He sneered, making no attempt to hide his disdain for Lance. “To say Lance started cheating on you would imply he’d been faithful for a time.”
Eddie may as well have struck her—the words stung that bad. But deep down she knew they were true.Why had I ever thought Lance loved me?
“Was he ever faithful to any woman?” She asked, her voice barely above a whisper. She needed to know if it was her or if Lance was incapable of lovinganyone.
Eddie gave a short shake of his head. “Nor were you the first girl he ever got pregnant.”
Amy squeezed her eyes shut to hold in the sudden tears that flooded them.Lance fathered other children?Amy had already admitted to herself, and Ben, that she didn’t love Lance, so why did this news hurt so much?
“He only moved in with you because you had a steady job and a decent apartment.”
Bile rose in her throat. Lance had used her. He’d always used her, and she had let him.How could I have been so stupid?
She’d had so many examples in her mom’s string of boyfriends. She should’ve seen Lance was not the kind of man she wanted to get mixed up with. But no, she’d let herself be swept away by his charm.
Was I so desperate to be loved that I overlooked the kind of person he really was?
She didn’t have time to mull over and answer her own question, because Eddie took a step closer and lifted the gun a little higher. “Enough about Lance. Now, tell me what you’re doing here.”
Just as well. She wouldn’t have liked her own answer.
Amy let out a nervous chuckle and pushed the hair back from her face with a shaky hand. “The night I left Lance, my car broke down in a nice little town called Providence.” She watched him carefully to gauge his reaction.
His eyes narrowed.
She continued, choosing her words with care. “I met a nice man there, a widower, by the name of Ben Young.”
The muscle in Eddie’s jaw tensed.
She waited a moment, biting her bottom lip to see if he would say anything, but he remained silent, holding the gun steady. “I also started working at the Adams County Sheriff’s Office.”
Panic flashed in his eyes.
Oops. Shouldn’t have mentioned the sheriff’s office.She would be signing her death warrant if she pressed for a confession, but she couldn’t seem to stop herself.
She took a slow deliberate breath. “The more I got to know Ben and saw how deep his grief was, the more interested I became in learning about the circumstances of his wife’s death, and his daughter’s disappearance. When I read the police report, certain details stuck with me, and I couldn’t get them out of my mind. Then last week, Lance came to see me, and I remembered some things. I knew someone who drove a blue Suburban.You.And you mysteriously stopped driving it about a year ago.”
Eddie’s shoulders hunched, and he shifted from one foot to the other.
“I also remembered coming here with Lance a few weeks later and seeing your wife with a baby girl. She said you were fostering to adopt, and I didn’t question it, because I was happy for her. Despite the pictures everywhere, of the missing Cassey Young, I didn’t put two and two together. Of course, I had my own problems at that time. You see, when you started missing gigs, Lance started drinking more. You knew Lance well enough to know he got angry when he drank heavily and guess who he took his anger out on.”
“Lance’s drinking problem was not my fault,” Eddie said through gritted teeth.
“You’re right.” Swallowing hard, she said. “But the hell Ben Young has endured this past year is.” The words were bold, but she knew she was right. It was dangerous, but if she was going to get the truth out of him, she couldn’t be meek about this. “What happened, Sticks? Why did you do it?”
A pained expression crossed his face, surprising her. “It was an accident. I never meant to hurt anyone. It had been raining, and the road was wet. I swear I tried to stop.”
“Why didn’t you call 911?”
“My cell phone had died,” he said. “Besides, I was afraid... if I called, they’d find out I hit her... and I couldn’t have anyone know it was my fault.”
“Why were you afraid?” Amy’s brow wrinkled. “If it was an accident...”
“Itwasan accident!” His eyes flashed. “But I couldn’t let the police find out I’d hit her.”
“You said it yourself, it had been raining,” Amy prodded. “You might have been fined, but leaving the scene of the accident, that’s a hit and run.”
Eddie glared at her.
