Victor was the other officer who lost his job at the same time Chase had. Josh had mentioned him to me in our first conversation. Victor obviously blamed Chase for what happened, and now he’d gone out of his way to ensure Chase paid for turning on him.
“Need I remind you that I lost my wife? I lost my job. I didn’t breeze through life either.” Chase held his arm up, urging me back. “I made mistakes that I also paid for.”
Victor shook his head, the gun remaining at Peyton’s head but teetering with every movement. The man was so unstable that he could accidentally pull the trigger at any time.
“I can’t feel sorry for you,” he muttered. “You were always the golden boy. You fell, but you rose from the pit of despair and remade yourself. You got a new job. You got another pretty girlfriend. It’s like everything you touch turns to gold.”
“That’s not true, Victor. I’ve had a lot of struggles. I’ve just tried to make the most of them.”
“You sound so self-righteous. Meanwhile, men like me toil away with no fame or glory or reward. But all of that is going to change.”
“Listen, why don’t we talk about this like two rational human beings? Like two former colleagues? Let everyone else go. Peyton and Holly have nothing to do with what happened between the two of us. Let’s not make a bad situation worse.”
Victor sneered again. “I can’t do that. They’ve seen my face. They know who I am and what I’m doing. I don’t want to go to jail.”
“Why are you doing this? Why turn to a life of crime?” Chase asked, changing tactics. “You’ve been impersonating a police officer. Abducting people. Probably murder.”
“Crime pays. All that stuff in grade school that they told us? It wasn’t true. I’ve found theft, murder, and extortion to be very profitable.”
“Why did you kill Aidan Jennings?” I asked. At least my question would buy time and keep him talking. Maybe it would give Jamie a chance to call the police and give them time to arrive.
“Aidan was friends with Linwood—”
“Who’s Linwood?” Chase asked.
“He was a security guard at Wyndmyer. Linwood ran his mouth to Aidan about our little side business here, and then Aidan threatened to turn us in if we didn’t let him be a part of it all. We had to take care of him. We couldn’t take that risk.”
“So you dumped his body and planted the weapon near me?” Chase asked. “Why did you even bother to show up before I could be implicated?”
“Because those fools that I work with forgot to wipe it down for prints. I saw you outside before I could grab it, and I knew I had to take action.”
“You’ve been trying to set Chase up for Aidan’s murder,” I muttered. “You sent me that e-mail that was supposedly from Chase, confessing the crime. And I’d bet the only reason you showed up at Magnolia’s was to see what Jamie and I knew and to plant more suspicions in my mind about Chase. You hoped I would report him myself.”
“Chase needs to take some of the blame!” Victor was a man on the edge of losing it. Anyone could see it in the way his eyes bulged, his voice rose, and his muscles trembled. “He’s the reason I had to turn to this life.”
Chase shook his head and jabbed a finger into his own chest. “I took the blame for what I did. I’ve faced my consequences. You have to take responsibility for yourself.”
Victor’s nostrils flared. “You need to pay for your role in all of this. But my plans kept getting thwarted, thanks to her.” Victor pointed his gun at me. “I thought at least that she would lead me to you, but she didn’t even do that.”
But there was one thing I didn’t understand. Victor obviously saw an opportunity and tried to set Chase up. But how had he known Chase was going to be here in Louisville? He’d threatened Peyton and Winston with his extortion plot. He couldn’t have guessed Peyton would call Chase. Yet every detail seemed so carefully planned.
Something gnawed at the back of my mind as I tried to fit the pieces together.
“Chase, help me!” Tears glimmered in Peyton’s doe-like eyes.
I still hadn’t put all of this together, but the picture was becoming clearer. There was a lot of manipulation involved. Greed. Revenge.
It had all of the makings of a great story—if we survived.
Victor’s grip on Peyton remained firm. All he had to do was flip the gun toward her, and he could take her out. It was too risky for her to run or for Chase to charge at them.
“Let her go,” Chase urged. “Please. She’s already been through enough.”
