~~~~~
"What the fuck?" shouted Jack, torn between climbing into the attic after Gabrie and grilling Darren for information.
"What do you want me to say? I found her wandering on the side of the road. She's barely said a thing to me."
Damn it. Jack paced back and forth in the hallway. Frustration boiled up inside him. Something had happened and he was completely in the dark. He needed to do something. Find whoever had messed with Gabrie and teach them that she wasn't someone to be fucked with. She was under his protection, and anyone who laid a finger on her was dead. "I want you to be angry! I want you to do something besides stand there!"
Darren cocked his head, not fazed at all. "Want me to walk in circles and scream like you? At least I found her."
Jack's fist hit Darren straight in the nose before he even knew what was happening. His twin reared back, hands coming up to either strike back or defend himself, but he never got the chance.
"Stop!"
Both men turned to see Gabrie climbing down the ladder one-handed. Underneath her free arm was a stack of folders. Jack wasn't sure he wanted to know what it was.
"Chris should be here any moment." Jack moved to help her down, but the second his hands touched her scraped and bruised arms, she flinched. "Gabrie..."
"You need to leave." She backed away from him.
Darren moved forward. "Gabrielle, I'm here to help you."
She tightened her lips and held the folders in front of her like a shield. "Here to help me? Then what the hell are these?" She threw the folder and the floor was littered with pictures.
Jack bent to get a better look. What the hell? They were all of a woman. Some of her at a coffee shop, some standing on the street in trashy clothes, some of her undressing.
"Why would this be in your house? Why am I here?" she shouted.
Jack shook his head. He had no idea what she was talking about. "I've never seen these before in my life."
She struggled to catch her breath as she took another step back. "That's my mother. Not when she lived here. Not when she was your fucking maid. When we were in the city. Someone in this house followed her to the city." She crouched down and picked a black-and-white shot of her mother waiting for a bus. "This was taken a week before she was murdered!" she screamed, struggling to catch her breath. "You both need to leave. I want you both out of this house in the next ten minutes."
"It's our house," insisted Darren. "We can figure this out together," he said in a soothing tone.
But Gabrie didn't appear to be buying it. "No, it's my house. Your father left it to me. Now get out or I will have Chris escort you off the property."
Jack blinked a few times. "Dad wouldn't leave anything to you."
"Tell that to Robert Carson," she said with just enough confidence to make him think she might be serious. "Now. Get. Out."
Darren took another step forward and for a flash of a second, Jack saw fear wash over her face. Instinctively, Jack's arm shot out, halting his brother. "She wants us out." He stared at Gabrie the entire time, looking for some sign that it wasn't him who terrified her. That she didn't think he would ever do anything to hurt her.
But all he saw was fear and betrayal. He shook his head and turned to pound down the stairs. He had his wallet and keys in his pocket. All he needed for a night away.
By the time he and Darren reached the front door, Chris was in the entryway. The sheriff opened his mouth to say hi, but something about Jack's face must've silenced him.
Gabrie softly followed them, as though she didn't trust them to leave without her supervision.
As soon as Jack was on the porch, he turned back and met her eyes. "We'll go, but I'm coming back, Gabrie. I promise."
She squared her shoulders and met his gaze. "You step one foot on this property, I'll shoot you."
And in that moment, he believed her one hundred percent.
~~~ TO BE CONTINUED IN PART THREE ~~~
Falling Truth
By
Mallory Crowe
Falling Truth
by Mallory Crowe
All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review. Fonts used with permission from Microsoft.
Copyright © 2015 by Mallory Crowe
Mallory Crowe (2015-04-12). Falling Truth (Cross Falls Saga Part Three) Kindle Edition.
CHAPTER ONE
Jack grabbed a rock off the ground and for the briefest moment considered throwing it at the house. At the last second, he tossed it onto the driveway, where it clattered harmlessly. Frustration bubbled up inside him. He'd never felt so helpless in his life, and there was nothing he could do about it.
"So do you believe her?" asked Darren.
Jack glared at his twin, who somehow managed to embody everything that was making Jack's life a living hell. "Believe her about what? About our dad leaving her everything in his will? About her conspiracy theory that we were somehow involved in her mother's murder? That she was just kidnapped and attacked by Drake? Yes. Okay. I believe every word." He just had no idea what it all meant.
Darren dug the keys to his rental car out of his pocket. "That must've been why Philip didn't want her in the house. He wanted to keep her away from those pictures. It all makes sense now."
Jack ran a hand through his hair and stared back up at his family home, which was no longer his. Gabrie was in there, feeling lost and alone, and he had no idea what Drake had done to her and he was stuck out here.
Darren was wrong. Nothing about this made sense. And he was going to get to the bottom of it. If he couldn't stay with Gabrie to give her some semblance of comfort, he would figure out why his family dragged her into this mess.
Jack strode toward the vacant spot of the driveway where his car was normally parked and cursed again when he remembered that he didn't have a car anymore. "Where did you find her?"
"Off Route 59." Darren eyed Jack as he paced back and forth across the drive. "Why? Are you going out there?"
