His wife’s murderer isn’t the only man he’s killed. That’s what he’s saying. He used to kill people on a routine basis. “You were a vigilante?”
He nods. “I quit when I got custody of Lacey.”
Rogue starts barking and scratching to be let inside. “I’ll get her,” I volunteer. I’m glad to have a minute to process his confession. You never really consider the lives people led before you knew them. I’ve never given a lot of thought to who Lee was before his wife’s death but even if I had, I wouldn’t have seen this coming.
Maybe I should be scared. A smart person would be. A normal person would probably run like hell from this whole situation, especially considering I have a mountain of my own problems I’m still sorting through, but I’ve never considered myself normal or particularly smart.
As I let Rogue in and dry off her muddy paws, I try to wrap my head around everything. I still have more questions than answers, but there’s one thing I know. This doesn’t change how I feel about Lee, not for the worse, anyway.
How could it? Of course he rescued exploited women and children. He rescued me from the fire, then from the struggle that came afterward by having me stay with him. He rescued his little sister from going into foster care. Rescuing is who he is and there’s not a trace of me that cares about what he did to monsters who shouldn’t even be considered men.
Rogue bounds into the living room, and Lee absently scratches behind her ears, but he isn’t looking at her. He’s a million miles away in his head. The despair on his face breaksmy heart. There’s nothing I want more right now than to understand what he’s dealing with and help him.
I grab my glass and sit beside him on the couch. “It was one of the traffickers who killed Isla?” I ask.
“Joss Wynne, a low level piece of garbage who was trying to work his way into a trafficking gang that called themselves The Jackals. The group I’d just stopped working for was targeting them. To join, they require their people to kidnap a woman or child and deliver them to the leader. I’m sure he thought it’d earn him extra points to take the wife of one of the gang’s enemies. But Isla must’ve fought back too hard or something.
“They found…” He trails off and pauses with an audible swallow. I scoot over until our thighs touch and slide my hand into his. He squeezes it and continues. “The cops found Joss’s car, abandoned at the edge of a small retaining pond. They said it looked like he intended to push it in, but it got stuck in the mud on the bank. The inside was soaked in blood. They suspected more than one person had been killed in that car, but when the DNA came back, it was all Isla’s.” Haunted eyes land on mine. “It was far beyond a survivable amount.”
“I’m so sorry,” I breathe.
“The cops were looking for him, but I found him first. I knew the Jackals had a little hideout in the woods not far from where he ditched the car. He was fucking stupid. There was nobody around when I dragged him out of the little shed. He wouldn’t tell me what he did with her body, just kept denying it was him. I should’ve keptgoing, tortured him to find out, but my anger got the best of me. I killed him too quick. I should’ve dragged it out.”
The words are pouring out of him now and he freezes like he’s just realized what he’s saying. “Shit. I don’t mean…I didn’t get any kind of thrill from killing the men I did. I wasn’t doing it for me. But he knew where she was.”
“Lee.” I don’t know any other way to make him see that nothing he’s said has made me upset. Not at him, anyway. I climb into his lap, straddling him, and cup his jaw with my hand. “Listen to me. I’m glad you killed the bastard. I’m sorry you didn’t get to lay her to rest, but you made sure the man who did that would never hurt another woman. I know you aren’t some sadist who enjoys killing. You’re a good man.”
His strong arms wrap around me and I hug him back, squeezing him tight. He holds onto me like I might disappear. For a few minutes, we stay like that, silent, holding each other. I rub my palm up and down his back, trying to comfort him the same way he does me.
Rogue finally breaks the moment by leaping on the couch and sticking her nose between us. “Alright, jealous girl,” he chuckles, petting her. “We see you.”
I scoot off of him, and he puts his arm around me while Rogue sprawls across our laps. “Do you believe the one texting you knows where her remains are?” I ask. “Or do you think it’s a lie to get you to do what they want?”
“I don’t know, but I know they were involved. They sent me her ring, and that dress was the one she was wearingwhen she went missing. They’re proof that they were with her on her last day.”
My stomach turns at the thought. “I’m sorry. I never would’ve worn it if I knew.”
“Stop. It’s not your fault.”
“It’s not yours either. None of it.” He presses his lips together and nods, but it isn’t convincing. “Who’s the guy they want you to kill?”
He sighs and rubs Rogue’s head. “Nobody as far as we can tell. He isn’t connected to any group of traffickers or vigilantes. He’s just a single dad who works as a tattoo artist.”
“Have you told him?”
“No. We can’t risk him going to the cops like any reasonable person would.”
Goblin leaps onto the couch and walks over my legs to curl up on Lee’s lap. “Well, I’ll just go fuck myself then,” I snort, reaching over to pet her.
A small grin tilts Lee’s lips and it’s good to see. “Don’t be jealous.”
“Cats have good instincts. She knows we’re safe here with you. Do you know what you’re going to do now?”
“You said the dress was brought to the diner? Was it a delivery service?”
“I don’t know. I was gone for lunch.” I have every intention of filling him in on the meeting with Grady but not this second. We’ve had enough revelations for one night. “But it wasn’t in a shipping box or anything.” Something occurs to me, and I reach for my phone. “I had new cameras installed after the vandalism.” I quickly pull up the recordings fortoday and skim through the time stamps. “It would’ve been between one and two.”
Lee leans over to watch with me. At half past one, a man enters carrying the large white box. I’m glad I chose the cameras that I did because the image of him is crystal clear. I’ve never understood why business owners bother to put in surveillance that shows an unhelpful grainy blob. He carries the box to the counter and waits a moment until Camille accepts the package. When he turns to start back for the door, we get a good head-to-toe view of him, and I pause the video.
