Colton's Killer Pursuit

by Tara Taylor Quinn

  Yet another thing he found fascinating about her. She was an enigma, to be sure. One he was never going to forget.

  She’d talked to him earlier that morning about her research into opening her own salon. He hadn’t said much, but still intended to see that, if she did open, every Colton in the city would visit her. At least once. He might not be in her life long-term, but he could still help her have a good one. Then, and into the future.

  The thought felt good. Right.

  “I can’t believe Larissa was sleeping with Fritz,” she said then, sobering. And he figured the shock from the morning was wearing off. Probably eased on its way by the rush of good news.

  “I can’t believe I didn’t suspect anything...” Her tone dropped. No. Oh no. No, no. He didn’t want her to lose her joy again so quickly...

  “How about that bit there at the end?” he blurted awkwardly. “When Larissa said that he’d broken off with her, saying he wanted to try again with you?”

  He’d been trying to show her that she’d been the better woman. She’d won.

  But as he said the words, more occurred to him.

  Everleigh sat wrapped in her winter coat, staring out the front windshield, her expression placid. And he needed to know—for no rational, good or discernible reason—“Would you have been willing to try again?”

  Did she love that man still? Think of him all the time? Mourn him and wish he was still alive? If he hadn’t been killed, would she still be with him?

  Not one of the questions was case related. Or any of his business. And he sat there, on edge, driving, making a turn, as he awaited an answer to the only query he’d voiced.

  “No.” The answer was slow in coming, but nonnegotiable. “I admit, I feel a bit...vindicated...that, in the end, he always seemed to want me, for the long haul. There was that part of him, that when he was truly feeling a lack of confidence, he’d come to me and I could always make him feel better. I think maybe that’s what kept me believing that our relationship was real, even when all the signs were showing me it wasn’t. Knowing that I wasn’t completely wrong about that, that I meant something, that kind of helps as I process all of this...but no.” She shook her head. “I have not one single doubt on that matter. It’s exactly like I told Larissa at the house. I was done the second he accused me of cheating. I can accept a lot, overlook a lot, but I can’t live with anyone I can’t trust. Nor will I ever be okay in a relationship that contained the possibility of infidelity. Ever. That’s just not me.”

  So, there you had it.

  She didn’t mourn the creep who’d been perennially unfaithful to her.

  And she wouldn’t even consider any kind of relationship with a man who wasn’t programmed to settle down with one woman for the rest of his life.

  * * *

  She didn’t make it in time for the hearing. But Everleigh was standing there when her grandmother walked out of the secured section of the prison and into the hallway. Her parents were on their way, but for the moment, it was just the prison officials—one guard—and her and Clarke.

  It wasn’t until Everleigh saw Hannah, in ill-fitting pants and a sweatshirt that had been given to her so she could leave right away, that she took a truly easy breath.

  Finally believed that she was going to get her life back.

  Rushing forward, she threw her arms around her grandmother, hugging her slim, athletic form tightly. And started to cry a little when she felt those surprisingly strong arms wrap around her middle for the first time in too many months.

  Everleigh was strong. Because Gram was her rock.

  Always had been.

  “Come on now, girlie. It wasn’t as bad as all that,” Hannah said, grinning, her own eyes moist as she pulled back enough to look Everleigh in the eye. “It’s going to take a helluva lot more than prison to put a dent in the fight of McPherson women, right?”

  Gram had been repeating the phrase her entire life. And her whole life, Everleigh had believed her. She believed her still. Which was why both of them were still standing.

  “You really feeling okay?”

  Gram looked fine. A little red and dry around the nose, but she didn’t sound clogged up or hoarse.

  “I told you I was.” She had. Everleigh had worried anyway.

  “So, what exactly did the judge say?” Everleigh asked as they stood there in a space all their own for a second while the guard talked to Clarke. “Other than that, you’re released to house arrest until sentencing?”

  She still couldn’t believe the news they’d been greeted with at the door of the visitors’ entrance minutes before. Clarke had prepared her, but to have Gram standing there—a free woman other than the somewhat unattractive device on her ankle—was just so unbelievable. Almost too good to be true.

  A part of her wanted to skip waiting for her parents to arrive, to just hurry out the door to Clarke’s car—anything to get Gram out of there before someone changed their mind. Panic set in. She had an irrational fear that she’d never felt before the night, two months before, when she’d been arrested for murder.

  “I got the fine,” Gram was saying. “Only twenty grand, not fifty, and I will pay it myself, girlie, or rather, pay you back...”

  She didn’t give a damn about the money. Not even if it meant giving up her dreams of a salon. But twenty thousand was pennies compared to what she was getting on Tuesday. And there was no way her grandmother was going to pay her back. She figured she’d save that conversation for a later date.

  “And I agreed to three years’ house arrest...”

  Everleigh hissed in a breath. “Three years!” She’d been hoping for one at the most. Still...Gram at home, rather than in a cell...

  “I’m an introvert! I get to sit home and watch my shows. Not much hardship in that!” Gram grinned. Shrugged. Everleigh hugged her again. And then burst out the news that Fritz’s killer had been caught. That it was her friend Larissa.