"You heard what she said. Drake tied her up just like whoever killed her mom. Now you and I both know Drake's too dumb to ever get away with murder. So that means he probably knows something that could explain why Dad had all those pictures in the attic."
"If you're going out there, I can drive. I have a better idea of where she was coming from than you." Darren didn't mention that Jack no longer had a car since he totaled it, but Jack was still too pissed to be grateful.
"And why is that? You just roll into town and somehow know exactly where to look."
Darren stood straighter and stared him down. "If you want to say something, then say it."
Jack shook his head as he thought of the thousands of things he wanted to shout at his brother. "Why didn't you know who she was?"
Darren's brows drew together. "What are you talking about?"
"You never realized she used to live here? That we knew her?"
Darren's shoulders tensed as he glared at Jack. "Get in the car," he snapped as he turned to his own car and got behind the wheel.
For a moment, Jack hesitated. What if Darren had something to do with this? He was the one who brought Gabrie here. He was the one who found her, as though he knew exactly where she was being held.
But Darren knew exactly where he'd picked up Gabrie. If Jack wanted to track the son of a bitch down, Darren was his best chance. Jack slid into the passenger's seat and Darren yanked the car into gear and peeled down the driveway.
Barely slowing down, Darren turned on to the highway. "Who the fuck are you to question me?"
Jack gripped the door to the car. He'd never seen Darren lose his cool like this before. "I'm just saying, there's some messed up stuff happening."
"Messed up? I leave you alone with Gabriella for two days and you're already sleeping with her."
Jack jerked his head toward Darren at the acc
usation. "How did you—"
"I'm not stupid, Jack. She wanted it to be you. When I found her, she wanted it to be you."
His rage stirred once more, but this time it was directed inwards. Damn it. He should've been there. Should've been there to keep Gabrie safe and been there to watch over her. "How did you know where to look?" Jack's voice cracked.
"You might not have noticed, but I grew up here too. Drake used to get busted for doing dope on Old Man Potter's land all the time back in high school. Figured it wouldn't hurt to stop by."
And he just happened to stop by as Gabrie was walking down the road. Jack had known that Drake used to light up around here. He'd even driven by during his frantic search for Gabrie. Unfortunately, he also knew fifteen other places Drake liked to sneak in a high.
"When I left her with you, I—I know we aren't on good terms, but I never expected you two to grow close."
Jack kept his expression blank. It didn't sound like Darren knew exactly how far he and Gabrie had gone, and somehow telling him the full truth just seemed like rubbing salt in the wound. "I didn't do it on purpose. It was just...between the crash and Dad, something happened."
Darren's fists gripped the steering wheel until his knuckles turned white. "He was my dad too."
"More than mine," muttered Jack.
"What the hell is that supposed to mean?"
Jack scoffed. "Please. You know you were always the favorite."
"You're kidding, right?"
"Dad was always there for you. Every game, every talent show, everything. If you called, he'd come running." It sounded immature when he said it out loud, but he hadn't been in the same room as his brother and father in the past ten years. For the most part, Jack had allowed himself to forget the pain of having a mother who chose suicide over her family and a father who chose his brother over him.
But being back here, saying goodbye to the father he'd spent so much time being pissed at, suddenly the old grudges didn't seem so old.
"Even if Philip came to every football game of mine and not yours," Darren emphasized his point with a look to tell Jack exactly how stupid it sounded, "what right does that give you to steal Gabriella?"
"Last I checked, she's a grown woman and wasn't yours to begin with."
"Last I checked, brothers didn't do that."
Before Jack could respond, a cluster of county and state police vehicles appeared in the distance. Both brothers tensed as they approached the busy scene that surrounded a tiny, wood hunter's cabin. Darren pulled the car to a stop right behind one of the cop cars and immediately one of the officers approached.
Two guys, who were vaguely familiar to Jack, stayed next to the open front door of the cabin. The officer who walked toward the car was a shorter woman who did her best to look as masculine as possible in her tan sheriff's department uniform. She gave a jerk of her head to signal the brothers to get out of their car.
Jack and Darren stepped out in unison as the woman nodded at them. "Hey, guys. Chris said you might be driving out here."
Chris, who was comforting Gabrie back at the house he'd been kicked out of. Jack tamped down his frustration. "He said that, did he? What else did he say?"
The officer smirked at him and he got the feeling she wasn't used to other people asking the questions. "Not much. He was interviewing Gabriella Moss back at your family place. Did she say what happened out here to either of you?"
"She just wanted to get back to Cross Falls," said Darren. "I tried to get her to call the police or talk to me, but when she said no, I didn't try to push her."
And that was a hell of a lot more than Jack got out of her. "She barely said two words to me. But what are you all doing here still? Shouldn't there be some sort of hunting party for Drake?"
The officer glanced between the two of them. "I don't think that's going to be necessary."
"Thank God you found him already." Jack let out a sigh of relief. At least if he wasn't with Gabrie tonight, he could rest easy knowing some psycho wasn't after her.
"It wasn't too hard to track him down," said the officer. "He was already dead when we got here."
~~~~
"He wasn't dead when I left," insisted Gabrie for the fiftieth time.
