The gun went off. The side of Adam’s head exploded in a burst of blood.
She flinched and her whole body froze in that moment, her eyes glued to Adam’s soulfully sad gaze.
Cody kicked in the door. It swung wide and slammed against the wall. Cody ran toward her.
Adam fell to his knees, hit the floor, his head bouncing on the carpet, his cold, dead eyes staring at her.
Cody wrapped his arms around her, pulled her off the bed, and ran out of the room with her like she weighed nothing. She stared back over his shoulder. One last glimpse at Adam’s dead body lying sideways on her floor, blood staining her cream carpet deep, dark red.
No. She didn’t want this. She’d never wanted this.
Chapter Thirty-Six
Cody stood on the porch steps and watched the coroner’s van and police cars drive away. Governor Harris stood beside him, silent. His pale face remained pensive, his mind turned inward, leaving his eyes blank.
“Go home,” Cody ordered.
The governor shook himself out of his stupor. “Huh. Right. Nothing left to do, I guess.”
“Except cover this up too, right?”
“How do I explain away my son breaking out of a mental institution, stealing a gun frommyhome, and coming here to terrorize Brooke, the last victim of the campus stalker, and committing suicide in her bedroom?”
“I don’t know. Seems to me, the truth always comes out, no matter how much we deny it or try to hide it.”
Cody had done that with Kristi, uncovering her treachery to get him to marry her. He’d done it with Brooke, denying hislove for her until he just couldn’t do it anymore. She saw right through him anyway. So did Kristi. So did everyone else.
Thiswent far beyond denial and went straight to unhinged.
You just couldn’t make these things up.
Governor Harris might have gotten away with covering up the attacks on campus by hiding Adam away in the mental hospital, but Adam coming here tonight and doing what he did made him look guilty as hell. No reporter worth their salt would buy that he came here for any other reason than that he needed to see Brooke—the object of his obsession. That his guilt put that gun to his head.
“I don’t know what to do. My wife is so far gone with grief and guilt that we couldn’t help Adam, I’m not sure she’ll recover from this.”
“Give her time. Love her. Spend time with her. Remind her of all the good times. But never forget that this could have been prevented if he’d been in a cell. Still, I’m sorry for your loss.”
Governor Harris stared at him, his eyes wide with surprise.
“What? Adam was mentally unstable. I may have wanted to kill him for hurting Brooke and killing my daughter, but deep down, I never wanted this.”
“I’m sorry for everything he’s put you through. Everything he’s done to Brooke.”
Cody stuffed his hands deep in his pockets. “Me, too.”
Governor Harris held up the phone in his hand. “The police chief left me a message. After Brooke told us about Adam’s confession, they tracked Kristi to the airport, where they apprehended her ten minutes ago with her passport in hand and a ticket to Montenegro.”
“Let me guess…no extradition treaty.”
Governor Harris nodded. “Seems you like smart women.” He looked up at the house. “What are you going to do about Kristi?”
“I went to college with the DA’s son. I’m going to take a page from your book and use that connection to make sure Kristi is held accountable to the fullest extent of the law for what she tried to do to the woman I love.”
“I understand that desire to protect someone you love. I hope you understand that’s all I was trying to do with Adam. I thought he would come home after he snuck out. Or even turn himself in to the police. I don’t know which one I hoped for more as I looked for him.”
Cody knew now that the governor had been discreetly using his resources to find Adam the last two days. He wished the governor and his people had found Adam.
But then again, without Adam’s help, he wouldn’t have known Kristi started the fire. He’d found out tonight that surveillance footage from street cams and neighboring businesses by the corner where Kristi pushed Brooke into the street had captured the moment it happened. Plus they had the license number from Adam and his confession to Brooke that he’d seen it all go down.
