Husband For Hire (A Billionaire Fake Marriage Romance)

by Caitlin Daire

  “Isn’t it worth checking out anyway?” she said. “I mean, on the very slim chance that it is him… if I were Amy, I’d want to know what the man I sleep next to every night was capable of. And I don’t think it’s any coincidence that Dean just so happens to be from Haplin.”

  “True. Okay, how about this—we’ll go and talk to Amy first, instead of charging in and accusing Dean. We’ll find out what she knows about Dean’s connection to his hometown, and then we’ll take it from there.”

  Indi nodded, satisfied by that. “I think she’s in their room. She went there after what happened with Mike and Neil. Pretty much everyone is either at the bar or hiding in their rooms right now.”

  “I assume Dean is with her. If so, I’ll take him aside for some guy-talk while you quietly ask Amy all the stuff.”

  “Got it.”

  We headed to the second floor, where the Browning’s room was. After knocking four times, Amy answered. Her eyes were fearfully wide. “Hi, you two. Is everything okay?” she said. Then she put her hand on her chest. “God, I almost had a heart attack. I was half-expecting you to be that crazy murderer knocking.”

  “Sorry. We just wanted to talk to you. Is Dean around, by the way?”

  She shook her head and beckoned us into the room. “Just me,” she said. “What’s going on? I overheard someone earlier downstairs… they were saying something about another body being found?”

  “It was Stephen,” I blurted out.

  She looked confused for a few seconds. “Stephen who?” she asked. Then her eyes widened. “Wait, as in Ed Kramer’s son? I thought he left.”

  “Nope. So with him, Ed and Neil dead, it looks like there might be some sort of family connection to the killings. Aside from Mike. He was probably just in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

  Her eyes widened. “Oh my god. Did you hear this from the sheriff?”

  “No, we figured it out ourselves. We’ve told him and the deputy, though. They’ve gone off to recover Stephen’s body from the forest.”

  She shook her head wearily and slumped down to the sofa. “God, this is awful. I don’t know how much more we can take.”

  Indi sat next to her and soothingly rubbed her back. “I’m sure it’s all going to be over soon. Let’s try not to worry ourselves too much,” she said. She paused for a moment before trying to casually segue the conversation. “Anyway, we were wondering about something....”

  “What?”

  “We were just playing a game to try and distract ourselves while all this stuff is going on. We made a bet that I couldn’t remember where everyone’s from, but I’m pretty sure I do. You and Dean first met in Sioux City, right?”

  Amy nodded. “Yes,” she said. The look in her eyes told me she was somewhat confused about the abrupt change of subject, and I cursed myself for mentioning Stephen and the murders at all.

  “Has he told you much about his hometown? Haplin?”

  She frowned. “A bit. Why?” she asked. When Indi didn’t immediately respond, she stood up, her eyes flashing. “Hold on. I think I know what this is. You come in here talking about a family connection to the killings, and then you start asking about Dean. It’s obvious what you think. He’s from the same stupid little town that Ed mentioned back at the start of the show, so what… therefore he’s a murderer?”

  “That’s not what we were implying at—”

  Amy shook her head and cut Indi off. “I thought we were friends, Indi. And I’m not as stupid as I look. So tell me the truth! Why did you come in here to talk to me?”

  Indi looked at me, then back at Amy. “Well,” she said reluctantly. “We thought there might be some sort of connection between Dean and Ed, but we also figured there was probably an innocent explanation. Like it could just be a coincidence that they’re both from there originally. That’s why we wanted to ask you about it first.”

  Amy’s eyes narrowed, and she shook her head. “I can’t believe you’d stoop this low. I defended you when they thought it was you who killed Ed. And now you come in here accusing my husband of god knows what?”

  “We’re not accusing him, I swear.”

  “You say that, but it really seems like you already think he’s guilty. Otherwise you wouldn’t have come in here.”

  Amy marched over to the other side of the room, where two suitcases sat. One was pale pink, the other black.

