I’d like to ask you not to, but-- well, that poor girl. I don’t feel like the police are doing enough for her.”

  “We don’t either,” Charlotte said softly. “We want to get to the bottom of this.”

  Kayla looked over at me. “I heard you’re in security now, and pretty good at your job, so I trust that you might be able to uncover something that the police couldn’t. Just don’t harass my residents too much, please?”

  “We promise not to bother them if they don’t want to be bothered,” I said.

  “Thank you,”

  Ooo000ooo

  “So, from the looks of it, Peter was out of there before she died,” Charlotte said as we walked the path toward Jenny’s apartment block. “My question is, if the police already saw that, why am I still being treated as a suspect? Clearly no one was there when she died.”

  “I don’t know, it all sounds pretty fishy to me,” I said as we rounded the corner. Jenny’s apartment was still sealed off with police tape. They were townhouse style apartments, and one neighbor on each side. We walked up to the first door, and I knocked softly at first.

  The door opened and a woman of about sixty answered the door, frowning as she did so.

  “Hi there. I’m a friend of your neighbor, Jenny Hancock? Do you mind if we ask you a couple questions?”

  “I already told the cops I wasn’t home the day she died. I was visiting my son in Phoenix for the week.”

  “Did you notice anything weird prior to her death?”

  “I didn’t pay attention to her to be honest. I just want to be left alone and not get involved in the drama of others,” the woman said with a sigh. “So, I’d appreciate it if you left me out of this too.”

  She slammed the door.

  “Well, that wasn’t helpful,” Charlotte said.

  “We still have the other neighbor, the one who called the police.”

  We walked past Jenny’s door, and I swear Charlotte seemed to hold her breath as we did so. When we got to the other door, I knocked.

  A young woman of about Jenny’s age answered the door. She offered us a friendly, but confused smile, “Hi, if you’re selling something, I’m likely too poor to buy it,” the woman said with a laugh.

  “Oh no, we’re not selling anything. I’m a friend of Jenny Hancock, your neighbor?”

  The woman’s smile faded. “Oh yes, I’m so sorry about her passing. We weren’t super close, but we’d chat when getting the mail or coming home at the same time. She seemed really sweet.”

  “Thank you,” Charlotte said. “Do you mind talking a bit about what happened the day? I’m trying to find some answers.”

  “Of course, come on in,” the woman said. She reached out her hand. “My name is Sandra by the way.”

  We stepped into Sandra’s apartment and into a small living room. She motioned for us to take a seat.

  “So the day she died, the police said you heard arguing?” Charlotte asked.

  Sandra nodded and tears welled in her eyes. She wiped them away and sniffled. “Yes, I heard screaming and fighting, and later crying. Then, it went silent and I thought everything had calmed down, but then I found out-- well, you know.”

  Charlotte moved over to sit beside Sandra, putting an arm over her shoulder.

  “That must have been so traumatic,” Charlotte said softly.

  “I keep asking myself, why didn’t she come talk to me? Or her brother, they were very close. She had people who loved her.”

  “She did,” Charlotte said soothingly. “Though she didn’t talk much about her brother with me. Do you happen to know his name by chance?”

  “Yes, his name was Josh. He came around every weekend; seemed like a nice enough guy. He really cared about her. I don’t know many older brothers who drive all the way from Nashville every weekend to spend time with their little sister, but he was always around. Every weekend, without fail.”

  “Thank you, Sandra,” Charlotte said. “And you’re sure she was alone when it all happened?”

  Sandra nodded. “Yes, I heard someone leave about an hour before, maybe less. I heard the door slam and the screaming finally stopped.”

  “Did you hear what they were fighting about?”

  “I tried not to listen, I put my headphones in because it was giving me a headache, but they were talking about Twitter and Instagram. I guess she wanted to post something and he didn’t want her to. I just tried to mind my own business.”

  “I understand.” Charlotte looked over at me, and I had to admit, I was at a loss for words. I folded my hands in my lap and stared down at them. Hearing about the last moments of this poor girl’s life was wearing on me, but I knew it was likely harder on Charlotte and Sandra, the two of them actually knew her.

  They comforted each other. Two women who were pretty much strangers before we’d arrived. Now they were talking like old friends, reminiscing about their mutual friend and every now and then, one of them would even giggle during a happy memory.

  I didn’t want to interrupt them, so I kept to myself. After some time, I decided to do some work - and grabbed my phone. I started searching for a Josh Hancock from Nashville, and sure enough, I found the contact information for three of them. Only one of them was older than Jenny, however, so that narrowed it down easily.

  “Thank you so much for your help, Sandra,” Charlotte said after some time.

  “No, thank you. It was so nice to talk to someone who knew her. Someone who gets it.”

  “Did the police speak with you?” Charlotte asked.

  “Barely,” Sandra said with a sigh. “They took my report, but said since there was a suicide note, they wouldn’t need much else from me.”

  “There was a note?” both Charlotte and I asked at the same time.

  “MmHmm, apparently she left a note, but they wouldn’t tell me what it said.”

  Charlotte and I
shared a look. There was never any mention of a note. Even Teddy hadn’t mentioned it and he told me every detail he could get about the case.

  Charlotte and Sandra said their goodbyes, and as we left her apartment, Charlotte asked me. “I wonder what she said in that note, and why no one has mentioned it until now. Do you think her brother might know more about that?”

  I was already on the phone.

  “There’s only one way to find out.”

  Ooo000ooo

  Josh Hancock looked a lot like his sister, or at least from what I could tell based on photos of her. He was two years older than her with the same chestnut brown hair and brown eyes. When he sat down to join us at the cafe, his eyes were rimmed with red. He rubbed at them and sniffled, trying his best to hide the fact that he’d been crying.

  “Thank you for meeting with us, Josh,” Charlotte said, reaching her hand out to his. “I am so very sorry about what happened with Jenny.”

  I had been worried, when I called him, that he might not be willing to meet with Charlotte and I, especially if he’d been following what had happened on social media. But he was more than willing when I explained that we were trying to get to the bottom of what happened to her.

  Josh shrugged and looked at his hands. “Yeah, well, it seems like the cops couldn’t care less about my sister. When you guys called, I thought, hey, at least someone gives a damn about her and might look into what happened.”

  “Do you think someone might have done this to her?” I asked, trying to be polite as possible in my phrasing.

  “The suicide? No, I’m pretty sure she did that herself. She had called me before it happened and we walked - she said she was tired of always being a screw up and the world would be better off if she were dead. That’s why I called the cops.”