“I knew what you were thinking, that the shoe might have been True’s. You were wondering if Logan killed her.” He made a sound of disgust. “Another faithless woman. I don’t know why I’m always surprised. They’re all the same, whether they’re your mother or lover—”
“Or best friend’s wife.”
“Stop talking. I need to think.”
Which meant that was the last thing she needed to do.
He wouldn’t kill her in the house.
But he didn’t know where to take her. Or how to do it.
“Whose shoe was it?”
“Trista’s. She liked to dress trashy. It was such a pretty night that night. The pond seemed the perfect spot.”
The matter-of-fact way he relayed it, like a pleasant trip down memory lane, sent a chill up her spine. “Let me go, Paul. I’ll disappear, you’ll never hear from me again.”
He laughed. “I believe that. The moment you’re out of my sight, you’re squealing like a stuck pig.”
“I only care about the baby,” she pleaded. “Me and the baby, we disappear. We—”
“Not happening. I won’t let you hurt Logan.”
“But this will hurt him!” Her wrists burned, each movement agony. “You love him, Paul. So turn yourself in—”
“And be tried for murder one? Be executed? You’re out of your mind.”
“You plead guilty, tell them everything, give the girls’ families closure in exchange for—”
“Life in prison? No, thank you.”
“This is over. You’ve got to see that.”
“Where are your suitcases?”
He snapped his fingers in front of her face. “Your suitcases.”
“In the attic.”
“Which ones are yours? What color and brand? And don’t bullshit me.”
“Why do you want to know? Please,” she begged. “Just tell me that.”
“You’re going to disappear, Bailey. Just like you wanted.”
But not the way she had meant. She really wouldn’t see anyone ever again.
“But I’m going to do it right. Unlike Billy Ray. The idiot.”
“What do you mean, unlike Billy Ray?”
“He killed True.” At her obvious surprise, he laughed. “The boy who cried wolf. My friend at the sheriff’s passed that one along as well. He confessed this morning.”
He shook his head in disgust. “Of course, Billy Ray swears it was an accident. I’m sure it was, he was infatuated with her. It was pathetic.
“Tried to pin her death on my meticulous work. It was all staged—the car, her phone.” He shook his head. “But he hadn’t known about the hotel room or money.”
Bailey struggled to come to grips with what he was telling her. He hadn’t killed True. Her disappearance was linked to the others, but not in the way anyone would have guessed. “All along, you really did think she’d left Logan?”
He nodded. “I was so angry at her. I feel kind of bad about that now. Anyway, I’m going to do it right. Nobody’s going to wonder what happened. You left Logan. Took all your stuff. You suspected him of murder. His family was crazy. Guilty or innocent, you’d had enough.”
“Nobody will believe it.”
He laughed. “Everyone will believe it. Suitcases, what color?”
“I’m not going to tell you.”
“Whatever, it’s not going to matter.”
He started out of the closet, she stopped him. “Wait! How’d you do it? The missing women?”
“Easy. Asked them if they wanted to party.”
And they said yes.
“Then I incapacitated them with my own little cocktail of horse tranqs. See, all that schooling didn’t go to waste.”
“But you quit. Because you couldn’t hack it.”
Angry color flooded his face and she realized she had pushed a very dangerous button. “Who told you that? Raine? Stephanie? That’s what Cassie said, too. Before she broke up with me. But she paid. They all did.”
Women. He hated them. Starting with his mother. Bailey took a stab. “Even Logan’s mother, right? How did she betray you, Paul?”
It was his turn to look surprised. “How do you know that?”
“You were on the boat that night. You pushed her off, didn’t you?”
“I wanted to comfort her, that’s all. I loved her, but she”—his voice hardened—“rejected me. Told me to go away. Leave her alone. The same as mine always had. Another whore.”
The tie seemed to be loosening. Just a little more and she might be able to slip a hand out.
Bailey worked to steady her voice. “That’s a big stretch, don’t you think? She was a whore because she wanted to be alone after a fight with her husband?”
“She was having an affair! Cheating on Logan’s dad with Henry. A groom, for God’s sake! I heard them. In the barn. Whispering together. Doing … things. It was vile.”
Henry and Elisabeth.
“I saw my opportunity. And I took it.”
“That night on the boat?”
“No, in the barn that day. The stallion. He was already agitated. I was so angry at her, all it took was a well-aimed pebble.”
He’d orchestrated the accident that had disfigured Henry.
“You son of a bitch!”
They both looked toward the doorway. Raine stood in it, face pinched white with rage.
She held a gun, had pointed it at Paul’s head. “You killed my mother.”
The blood drained from his face. “Where did you come from?”
“Everything that’s happened since she died … Daddy and Roane, everything … it’s your fault. You destroyed my family.”
“You need me, Raine. Logan needs me. I’m the glue that holds us together.”
“I’m going to kill you, Paul. For what you did.”
“C’mon, Raine. You know you can’t do this. You’re not strong enough.”
Bailey thought otherwise. The woman’s hands were steady as a rock.
“Logan was on to you,” she said. “After talking to Bailey last night, he came to the conclusion that those trophies had belonged to someone very familiar with Abbott Farm. Someone who had twenty-four-hour access. Someone who had been here all along. That left two people. Me. And you.”
“You’re lying.”
“He told me he was going in to talk to Rumsfeld this morning and asked me to watch out for Bailey. When she didn’t answer the phone, I came over. Prepared. Which is more than I can say for you.”
With a howl of rage, he charged. Raine pulled the trigger. The shot reverberated through the room.
Paul stopped, looking confused.