Some of the crazy left Victor’s face, replaced with a smirk. “Fine, I’ll trade you. You come here, Chase, and I’ll let Peyton go.”
“Chase, don’t do it!” I whispered.
He turned his head slightly toward me but never took his eyes off Victor. “I’m sorry, Holly. You know I can’t have anyone get hurt. Not if I can help it.”
Tears glimmered in my eyes. I wasn’t sure what was going on between Chase and me. I knew I still cared for him, though, and I didn’t want to see him hurt . . . or worse. But I had no doubt in my mind that he would trade his life for Peyton’s. He wouldn’t let someone else suffer in his place.
“Fine. We’ll make this between you and me.”
“I know you have a gun on you,” Victor said. “Put it on the ground.”
Chase frowned and pulled out his Glock. He placed it on the gravel and stepped forward. “Just let her go.”
I stared at his gun. Could I grab it? Would I be fast enough? Or would Victor shoot me as I tried?
I rubbed my lips together.
Victor gave me a little “Ah ah ah” like a dad might do when a toddler veered close to a hot stove. He must have seen me eyeballing the weapon.
“Kick it toward me,” he said.
Too many lives were on the line for me to act impulsively. With regret, I did as he said, watching as the weapon skimmed across the gravel.
As soon as Chase moved close enough, Victor grabbed him and held his gun to his temple. His grip on Peyton slipped, and she scrambled away.
I expected her to join me, to find safety in numbers like normal people did. Instead, she grabbed Chase’s gun.
I held my breath, waiting to see how things would play out.
Would she shoot Victor? Would Chase get away?
Or would Victor react first?
A tremble rushed through me.
I sucked in a deep breath when, instead of raising the weapon to Victor, she pointed it at me. What was going on?
“You should have never gotten yourself involved in this, Holly,” she muttered. “You weren’t a part of the plan.”
Chapter Thirty-Six
“Peyton? You’re a part of this?” Hurt dripped in Chase’s voice. He’d had no idea.
I’d had no idea.
How had this slipped past everyone? Maybe everyone except Jason. He’d warned us that Peyton was a manipulator. I just had no idea she would take it this far.
“I’m sorry, Chase.” Peyton kept the gun on me. Her voice lacked sincerity, despite her so-called apology. “I didn’t want to do any of this. But I didn’t have much choice.”
“You always have a choice, Peyton.” Chase shook his head, the hurt in his eyes proving that this betrayal had cut deep. “That whole thing about Winston—you made it up, didn’t you?”
“No, I didn’t. He is in trouble. Financial trouble.” She grabbed my arm and kept the gun on me.
“Why?” Chase asked. The hurt in his eyes had turned to anger—pure anger. “Why would you do this, Peyton? Why get me involved in your problems?”
She straightened, suddenly as cool as a cucumber. The sweat across her forehead, her cowering stance, the fear in her voice—it had all been an act. She was exactly the kind of person I despised.
“Thanks to Linwood, Victor found some information on Winston and how he’d messed with the starting gate,” Peyton said. “Victor threatened to go public with what he knew. “
That must be whom Jason overheard Winston ta
lking to that day.
“Victor tried to blackmail us, which was a problem since we’re on the verge of bankruptcy,” Peyton explained. “Victor made a deal with me. If I helped to frame Chase, he’d stay quiet.”
“So you used me.”
“You’ve got to understand, Chase—Winston would have gone to jail, and we would have lost everything we’d worked so hard for.”
“Again, you think you’re the most important person in the world,” Chase said, bitterness creeping into his words. “I should have known better than to think you’d changed, Peyton. I couldn’t have been more wrong.”
“I didn’t know everything that Victor had planned. I thought it was just blackmail. I had no idea about the rest.”
Chase stared at her, shooting daggers with his eyes. Whoever had coined that expression had been spot on. But I had more important things to think about at the moment. Like buying time. And what better way to buy time than to try and connect some of these puzzle pieces?
