Gale watched her brother’s confused face. “There is no record of you having had an accident that day,” he said. Her brother would have viewed everything going on the day of the murder and where other deputies or personnel were.
“Because my father got me out of it. He always did.”
“Kane,” Daniel growled. “Enough.”
“It’s going to come out, Daniel,” Ford said. “If you were bribing and buying off law enforcement, that is a lot less of a crime than murder. But your lawyers can explain that to you.” Ford turned as if he was going to walk away. “There will be a deputy posted on the grounds so don’t think of leaving town.”
“No,” Kane said. “Wait. I’m telling you right now, it’s not me. I was drunk and hit a tree. I don’t remember the officer’s name. It was a detective. He was always called to get me out of shit. Everyone knew to call him to take care of it.” Kane was squealing like a toddler getting his prized toy yanked out of his hand. This reaction was less surprising than if he had killed someone. “I was messed up. The guy called my father who came down to get me. We were there almost an hour while you threw money around to get this not called in. Admit it, Dad.”
“I’m not saying anything,” Daniel said. “And you need to shut the hell up!”
“You threatened Gale. Told her people were going to get hurt,” Ford said.
“For her to stop this nonsense with that old case. It messed up our plans years ago too. Two years we had to wait to start those condos. I don’t need to deal with that again. It wasn’t anything more than that. I swear.”
It could be true, but she didn’t believe anything without hard facts.
“What’s going on out here?” Diana asked, moving through the front door that had been left open.
“Mom,” Kane yelled and rushed up the stairs. Ashleigh skirted away from her husband, the fear in her eyes clear as day. “They think I killed Rene Connors.”
She’d never seen a grown man, especially someone who flaunted his wealth and power so freely, break down in tears so quickly.
“That’s nonsense,” Diana said, crossing her arms and standing in front of Kane. “What proof could you possibly have? I knew that boy returning to town was going to cause nothing but trouble.”
“They’ve got DNA,” Ashleigh said. Ashleigh moved off the porch and closer to Ford. Gale didn’t blame her one bit. “A genetic match to Daniel.”
“Unless Daniel has another son, then Kane is a suspect for being at the scene of the crime. We are asking him to come in for questioning.”
“You’ve never listened,” Diana said, turning to Daniel. “You always have to undo your zipper for women and I knew it was going to bite you in the ass. Tell them, Daniel, or I’m going to do it. I’m done with this and all the lies in this town. You’re not takingmyson down with you.”
“Do you have other children?” Ford asked. Gale’s shoulders tensed and her feet moved forward. She couldn’t miss a word of this.
The fear running across her arms and back told her they’d been way off base and time might run out if they didn’t get this information fast.
“Diana,” Daniel said. “Shut up. Everyone shut the fuck up until I get a lawyer for us all. I mean it.” Daniel pulled his phone out. “I’m calling him now.”
“You can cover your own ass, but Kane was home sleeping off his drunken stupor exactly as he said. No one will forget that day. I knew this would haunt us. Everything you’ve done, everything you’ve tried to cover for Kane, I’ve got documents of it all. I’ve kept a journal for years of every time that Kane got out of something.”
“What?” Daniel asked. “Why would you do that?”
“For things exactly like this,” Diana snapped. “For stupid crap that caused us to move here. You’d think you would have learned. My baby isn’t guilty of anything other than being your son. Go lawyer up your other son. Or maybe it’s more than the one I know of.” Diana turned to Ford. “Daniel liked to sleep with his employees.”
“You have another child?” Kane asked, his eyes wide. “Who?” Didn’t seem as if Kane was aware of that information.
“Rocco,” Gale said. It just hit her. The comment about Daniel sleeping with employees. “Ford. It’s Rocco.”
Ford turned to look at her. “What? How do you know?”
“Tell me. It is, isn’t it? His mother worked for you for years. Daniel!” she screamed. “He’s trying to kill Rory. He’s with him now.”
“Yes,” Diana said. “Rocco is Daniel’s son and I’m done with all the secrets.”
“Don’t leave this town,” Ford shouted and turned to run back to his SUV.
Gale jumped in and Ford took off speeding through the streets toward her condo.
“How do you know they are together?” Ford asked.
