Chris glanced at Steve, needing his support. He flinched at Brian’s blunt question.
“I have to ask these questions,” Brian assured her.
“I know. I just don’t want to answer them. I don’t want you to think—”
“My opinion of you was formed a long time ago. Don’t let what I think stop you from telling me what happened. The story needs to be told so you can put all this behind you.” He waited for her to agree. She nodded for him to continue. “So whose idea was it?”
“I’m not sure. It just kind of happened.”
“Was it yours?”
“No.” She rubbed her throbbing forehead with a fresh headache. “Everything we did was so petty compared to that. I didn’t want to do it, but I was stuck with them.”
“Why didn’t you go to the cops?”
“I wanted to, but they threatened to kill Steve. I couldn’t let them do that.”
Brian lowered his tall frame into the nearest chair. “Why did you use your sister’s name?”
“Steve met Carol first.” She fidgeted. The questions were delving more and more into her possible criminal activity. “The idea was for Carol to become romantically involved with him and sucker him.”
“Even though she was married?”
“That didn’t bother her. She was always playing Cory and Jeff against each other. I think she married Jeff to spite Cory. The whole idea for the kidnapping didn’t evolve until it became obvious Steve was getting serious about her. That’s when Carol got the idea for us to switch places. She balked at being married to two men at once. I’m not sure why. She didn’t stop at much else.” She snorted her contempt for Carol’s behavior. “Jeff agreed with her, but Cory didn’t like it. He didn’t want me near Steve. He was afraid I’d blow it. They overruled him.”
“Then what happened?”
“When I found out I was pregnant, I told Carol I wouldn’t do it. I think that’s when she told Cory…” She couldn’t continue. The memories were still fresh enough to be raw, open wounds.
That’s when Carol had told Cory her sister had to die.
Once again, Steve came to her defense. “There’s no need for her to recount that. Not right now.” He motioned toward the door. “Let’s take this discussion outside and let her rest.”
****
Steve grabbed Brian and tugged him out the door into the hallway. They dodged a nurse as she scrambled past them to a Code Blue.
“So what are you going to do?” Steve asked once they were out of Chris’s earshot.
Brian scratched his head. “Nothing. She hasn’t done anything criminal in my jurisdiction.”
“Yeah…but what about—”
“She’s a victim of a kidnapping. Her kidnapper died tragically. If she’s implicated in any wrongdoing in Virginia, are you going to bring it to the attention of the local cops?” Brian’s sharp stare punctured his objections.
Steve pushed his point anyway. “They know you’ve been digging into it. What if they start asking questions?”
“Well, I would think without your testimony there would be no case.”
“What about—”
“This is what I think. Your wife Carol West is dead.” He growled at Brian’s blunt statement. That’s what he’d been trying to disprove for years. Brian raised a hand. “Bear with me.” He backed off, giving the man room, but only just a little, to explain his position. “The man who called himself Jeff Osborne died in a tragic accident on Highway 550, and his body is likely to never be recovered.”
“There’s no need for that.” He didn’t want Brian jamming himself up with the local populace. If he and Chris had to take a licking in the justice system to get past this, they would. Together. He promised her he wouldn’t leave her. He meant to keep that promise. Even if he had to visit her in jail for a few years.
“I ran a records check on your foreman because I thought he acted suspiciously. The man named Jeff Osborne had an arrest record in Texas. If I’m questioned about Jeff Osborne, of course, I’ll have to tell what little I found out, but I doubt if I’ll be questioned. The man who called himself Jeff Osborne is dead. Who’s going to ask me about Cory Powell? Nobody.”
“So what do you want me to do?”
“My recommendation is that you go back home to Virginia and marry your new girlfriend.” He glared at Brian. Then, the significance of his suggestion dawned like a beautiful sunrise. Brian was offering them a fresh start—an offer Steve couldn’t refuse.
Brian slapped him on the back. “Go back in there and tell her everything is going to be okay.” Brian smiled. “Now…I have a certain redheaded nurse I need to speak with. I have my own life to straighten out. You go take care of yours.”
Steve watched Brian as he sauntered down the hall toward the elevators, and then sucked in a deep breath before entering Chris’s room. She gazed up at him with the light of love shining in her blue eyes—eyes that now sparkled with hope instead of blazing with fear and horror.
“As soon as Dr. Evans releases you, we’re going home.” He paused one delicious moment. “And then…we’re getting married.”
She laughed. “Steve, I’m already married to you. I thought we established that. What has this all been about if not to indentify me as your wife?”
“No. Carol Stone was married to me, but she’s dead. I want you to marry me using your real name. And this time…do you think we could take another shot at happily ever after?”
“Well…”
“Come back to Virginia and marry me.” He wasn’t giving up. He needed her with him. He needed her to know that without any shadow of doubt.
She smiled and took his hand. “All right. I will. I can’t think of anywhere I’d rather be than with you. If you want me to be your wife, then I’ll be your wife.”
A word about the author...
Denise Moncrief is a Southern girl who’s lived in Louisiana all her life. And yes, she has a drawl. She's been writing off and on since she was seventeen. She has a wonderful husband and two incredible children. They not only endure her writing moods, but also encourage her to indulge her passion.
She wrote her first “novel” when she was seventeen. It was seventeen handwritten pages on school-ruled paper and an obvious rip-off of the last romance novel she read. The urge to write wouldn't let go of her. In her twenties, she started another novel, only to abandon it after Chapter Four or Five. She started writing seriously about eight years ago and has already published several stories.
Other Books You Might Like
An Impostor in Town by Denise Moncrief
http://amzn.com/B00DNOKT06
Death Stretch by Ashantay Peters
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Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright
Praise for Denise Moncrief
Dedication
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Other Books You Might Like
Thank you for purchasing this publication of The Wild Rose Press, Inc.
Purgatory (Colorado series) Page 16