“Where’s your husband now, Peyton?” I asked. “He’s not visiting a sick mom in Georgia.”
She snorted. “No, of course not. He’s hiding out in the Caribbean until all of this blows over. We just needed an excuse so people wouldn’t ask questions.”
“How could you, Peyton? I never thought you would stoop this low,” Chase said. “I might have expected something like this from Victor.”
“Enough talking. Both of you. Inside. Now.” Victor pointed toward the house.
Begrudgingly, I drug my feet toward the house. Both Peyton and Victor had guns, so I didn’t see any heroic moments coming when we could slap their weapons away. It was too dangerous.
They pushed us inside, through the dilapidated house, and down the stairs into the basement. I nearly took a tumble, but I grabbed the railing just in time and stopped myself from cracking any more ribs.
Just as I righted myself and Chase’s hands circled my waist to steady me even more, I heard a click behind me.
They’d locked us down in this dungeon-like pit.
* * *
I glanced around the room and shivered. It was dark down here. Really dark. It smelled dank, and I imagined creepy crawlies every time I closed my eyes. Footsteps faded upstairs.
They’d left us here, I realized.
Thoughts of starving to death threatened to overtake me.
No, I had to keep a cool head. There was one window, but it was up high and it was narrow. I didn’t even think I could fit through it. But maybe there was another way out.
Chase climbed the steps and rattled the door, to no avail. He stomped back down and stood in front of me, his hands on his hips and a look of intense concentration on his face. Even in the darkness, I could see it, thanks to the one small window.
“I can boost you up to the window,” Chase said.
“It’s worth a try.”
We walked to the wall, and my throat went dry as I spotted the cobwebs there. I could do this. I had to put aside my inside-girl persona for the moment.
Chase boosted me up, and I reached the sill. Balancing precariously in his hands, I tried to nudge the window open. “It’s no use. It’s stuck.”
“I figured as much,” Chase said.
He moved his hands, and I dropped down into his arm with a little gasp. The start of a smile tugged at his lips, but it quickly disappeared. He set me on my feet and began pacing again.
“Jamie is in the woods. She’ll call the police.”
He nodded. “That would be nice.”
“I also texted Josh earlier. He can probably track us down.”
His eyebrows quirked up. “You know Josh?”
I shrugged. “I do now.”
“What else do you know?”
“I’ve discovered quite a bit. But the important thing right now is that there’s an arrest warrant out for you.”
He let out a long breath and ran a hand over his face. “I didn’t know Victor hated me this much.”
“Why does he hate you so much?”
“I was the one who caught him stealing those drugs, as you probably heard earlier. He begged me not to turn him in, but I did it anyway. He lost his job. I lost my job maybe a month later because I was searching for Hayden’s killer off books.”
“Did you know his hatred of you ran this deep?”
“No. Maybe I should have. I mean, he trash-talked me every chance he had. But I thought by now he would have gotten over it. Apparently, it’s been building up all these years.”
“It sounds like he blames you for everything.”
“I wanted him to get help, Holly. I really did. I told him he should turn himself in, and maybe they would be lenient with him.”
“People have to face up to the consequences of their decisions,” I told him.
Chase paused in front of me, studying my face until I flushed. I wanted to look away, but I didn’t let myself. I had to face up to the consequences of my decisions, as well.
“What were you thinking coming here to Louisville, Holly?”
I pointed to myself. “Me? It sounds like you weren’t doing much thinking either when you came here.”
He shook his head and continued pacing. “Peyton was in trouble.”
“And you couldn’t stop yourself from helping a damsel in distress?” I wanted to smack myself as soon as the words left my lips. I hated being reactionary, but that’s exactly what I was being.
“Holly, you’ve got this all wrong. This was never about wanting to get back together with Peyton.”
“Then why couldn’t you tell me?”
“Because I promised Peyton I wouldn’t. I’ve already failed Peyton miserably in the past, Holly. I’ve told you before that I was a terrible husband. I want to make things right. I want to make it up to her that I wasn’t there, that I didn’t fight harder for our marriage. I couldn’t say no.”
