“You know why,” Anthony barked. “The folder that Zadie showed you. She told me she showed you, but Zadie wouldn’t give it to me so I could take it to the cops and have that snake, Chloe, arrested.”
“I didn’t see what was in the folder,” Sunny shouted, but her voice dissolved into a hoarse sob. “I swear I didn’t see,” she repeated. “And I told Zadie to take it to the cops.”
“Sure you did,” Anthony said, his tone dripping with sarcasm. He didn’t believe Sunny, though she was telling the truth.
And that led Ethan to a theory. One that he intended to test right now.
“Anthony,” he yelled, “when Zadie didn’t give you the file, you killed her, didn’t you?”
“Damn right I did. Zadie teased me with that file. She told me all the nasty little details of how Chloe had murdered that woman, Belinda. Stabbing her and putting her in that tub while her kid looked on. That’s the person Zadie was protecting. A cold-blooded killer like Chloe. So, I finished them both off. Justice for my mom and for that other woman.”
No, it wasn’t justice. It was payback. Chloe would have gotten more punishment if she’d been arrested and had to live out the rest of her life in a cage.
“Now Sunny and Vernice have to pay,” Anthony went on. “Sunny for being stupid and not turning in her sister for staying quiet about that file. And Vernice because she knew all about my mother’s murder. All about it,” he shouted.
Ethan glanced at Vernice, who was still sobbing. What she wasn’t doing was denying any of it.
“I sneaked into New Hope and was looking for that file when Chloe and Vernice came into Chloe’s office,” Anthony snarled. “I hid in the records room and heard everything you two conniving witches said. I heard you admit to knowing that Chloe had murdered my mother. You knew and didn’t go to the cops.”
“Because Chloe would have killed me,” Vernice said, her voice shaking so much that it was hard to understand her. “I was pregnant with my daughter, and I couldn’t take the risk.”
Hell. Ethan refused to feel sorry for this woman. But he did have a question. “Vernice, did you see Chloe kill Ivy, too?”
“No,” she was quick to deny. “But Chloe came to my house to wash up afterward. We were friends then. And she wanted to clean up before going home. I saw the blood on her, and when I asked her about it, she said I’d better stay quiet. When I heard about Ivy being in that wreck, I figured out what’d happened.”
“Yet you didn’t go to the police.” Anthony’s face was a mask of rage now. “That’s why you’re going to die. I won’t let you getaway with it, Vernice. Time to pay, and then Sunny is next in line. Anyone who gets in the way will die right along with them.”
Anthony bolted out from the cruiser, not coming at Ethan but rather scrambling to get in front of the cruiser where Vernice was cowering. The man was obviously trying to get into a position where he could shoot her, and he no doubt thought he could dart behind cover in time.
He lifted his gun.
So did Ethan.
Even though Ethan didn’t have the best angle for the shot, he was the first to fire. And he didn’t miss.
His shot slammed into Anthony’s chest, causing the man’s body to jerk back just as he pulled the trigger. His shot went wild, blasting into the house right between Ethan and Grace.
And just above where Livvy was.
Ethan cursed, ready to send another shot into Anthony. Ready to do whatever it took to stop him.
Staggering and clutching his chest with his left hand, Anthony turned, trying to take aim at them, but his body could no longer manage that. He dropped to his knees, his stunned gaze fixed on them. Even then, he tried to take aim again at Vernice, and once more, he failed. Anthony gutted out another of those feral sounds before he crumpled onto the ground, his gun clattering onto the ground.
Ethan was up in a flash, hurrying to Anthony so he could kick the weapon out of reach. Anthony was bleeding and the wound was probably fatal, but that didn’t mean the man still wasn’t dangerous.
Behind him, Ethan heard the hurried footsteps, and Grace and Livvy stepped up by his side. They, too, had their weapons aimed at Anthony, but it was obvious the man wasn’t going anywhere.
“Kill Vernice for me,” Anthony said, looking up at Ethan. “If the town rumors are true, you hate her as much as I do.”
Ethan’s feelings for Vernice hadn’t been hatred. Not until now. Not until he’d learned the truth about what she’d done. The woman had witnessed Livvy’s mother being murdered and hadn’t done a damn thing about it—before or after the fact. Worse, she’d left a traumatized child there with her mother’s body. Vernice hadn’t had the decency to make an anonymous call to the cops so that someone could have protected Livvy.
Yeah, that made Vernice despicable as far as he was concerned.
“I hate what Vernice did, and what she didn’t do. But I won’t kill her,” Ethan spelled out. “I’ll let the justice system hand out her punishment.”
Vernice sobbed again, but he ignored her. She wasn’t getting a drop of his pity.
“I’ll let the deputies and EMTs know it’s safe,” Grace muttered, stepping aside to make the call.