  Her grandmother, who’d been whooping at the news of the killer being caught, sobered. “That’s on Larissa and Fritz, girlie,” she said, leaning in to speak softly, but her tone was still fierce. “Don’t you dare find fault in you for their lack of character.”

  Trust Gram to get right to the heart of the matter, pull it out into the open. “I chose them,” she said, equally softly.

  “No, baby, they chose you,” Gram said, her gaze grave, wide, as she looked at Everleigh. “You loved them back, but they chose you.”

  The look in Gram’s eye... There was a message there. One she was going to make Everleigh figure out for herself.

  Thirty-eight years old and Gram was still treating her like she was ten.

  “They recognized your innate value, your tender heart,” Gram continued, glancing over at the door a time or two. Looking for her son? Or watching Clarke and the guard, checking their continued occupation, giving the two women privacy to talk? “And your heart sees the good in everyone.”

  So, what, did that make her a fool? An easy mark?

  Was that what Gram was saying?

  Something to think about...but not then. The door opened, and when her parents entered, the small hallway filled with a cacophony of celebratory voices and conversations. After a thankful and heartfelt group hug with both of her parents, one that healed without the words that would come when Everleigh was ready, she gravitated back toward Clarke, knowing he was there only because of her, and as they all left, she walked out beside him.

  She’d expected a quick dash to the parked cars, but as they exited the building, they were greeted with a tunnel formed by long lines of people on each side. Some bore Free Granny signs. Others just stood in the cold with gloves and red noses and clapped. Everyone cheered as Everleigh, Clarke and her family walked by.

  Emotion rose within her and she had to choke back happy tears.

  She’d gone from town pariah
to celebrated citizen pretty much overnight, and she wasn’t any more comfortable with the latter than she’d been with the former. But Gram was grinning, and seeing that smile made the moment nearly perfect.

  Clarke walking the walk with her did the rest.

  They wouldn’t ever be a couple, but he’d become a part of them, a real friend, and she was glad.

  * * *

  Clarke knew he had to get out. Get away. Melissa had texted while they’d been in the prison hallway waiting for Amie and Andrew McPherson. Larissa had been arraigned and was being held without bail. While Clarke had planned to drive Everleigh back to his place to get her things, walking through that throng of people with her and her family changed things for him. Irrevocably. It was a family walk, like at a wedding, when two people who were joined in front of everyone who knew them...

  He was in too deep. Hadn’t meant to be. But there he was.

  Which meant he had to get out.

  He wasn’t the guy who’d fit Everleigh’s life.

  As they got to the end of the cheering line and made their way across the parking lot to the cars, he pulled her back a step and said, “Larissa’s being held without bail and I’ve...got somewhere I need to be...” It wasn’t a lie. He needed to be somewhere that she wasn’t. “Why don’t you ride with your folks and I’ll get your stuff dropped off at your place?”

  He had to cut it off at the quick. Make the break clean. No waiting around for her to arrive at some point. No thinking about what he’d say. What she would. No hanging around his condo with her stuff upstairs. No more temptation.

  Or giving in to it, either.

  The startled, almost lost look on her face cut into him. He bore the pain stoically. It would pass. It always did. “Uh...sure,” she said, glancing ahead at her parents, arm in arm, and Gram, head high, walking a step or two ahead of them.

  She looked hurt. Exactly what he’d been trying to avoid.

  “Good, then,” he said, grabbing his keys out of his pocket, his breath steamy in the cold air. “Would you mind telling them goodbye for me?” He nodded toward her family.

  “Sure,” she said, a look of pure confusion coming over her face as she stopped walking.

  He couldn’t stop. Had to keep moving.

  “I’m glad everything worked out, Everleigh. You deserve all good things. It was nice working for you. Good luck!” he said and turned his back on her.

  It was nice working for you?

  Just be done.

  It was nice working for you? They’d had sex, for God’s sake. Spent the entire night pleasuring one another. Intimately.

  One and done.

  The one had been the most incredible night of his life.

  And whatever had been between them was done.

  * * *

  Everleigh sat in the back with Gram on the way across town. Her parents wanted her to stay with them. Gram wanted her. She wanted to go home.

  But there was no place attached to that word for her. Except, crazily, her room on the second floor of Clarke’s condo.

  His room, that she’d stayed in for a few nights, not hers.

  She was going with them to Gram’s to see her settled, maybe have a bite to eat, and then her dad was going to take her back to her place. She’d had a text from the chief of police herself, telling her that her home was no longer a crime scene, and Larissa was being held without bail, which she already knew.

  She was safe.

  And ready to cry eighteen years of sadness all over the back of her father’s car.

  It was over. She was finally free.

  Two days ago, she’d have thought her safety, and Gram home, would have been all she needed to have her joy back.

  So why wasn’t her heart smiling?

  She was out of prison. Gram was home, too. She was safe. They were both free. Fritz was no longer in her life and without the ugliness of a divorce. She’d rather have him alive, wouldn’t ever have wished him dead, but being apart from him forever was good.

  Really, really good.

  Another day and a half and she’d have enough money to make her dreams come true.

