“For now, stay put,” Vera warned. “Keep the door locked and your phone in your hand. I’ll call Bent right now and get the ball rolling on someone to keep an eye on your place. Maybe you should have a close look around and make sure nothing is missing. Like any keys you have to the Wilton property.” Oh hell, that may have been the reason for the intrusion.
More nodding. “I’ll check everything and call you.”
Vera managed a tight smile. “Good.” As much as she would really prefer that Erwin had called Bent, she let it go. Now for the bombshells.
“One more thing.” Vera watched her closely. “Why didn’t you tell me that Thomas Wilton’s first wife cheated on him?”
Erwin drew back as if Vera had slapped her. “I ... I.” She shook her head. “Who told you such a thing?” She made a face as if she didn’t understand the question. “You think Lena cheated?” Big shrug. “Why would I know something like that?”
So it was possibly true. Vera lifted a shoulder in a shrug of her own. “You and Thomas were so close, I thought perhaps he’d confided in you.”
Erwin’s chin came up in response to the challenge, and her entire demeanor changed. “Well, we were close, yes. And we did talk about most things. But some matters are just private and don’t need to be brought up again. I honestly don’t see how it’s relevant at this point, anyway.”
Definitely trouble with the first wife. Vera couldn’t wait to see if she’d been keeping this other little secret as well. “Were you aware Alicia is pregnant?”
“What?” Erwin pressed a hand to her chest as if too startled to speak for a moment. “Is she? I mean, how do you know this? Is the baby okay after what happened?”
“The baby is fine.” Vera smiled, an expression just as fake as the other woman’s surprise. “You should get your stories straight, Valeri. Hiding things only makes you look guilty.”
“I don’t like to speak out of school,” she whined. “Thomas was very private about those things.”
“We have to know all the secrets if you expect us to find his killer.” Vera studied her a moment. “Unless, of course, you don’t want us to find him ... orher.”
Vera was out the door and closing it behind her before Erwin could pull together a response.
As she made her way to her SUV, she called Bent and gave him the update on Erwin. A deputy would be in place in the next fifteen minutes. Then she contacted a local locksmith—one she had used before—who would be right behind the deputy.
As tired and hungry as Vera was, going home would have to wait. She intended to have another conversation with Mr. Larry Parson.
25
Regency Inn
Huntsville Highway, 6:10 p.m.
Vera had to wait an extra ten minutes since Bent had insisted on meeting her at the motel. He didn’t want her alone with this guy in his room. She would let that one go, since she was still a little weak and off kilter. The concussion symptoms were considerably better. However, the ache from the blow was far from gone but nothing she couldn’t handle. No matter that the dizziness and brain fog were mostly gone, she wasn’t herself just yet, and she wasn’t going to pretend otherwise. Being overtaken by a guy Parson’s size would be a piece of cake just now. She doubted she had it in her at the moment to kick a gnat’s ass.
She was pushing the limit at this point in the evening, and her body was reminding her she needed rest. And food.
Bent reached her car door, opened it and waited for her to climb out. “You look tired.”
“Thanks, Sheriff.” She squared her shoulders and tried her best not to appear exhausted, even though her every muscle and bone said otherwise. “You look damned good, as always.”
He shook his head and closed her door. It was true. Damn it. Gray Benton always looked amazing. He was the kind of handsome that couldn’t be denied, no matter the circumstances or his condition.Naked, clothed, clean, dirty, happy, sad, pissed off. The man simply was as sexy as hell. It was his natural state.
It just wasn’t fair. Women couldn’t pull that off without help.
That barely there grin of his made her heart—as tired as she was just now—react. “I didn’t say you don’t look amazing, Vee. Because you do. You always do. But I know when you’re tired. I also know when you haven’t taken time for a meal.”
She shoulder-bumped him as they walked to the door of Parson’s room. “Does that mean you’re going to take extra-good care of me again tonight?”
He hesitated before knocking, looked directly into her eyes. “You know it.”
She did. And that was the God’s truth. From the moment she reappeared in her hometown, this man had not once let her down. He was her friend, her lover, and the one man she would not want to do this life without. The realization unsettled her just the tiniest bit. But it was the truth, and there was no point denying it. In fact, it was time she owned that reality in the bright light of day ... not just in the dark or when no one was watching.
Bent knocked on the door, and Vera shooed the thought away. She was really, really exhausted.
The door opened, and Larry Parson looked from Vera to Bent and back. “Come on in, Sheriff. Ms. Boyett.”