  “Here,” she said, dragging the black one over to us. She unzipped it, letting it fall open, and a few items of clothing fell out. “This is Dean’s stuff. Go on, go through it. Look for your stupid evidence. If it helps you to believe that he would never do anything to hurt someone, then it’s fine. Go on! You can even go through my case too!”

  Indi’s face looked stricken with guilt. “We’re not going to go through his stuff, Amy. Or yours either. I’m sorry we even asked.”

  Amy glared. “Well, thanks so much for the apology!” she said sarcastically. She picked up the stray items of clothing that had fallen from the suitcase as she spoke, and she folded them up and began to put them back inside. “I can’t believe you’d do this to us, even after you were falsely accused of… oh!”

  She jumped up, stopping midsentence. Her face turned pale, and her eyes widened like saucers.

  “What is it?” Indi asked.

  Amy simply shook her head, seemingly unable to form any words in her state of shock.

  “Amy, what happened?”

  She shakily pointed at the case. “Look,” she said, her voice a fragile whisper. “Is that a.…” Her voice trailed off again.

  I leaned down, frowning as I crouched by the case. “What am I looking at?” I asked. Before she could even reply, I saw it. Under one of the shirts she’d just stuffed back in the case, there was a plastic bag. Something was sticking out of the bag. It was barely visible, but I could see what it was when I leaned closer.

  It was a knife.

  Little specks of blood coated the part of the blade that was visible. I rolled my sleeve over my hand and gingerly pulled it out of the bag, being careful not to get any of my fingerprints on it.

  “That’s one of the knives from the kitchen here,” Indi murmured. “Just like the one Ed was killed with.”

  “And just like the one Neil and Mike were killed with…which was missing from the scene,” I added. “I heard the sheriff talking about it earlier.”

  Amy shook her head. Her face was white as a sheet now. “There has to be some sort of reason for it being there,” she said. “Dean wouldn’t…he wouldn’t hurt anyone. There has to be some sort of explanation.”

  “Then why do you look so scared?” Indi asked gently.

  “Because I know how bad it looks,” Amy replied. Tears were forming in her eyes. “But he couldn’t do something like this…he’s so sweet. He just couldn’t….”

  “Amy, where is he right now?” I asked.

  She sniffed and then took a deep, shaky breath. “He told me we should stay locked in here from now on. For safety. But we were starting to get bored. So he said he was going to ask if he could borrow one of the crew vans and drive down into town to see if the little library there was open. Then we could have something to read while we waited for the police to fix everything.”

  I shook my head. That only made Dean look worse. Only an unafraid man would go anywhere alone and unarmed right now, and the only reason a man wouldn’t be afraid right now was if he knew there was nothing to worry about…given that he was the killer.

  “You didn’t think it was odd that your husband was perfectly happy to go off alone on the island when there’s a goddamn murderer running around?” I asked.

  Amy shook her head slowly. “Well…I did at first, but he said he’d be okay, because he’d have the car. And I trust him. He’s my husband!” she said, her voice trembling. “He didn’t do this! Please, you have to believe me!”

  “It’s okay,” Indi said, rushing to her and slipping an arm around her shoulder. “You know, you’re probably right
. I bet there’s an innocent explanation for all of this.”

  Obviously that wasn’t true, but Amy was about to have a complete meltdown.

  She nodded shakily. “Yes. There has to be an explanation,” she said, tears gathering in her eyes again. “I know he wouldn’t do this.”

  “We’re going to get to the bottom of it, I promise,” I said.

  She nodded and trudged over to the sofa, where she crumpled into a ball and started to cry.

  I stepped over and murmured in Indi’s ear. “Can you stay here and take care of her? Make sure she doesn’t do anything stupid. I’m going to tell the officers who are still here what’s going on, and then we’ll go find Dean. He can’t have gotten too far.”

  She nodded. “Sure. God, poor Amy.”

  I squeezed her hand. “I know. Keep her safe. I’ll be back soon. And Indi…”

  She looked at me with wide eyes as the words hung on the tip of my tongue. “Yes?”

  I shook my head. Now wasn’t the right time. “Never mind,” I said. “I’ll tell you later, when this is over. I promise.”