Chris nodded with the same understanding expression he'd had on since he'd arrived an hour earlier. "I know, and trust me, I believe you. But you did hit him in the head. Who knows if you hit him in exactly the right spot or with enough pressure—"
"No! I would know if I killed him." A sickening feeling sunk into her stomach. Would she know? It's not as if she'd ever murdered someone before.
She squeezed her eyes shut. This wasn't murder. Self-defense. If she whacked Drake in the head too hard, it was only because she was in fear for her life. Chris set a hand on her knee and she flinched at the sudden touch. Her eyes popped open.
"Even if you didn't kill him on purpose, the head is a delicate area. Now I think it's best if we get you to the hospital."
She looked down at the pictures strewn on the coffee table in front of where she and Chris were perched on the couch. All photos of her mother. Some of her in the city, worn down by addiction and poverty. Others when she was younger and fresher. Back when she was working as a maid in the very house Gabrie now owned.
Chris covered her hand with his. "Gabrie."
Her gaze jerked back to his and she blinked a few times to clear her mind, not sure whether her foggy thoughts were due to the overwhelming amount of disturbing information or the beating she'd gotten from Drake. "Yeah?"
"Let's go to the hospital," he said in a firm tone.
Logically, she knew it was safer to go get checked out. But every fiber of her being wanted to race back up to the attic and try to dig up more answers. Why did Philip leave her the house? He must've felt guilty about her mother somehow. Was he the one who killed her? And where did Jack and Darren fit into all this?
Darren hadn't approached her. She was the one who came onto him in the city. But he was the one who got her to move from Raleigh to Hampton Falls. And Jack...
She definitely made the first move with him. But he could've said no. "I feel fine," she lied. "I just need to go back up to the attic to look through a few more boxes." Maybe there was something, anything, that could answer her questions.
Chris squeezed her hand tighter. "I don't think you understand, Gabrie. If that blow to the head did kill Drake, we should establish it was self-defense. Medical records would help your case."
Her eyes widened. "Oh my goodness," she breathed.
"Don't freak out, okay? Drake is a known criminal and there were plenty of people who saw him threaten Jack at Jim's Tavern. This is just normal procedure, okay?"
Gabrie ran a finger through her messy hair and winced, suddenly reminded of her own head trauma. The hospital was sounding like a better idea by the second. "Are you sure?"
"Well, between you and me, I happen to know that the sheriff is completely on your side for this one."
She halfheartedly smiled at his joke and stood. Her sore ribs ached with the motion. Hospital. What did she need to bring to a hospital? An insurance card wasn't an option because she never got coverage after being laid off. That left a purse, phone, and herself. Seemed about right.
Tank padded over to her and pushed his oversized head against her leg. Gabrie wobbled a bit before she caught her balance. "Hey there." She reached down to pat him between the ears and glanced at Chris, who picked up his hat. "We won't be overnight, will we? I need someone to take care of Tank if we're gone."
Chris looked her up and down. "If it were up to me, I'd prescribe a good long sleep. I bet you anything the doctors will let you go almost as soon as we get there. We just need to document the bruises." Gabrie opened her mouth, but Chris must've already anticipated what she was going to ask. "Yes, if you stay overnight I will come back to take care of Tank." He eyed the dog warily.
"Great. His food is in the pantry and his pills are on the counter..." Gabrie drifted
off as she remembered that Chris didn't know the circumstances of how Tank had come to stay with her.
Chris rolled his eyes, but nodded, not appearing too curious about the dog's origins. "I'm glad you're worried about the dog, but you need to start worrying about yourself." He glanced to the stairs. "Do you want me to grab anything from your bedroom?"
"I should be good." She picked up her purse from the chair that blocked most of the entryway. At some point she'd have to either finish her wallpaper removal project or put the furniture back to the correct position, but today wasn't that day. Tomorrow might have to be a rest day too.
As Chris crossed to the front door, Gabrie looked over her progress so far. Really, the large living area was almost completely stripped of the garish floral paper that had covered the walls. Once she sanded it down and got the room painted, it would be striking.
And hers. This whole place belonged to her. She didn't believe it anymore now than she had when Philip Cross's lawyer told her the old man was leaving the place to her.
However, there was one drawback. It was now hers, so that probably meant Darren wasn't going to fund the renovations any longer.
Chris pushed open the door and bright sunlight poured into the room, followed by the blast of heat from the summer air. "Are you ready?"
Gabrie gave Tank one last pat on the head and followed Chris out. "Are you sure I shouldn't drive?" she asked as Chris pulled open the passenger door of his cruiser. Considering the amount of time she'd spent in her teenage years avoiding cop cars, it seemed strange just to hop in.
He shook his head. "On the off chance you have a concussion, I can't let you drive."
"What if they keep me for hours and hours? How am I going to get home?"
He narrowed his eyes at her. "I'll get you home."
"The hospital is only a few minutes away. I can drive and you can follow me the entire way."
"For the love of God, get in the damn car, Gabrie," snapped Chris.
Looked as though she was going to have to bite the bullet on this one. With a sheepish smile, she climbed in and Chris gently shut the door behind her.
Cross Falls Saga - Southern Suspense Box Set Page 13