“I see.” I’d surmised that much, that Peyton might have played on Chase’s guilt.
“My question is: Why would you ever think that I’d gotten back with her? I thought you knew me better than that.”
I frowned. “I didn’t want to believe it. Then I saw the two of you hugging at the horse track. It looked . . . intimate. It sealed the deal for me.”
He shook his head. “Peyton had to whisper something to me. She thought the men who supposedly abducted Winston were there at the races watching her. The hug wasn’t what it looked like. It was just a private conversation.”
I felt foolish. If I’d only stuck to my optimistic side, none of this would have happened. But it was too late to undo the past.
“How does what happened at the stables fit in with all of this?” At least if I died, I’d die with some answers.
“I was hoping to find something to get Alexander on. I felt certain he was behind the abduction of Winston. That’s what Peyton had led me to believe, but obviously none of it was real. She knew if she mentioned Alexander, I wouldn’t be able to say no. I don’t know how I could have been so stupid.”
“Peyton is the villain in this situation, Chase. She’s . . . well, selfish, to put it nicely.”
He ran a hand over his face. “I don’t want to think about her right now. I’ve wasted too much of my life with her shenanigans. About the stables. I originally went to look for Winston. I thought if Alexander abducted him, that maybe I’d find some evidence there. I didn’t find him, but I did find some vials that proved someone had been doping his horses. I went back to try and take pictures and get some evidence. I figured if we could frame Alexander for doping his horses, maybe he’d fess up about Winston and Hayden. That’s when I saw you.”
“That man who got beaten up, who was he?”
“One of the vets. He was giving anabolic steroids to the horses for a hefty paycheck. He claims Alexander doesn’t know, but that his horse trainer was behind it.”
“Is the vet okay?”
Chase nodded. “I tracked him down. He’s fine, but he’ll be losing his license.”
> “I’m glad he’s okay, at least.”
Chase let out a long breath. “You shouldn’t have come, Holly. I’m not sure I can protect you from all of this.”
“I never asked you to protect me.”
“I love you. How could I not want to keep you safe?”
“You . . . you love me? Still?” My voice held so much vulnerability that my cheeks warmed. But I’d been certain that I messed everything up, beyond the point of repair.
His face softened. “Of course I do. Do you know how hard this was to keep from you? Do you know how hard it was when I saw the hurt look in your eyes when I told you I was going somewhere?”
I sighed. “I can imagine.”
He sat down on the steps. His entire frame looked burdened, like he had chains dragging him down, preventing him from moving. He shook his head. “I can’t believe Peyton was involved in this.”
I sat down beside him. “She’s beautiful. I can see why you fell for her.”
He turned toward me and gently brushed the backs of his fingers against my cheek. “Beauty has to be more than skin-deep, though. That’s why I fell for you so quickly. You’ve got both.”
“Oh, Chase.” My head fell against his shoulder, regret pressing on me. “I’m so sorry. I really messed things up.”
His arm, heavy and strong, stretched across my back as he pulled me closer. “No, I’m sorry. I should have handled things differently. I was trying to protect everyone, and I ended up protecting no one.”
“You couldn’t have known.”
“I just want to take the wrongs in my life and make them right.”
“It’s an admirable quality.”
We sat silently for a moment.
“I’m kind of surprised that Jamie isn’t here yet,” he finally said.
At his words, fear rippled through me. What if something had happened to her? What if Victor had found Jamie and done something horrible?
Please, Lord, no . . .
“I just can’t figure out what they’re planning from here.” Chase stared at the floor and shook his head. “This isn’t the end of it.”
Another chill rushed up my spine. “They could leave us here to die.”
“That wouldn’t be poetic enough. This whole time, Victor’s wanted to ruin my reputation. I have a feeling that’s still his endgame.”
Random Acts of Malice (Holly Anna Paladin Mysteries Book 3) Page 20