  Chapter Thirty-Nine

  Blake

  I headed down the hall from the Browning’s room, and after I was downstairs, I had a brief look for any of the island’s police officers who were still in the inn. I spotted one—Bennett—standing by the French doors that divided the bar from the function room. He was keeping an eye on everyone in the crowded bar, which included most of the show crew and several of the show contestants.

  I was about to head over to him and let him know what was going on when a familiar voice called out to me from over by the bar. “Hey, Blake! Come have a beer with us! May as well get drunk at a time like this, eh?”

  I turned with a frown to see Dean Browning sitting on a stool, sharing a jug of pale ale with one of the crew guys. I was so surprised to see him sitting there that I couldn’t speak for a second. I simply stood and stared before striding over to him.

  “What are you doing here?” I asked. I turned to make sure Bennett was still nearby in case I needed him soon. He was still standing there, keeping an eye on everyone.

  “I told you, we’re getting drunk,” Dean said with a wry smile. “Mainland cops aren’t gonna be here till this shitty weather over the ocean breaks, so what else can we do while we wait it out?”

  “Amy told me you went out alone. To the town library.”

  He frowned. “I dunno why she’d say that. Why the hell would I go anywhere alone with this psycho running around? Do they even have a library here?”

  “I don’t know. But that’s what she said.”

  “She was probably just joking, man. She knows where I am. I even asked her to come with me, but she said she wanted to be alone to shower and have a nap for a while.”

  I frowned. Why would Amy lie about where her husband was and tell me he was nowhere near the inn, unless she wanted to lead me on a wild goose chase? Although I guess it made a strange kind of sense—she thought her husband was innocent, and so she wanted to delay his apprehension as long as possible.

  “Can I speak to you in private for a second?” I asked.

  “Sure.” He nodded and got off the stool, stepping over to the edge of the room with me. “What’s up?”

  “Look, Dean, I’ll be honest with you. I know you’re from Haplin. Same as Ed.”

  “Yeah. So what?”

  “Did you know him from your hometown?”

  Dean frowned, and then a slow grin spread across his face. “Oh, I get it. Look, man, I know you and Indi have been running around trying to solve this shit ever since she got wrongfully accused. But it’s okay—we all know she didn’t do it! You don’t need to prove anything. Just leave it to the cops.”

  “Can you just answer the question?”

  He rolled his eyes. “Fine. Sure. No, I didn’t know Ed. I moved out of Haplin when I was nine. Besides, the man was probably twenty years older than me,” he said. “So no, I didn’t kill him, if that’s what you’re thinking. Really, I think you need to leave this shit to the cops. Besides, it’s not like I’m the only one here who’s originally from Haplin. Your theory is a bust, dude. Just because some people are from the same town as Ed doesn’t mean any of them are crazy killers.”

  My brows drew together in a confused frown. “Wait, you’re not the only one from there?”

  He shook his head. “No. Amy is too. That’s actually one of the things we bonded over when we first met—the fact that we were born in the same small, shitty little town.”

  A pit of dread formed in my stomach. “Amy is originally from Haplin?”

  “Yeah, although we never met as kids. She was actually adopted out when she was just a baby, to a family who lived in Sioux City. You didn’t know?”

  I shook my head. “Why would I know that?”

  He shrugged. “I dunno, I thought Amy had gotten pretty close to your wife. Thought she would’ve told her all about her childhood. That’s a big part of our problem, you know. We can’t get pregnant, but she’s desperate to have a kid to make up for how abandoned she’s always felt by her bio parents. Honestly, don’t tell her this, but I think it’s kinda nuts. I mean, her bio parents were only eighteen. They weren’t ready for a kid. They did the right thing.”

  “I see.” I gritted my teeth as fear mounted within me.

  Dean belched, then covered his mouth. “Sorry. Had a bit too much beer. Hey, look, I’m serious, man—don’t tell Amy I was talking about our problems, okay? It annoys her when I drink and tell all this shit to people.”

  “I won’t. Gotta go,” I said. Then I gestured to Bennett to follow me before turning on my heel and racing back toward the stairwell.