  And yet she couldn’t think of a dream that money could buy. The salon, yeah, that was going to happen. She’d already told her parents and grandmother about the plans, and they all wanted to be involved, to help her get the place ready. They’d be okay. She’d always known that. Family love was unconditional. It didn’t mean there wasn’t pain, though. Or need for forgiveness.

  But the salon...it was a career goal.

  Not a dream.

  When she really thought about it...there really weren’t any dreams lurking in her soul, yearning to get out. Which bothered her. A lot.

  She’d had dreams once, hadn’t she?

  As a young girl. Other than the salon, which she now recognized as a career goal, she’d wanted to be a wife and mother.

  She’d become a wife—and the dream had died. But it hadn’t been replaced with any others.

  Something she was still pondering as her parents dropped her and Gram off at her grandmother’s place and then left to go get fresh produce and perishables for Gram’s refrigerator. Something Gram would have insisted on doing herself had she been free to do so.

  Glancing at the tether on her grandmother’s ankle, Everleigh had to remind herself that that binding was a gift. It was allowing her grandmother to be home, not in a cell.

  “This thing isn’t all bad,” Gram chirped, moving through her home with the speed of someone getting to presents under a Christmas tree. Clearly happy to reacquaint herself with everything the eye could see and the finger could touch. “I get to be treated like royalty, having my shopping done for me. And all of the other errands that are like irritating piddles in an otherwise beautiful day...”

  And that was Gram. Accepting what was and moving on to find the joy.

  All her life, Everleigh wanted to be like that.

  So how had she lost her joy without knowing? It was like she couldn’t trust herself at all. Not to choose friends—or lovers.

  How could Clarke Colton have just walked away from her as he had?

  The thought sprang up with so many others, confusing her. Refusing to be stilled. To leave her alone to accept what was and get on with moving forward.

  To finding her joy?

  “You’re different.” Gram found her still standing in the living room just off from the front door. She’d done nothing to help with the homecoming. Hadn’t opened drapes, though she knew her grandmother always kept them that way until darkness fell. Hadn’t adjusted the thermostat that had been turned down during her absence to save on the electric bill. The older woman stood there, half glaring at her.

  Because she hadn’t been her usual helpful self? She deserved a glare for that one.

  “Of course I’m different, Gram,” she said, in place of the apology that had been on the tip of her tongue. “I’ve been in prison, I’m a widow, my husband was cheating with my friend right under my nose, my grandmother was arrested for me...”

  The litany went on. As though, if she kept listing all of the things that had exploded her world over the past few months, the pieces might somehow fall into place and let her move past them.

  “No,” Gram said, as she sat in her chair, picked up the remote and turned on the television set. Chose a streaming service. A show. And then muted it. “Sit,” she said, looking at the sofa.

  Everleigh sat.

  “Now, I know you’re a grown woman and you don’t have to listen to a word I say anymore, but I’m going to tell you one thing and you’re going to listen to it.”

  Everleigh almost smiled. But because it felt so great to have Gram back, she nodded, straight-faced, and waited, giving her full attention.

  “You are not to blame for anything that happened here. Not any of it.
You didn’t choose for your husband to be a cheater. Or for one of your friends to be one of his lovers. You had absolutely nothing to do with his murder or your arrest and time in prison. And, believe it or not, missy, you didn’t have anything to do with me being in prison. I knew what I was doing, what I was bringing on myself, when I took that child. You think I had any plan of getting away with it? Of course I didn’t. I brought him home, right here, loved him while I had him, and waited.”

  Gram paused. Everleigh waited. Was she allowed to speak yet?

  When it appeared she was, Everleigh said, “I chose to marry him. To befriend her. I did choose. I chose to trust them both, too.”

  “Ah...trust... Now, that’s a tough one.”

  “I can’t trust me, Gram. I don’t have any faith in my own ability to know who or what to trust.”

  “You trusted that Colton who’s been keeping you safe.”

  “I trusted him to keep me safe. It’s his job.”

  “It was that man’s family’s job to prove you weren’t a murderer, too, and they didn’t do it. But you trusted him anyway.”

  Yeah, yeah, she got it already. She’d already said so. She didn’t know how to trust good people. She trusted the ones sure to run out on her. Fritz. Larissa was just...wrong all over the place. And Clarke...

  Thinking of him walking away from her in that parking lot. It was nice working for you. Her throat clogged with tears again.

  She’d never have believed that Clarke would leave such a mark on her heart. That he wasn’t going to be a permanent fixture, yeah, she’d known that was possible. But to turn his back and walk off with his nice working for you...she hadn’t seen that one coming at all.

  “You weren’t wrong to trust, Ev.” So many names her grandmother had for her. Girlie was the fun, happy one. Baby when she needed compassion. Missy when she was in trouble. And Ev when life was at its most serious.

  “They were wrong to betray your trust. It’s not on you, baby. Not unless you let what Fritz did to you, what any of them did to you, keep you from trusting again. That’s on you. And then they win. Don’t let Fritz Emerson rob you of the best part of you...” When Gram’s eyes filled with tears, Everleigh was shocked to her core. Those eyes got moist sometimes. They never had actual tears in them.