“That’s a question for the senator. But I have one for Ashley. Why are you so focused on Jayson? He dumped you in high school when he found out you’d been cheating on him. Even when he came home, while we were separated, he still told you to fuck off. You were determined to get him to work for your father’s finance company. Is it because he’s a Kenwood?”
“Jayson was mine for three years. He would have come back to if it hadn’t been for your skanky ass,” Ashley yelled at Lana.
“No, I would not have taken you back. I knew you had been fucking around on me for months. That’s why I wouldn’t touch you. Even with a gloved-up dick. You were never going to be my forever. Your dad also knew I would never work for him. He was shady as shit even back then. Let it slip you two were fucking. You were even doing your so-called uncles.”
“Ew. You banged Rusty, the bar owner?” Swift gagged at the question.
“Where’s Peter at, Ashley?” Lana asked out of the blue.
“I don’t know. Probably six feet under since he pissed the big man off for getting caught. Brewer and Ellers were the one who dealt with him.”
“Mr. Kenwood, one last question. Was there ever anything between you and Brenda Wright back in the day?”
“God, no, Lana. I couldn’t stand the woman. Even before she started bullying Kenzie. There was no one I wanted in high school. I met my forever while I was in the Army. She was a nurse on base.”
“We married a month later, had Ryan seven months after that,” Mrs. Kenwood answered with a smile in her voice.
“I have one question. Okay, maybe two. Who ran the Wrights out of town, and what happened to the ones who beat and sexually assaulted your sister?”
Lana looked over at Rocky and nodded her head in thanks. She almost forgot that question.
“Everyone really. After we found Kenzie dead and word got out, Mom found her diary. She’d never told anyone about all the atrocities she’d faced because she was ashamed. The tipping point was that there were photos of the assaults, and other times they bullied her. They had taped the photos all over the school walls. As for the guys, one was beat up pretty badly, so he and his family left town. The other two were killed in a car wreck the following year. They were drunk and stalled their car on the railroad tracks. Train took them out.”
“Why didn’t the police do anything about it?” Sgt. Bueller asked the one question they were all wondering.
“The Wright family basically owned the town back then. The sheriff was on their payroll until the town united and ran them out of town.”
“Okay. What’s the plan?” Jayson asked as he looked around the room at everyone.
“Well, we have Jayme, Ellers, Brewer, Jones, and now Ashley. We let word out they want a deal to give up their backers. Where the senator is concerned, Mr. Kenwood, with your permission, I’d like to give a trusted reporter the story about your sister. That will enrage the senator and Brenda to the point they make an appearance to do cleanup.”
“Why would that enrage them?” Mrs. Kenwood asked in confusion.
“The senator is running for President. He’s trying to clean up his past so that the reporters find nothing.”
“Blackwood will get involved,” Sgt. Bueller reminded Lana.
“That’s what I’m hoping for. I’ll call him before I contact Sherri.”
Lana went about making the calls she needed to make to get the ball rolling. While she did what she was doing, Sgt. Bueller contacted their captain with an update on the case and where they were now with the whole case.
What Lana didn’t expect was her captain stating she was getting on the next plane to NC and would be in Hellburn Falls to assist the team within twenty-four hours. That’s how she knew her captain had their back one hundred percent.
Now, it was a waiting game. One she prayed they all survived. She’d called Trevor after talking to Blackwood to give him a heads-up on all that she’d learned and what was about to go down.
He’d contacted the X.O. that was pissed about his boys being ambushed, so now the Delta Force team she’d gone to Mexico with were now guarding Bryan and his parents at Ft. Bragg. That was one less worry for her.
They spent the next morning bringing Ryan fully up to date on everything. The Lt., well they cherry picked what information to give him since they weren’t sure if they could trust him.
Yet, it was enough for him to agree with the charges against Ashley, Brewer, Ellers, Jayme, and Jones in the end. They also made sure the word got out that those same five individuals sang like canaries, all begging for plea deals instead of their attorneys.
Brewer, being the cocky asshat he was, actually gave away the information they needed to find Peter’s body. They had sent Hollywood and Swift in to interrogate Brewer and Ellers since they knew how they felt about women on the force.
Since word had gotten out about their arrest, several women, officers, and civilians came forward with evidence of sexual harassment, sexual assault, and continued threats against them and their families if they talked. Jones was the only one to talk about what he knows.
Ashley was demanding Jayson see her every day. She even went as far as threatening Lana and the twins when he refused to see her.
The next couple of days had Lana exhausted, and feeling like she was coming down with the flu. This was the last thing she needed right now.
