“Is that what you think?”
“You hate me,” he said. “You’ve made that clear.”
“You’re wrong about that. You hurt me. But I don’t hate you.”
“If not to gloat, then why are you here, Steph?”
“I have a question. I want to know where you got this.” She crossed to the table, held out her hand. Lying in her palm was a simple gold wedding band.
His mouth went dry, his head light. “Where did you get that?”
“You know where.”
Tucked into his bureau drawer, wrapped in one of his dad’s old handkerchiefs.
He stared at it. Heat washed over him, then clammy cold. “I could arrest you for breaking and entering.”
“You won’t.”
“And why’s that?”
“You’ll have to explain how you came to have True Abbott’s wedding ring in your possession.”
He forced a laugh. “That was my mother’s ring.”
“Really?” Stephanie held it up and read the inscription. “‘My True Love.’”
“So?”
“I find it odd that your mother had the same inscription on her wedding band as True Abbott.”
He couldn’t take his eyes off the ring. It caught the light as she held it up between her forefinger and thumb. Winking at him.
Taunting him. Calling him a fool. A blind fool.
“What do you want from me?” he asked, the words coming out a croak.
“The truth.”
His right eye began to twitch. His head filled with an image.
True’s hand. Still and pale. Her fourth finger. The ring, winking at him.
Winking at him. In the light.
My True Love.
She’d called him, he remembered. Used the card he’d given her that very first day, when he’d rescued her from the side of the road. Asked him to meet her. Logan was out of town, gone to Jackson on business.
“Billy Ray, I need to talk to you.”
His heart soared. Finally, the moment he had waited for. She was reaching out, turning to him. “When?” he asked, barely able to form the words. “Where?”
“The sooner the better. Someplace no one will see us.”
Something in her voice. Something desperate. “Do you know where Miller Road is?”
“Yes.”
“At the very end is an abandoned farm. The barn is right there. Meet me there in an hour.”
Stephanie snapped her fingers. “The truth, Billy Ray. What’s so hard about that?”
He blinked, disoriented. “True was afraid of him, of Logan. Controlling her every thought, her every move. She couldn’t breathe when he was around. Always tiptoeing. Afraid something she said or did would set him off.”
“I know all your theories, Billy Ray. I’ve heard them a million times. And I know this is True’s ring because she showed me the inscription. How’d you get it?”
“She gave it to me, before she left him.”
“I thought you said he killed her? All these years, isn’t that what you said?”
“He did.”
“After she gave you the ring and left?”
He met Stephanie’s eyes, but saw True’s blue ones instead. Bright with tears.
“Thank you for calling me, True. You did the right thing. You won’t regret it.”
“Billy Ray—”
“No, please. Let me talk.”
He reached for her hands, she slid them into her pockets. It hurt, felt like a slap in the face, but he pushed the hurt aside. The same as he had every time his father had struck as he stepped between him and his mother.
He hadn’t been able to protect his mother.
He would protect True, no matter the cost.
“I see what he is, True. I know. I’m the law, I can protect you.”
“No, you’re wrong. I’m here because—”
“I’m not wrong.” He shook his head. He had to convince her. He had to make her see. “I have a gun. And a badge. My uncle is the chief of police. He won’t be able to touch you—”
“You need help, Billy Ray.”
“No. I need you, True. I love you.”
“You don’t even know me.”
“I know you’re sweet and kind. You’re beautiful, inside and out. I’ll take care of you—”
“I love him, Billy Ray. That’s not going to change, not ever.”
“We can go anywhere. We’ll leave Wholesome. Go where he won’t find us—”
“Look—” She dug into her purse. “I have money. Ten thousand dollars. You can have it, Billy Ray.”
She held out the stack of bills. “See? You can have it.”
He frowned. Money. A lot of money. Her wedding ring winking at him. “I don’t understand—”
“It’s for you. To leave Wholesome, start a new life. To get the help you need—”
“You’re sweating, Billy Ray.”
His vision cleared. Stephanie. The ring in her hand. “She was so afraid of him, of what he would do. That’s why she gave me the money. I didn’t want it. Only her.”
“What money?”
“The ten thousand.” He rubbed palms together. They were wet, sweating. The way they had been that day. “She was too afraid to leave him. The same as my mother was too afraid.”
She was staring at him, revulsion in her eyes. He wiped his brow. His upper lip. “Stop looking at me like that.”
“You killed her.” She took a step backward. “Oh, my God, you did it.”
“No.” He shook his head. “He did. With his jealousy. His … rage.”
“But she didn’t see it that way, did she?”
“Now, he’s free again. And Bailey’s in danger. Don’t you see?”
Sweat, dripping in his eyes. Soaking his shirt.
“What happened?” Stephanie asked. “She didn’t love you and wouldn’t leave him so you … strangled her? Like Nicole Grace was strangled? And maybe the others, too. And you kept her ring. As a souvenir.”
Nicole Grace? The others? “What are you talking about?”
“True’s dead. You’ve known it all along because you killed her.”
“I didn’t kill her! She slipped and fell.”
“And what? Hit her head? C’mon, Billy Ray.”
“I was trying to make her see. Make her understand! It was an accident!”
“True, sweetheart—”
“Don’t call me that.”
“Baby, please—” He caught her by the shoulders. “I love you. We’ll use that money to start our new life together.”
“Let me go!”
“Not until you say yes. Until you—”
“You’re hurting me!”