  All I could think about was how I’d failed Indi. I told her I’d keep her safe. Told her I wouldn’t let anything happen to her. But what did I do instead?

  I unwittingly left her alone in a room with a fucking killer.

  Chapter Forty

  Indi

  The door closed behind Blake as he headed out, and I turned to look at Amy. She was still curled up on the sofa, crying her eyes out. I spied an empty glass on the coffee table in front of the couch, so I walked over and grabbed it.

  “Amy,” I said gently. “I’m just going to get you some water, okay? I think you need it.”

  She nodded. “Thank you,” she said, her voice muffled.

  I went into the bathroom and filled up the glass in the basin. When I stepped out, I nearly dropped it in shock. Amy was standing up now, and her tears were all dried up. She was holding the bloodstained knife.

  “God, Amy, you scared the shit out of me! What are you doing? You shouldn’t be touching that,” I said with a frown.

  Her plump lips turned up in a half-smile. “You know, I’ve barely had a moment alone since this morning. I was going to get rid of this when I finally convinced Dean to let me be alone for a while, but then you and Blake showed up,” she said. Her voice was strangely monotonous, and my stomach dropped.

  “What are you talking about? Get rid of what…the knife?”

  She stepped toward me. “Any minute now, your husband is going to figure out that I lied about where Dean is, and he’s going to come back. So I can’t do this in here.”

  “Do what?”

  She didn’t elaborate. Instead, she stepped even closer. “You need to do as I say. Walk out of the room with me, and head to the back stairwell. Go down the stairs. Then you need to walk over to the side entrance in the eastern wing and go outside. I’ll be right behind you. Got it?”

  “Amy, what the—” She waved the knife at me, and I gulped and nodded. “Okay,” I whispered. “Got it.”

  My heart pounding with fear, I did as she said. We slowly walked to the back stairwell on the far side of the second floor, and as we headed down the stairs, I swallowed my fear as best I could and spoke up. “Please tell me what’s going on,” I said, my hands trembling like mad. “Was it you and Dean together?”

  “No. Just me,” s
he said smoothly. “I wasn’t ready when you and Blake came to talk to me. I couldn’t take you both on, just like that. So I sent Blake away. I knew he’d feel bad for me and ask you to stay with me while I cried. I’ll get him as soon as I’m done with you.”

  Tears gathered in the corners of my eyes, but I tried my best to fight them off. We were at the bottom of the stairs now, drawing closer to the side entrance.

  “I don’t understand,” I said. “It was you? Just you?”

  She didn’t answer my question, but she jabbed me in the back. “Walk faster.”

  We stepped out of the side entrance, and she directed me to walk up a small garden path which was lined by thick hedges. I knew where it led. I’d been up it on one of my morning jogs a few weeks ago. There was a stony track at the end of the path, which led off the Candle Cove estate and over to the craggy bluffs of Fremantle Island. It was a nice spot to stand at while taking in the gorgeous view, but pretty scenery was obviously not Amy’s endgame for this little journey.

  “You killed four people, Amy. And now you’re going to kill me. Why?” I asked, my voice shaking. I knew the longer I stalled her by keeping her talking, the longer I had to figure a way out of this.

  “Indi, I don’t want to hurt you. I like you. Why do you think I killed Mike?” she said, her voice still bizarrely calm. “He shouldn’t have messed with your medication like that. I saw how worried you were about that whole thing. That was a big part of the reason he got this.” She pressed the edge of the knife into my back, gently enough so as to not pierce the skin, but hard enough to get the message across.

  “And what about the others? Why kill them?”

  “You already know why. You figured it out. As soon as you came into my room gabbing about a family connection, I knew I was in trouble. Lucky you two were dumb enough to fall for my poor innocent wife act. I mean, come on, you think it was a coincidence that I just so happened to magically find the knife in Dean’s case like that? It didn’t even occur to you that maybe I knew it was there all along, because I put it there earlier? Like I said, I didn’t have time to get rid of it yet. And I wasn’t going to put it in my own case.”