Jason held out his hand and Galen shook it. “It’s too soon to tell. We’re here to hopefully get some answers. Do you mind if we take a look at her office?”
“Of course, follow me.” Galen led us to the back and opened the door to Bristol’s office. It smelled just like her black cherry perfume. “Rebecca is here to help as well. She handles all appointments.”
I walked over to Bristol’s desk and the first thing I saw was the address to the foreclosed house. “Here’s this,” I said, handing the note to Jason.
He looked at it and sighed. “Now all we have to figure out is who led her there.” He looked at Rebecca. “Is there any way to give us the names of the people Bristol was seeing today?”
She nodded. “Give me one second and I’ll get them for you.”
“I do know she saw a woman named Shayleen,” I added. “She’s apparently someone huge in the fashion world.”
Galen agreed. “She is.”
Rebecca came back with a list of three names in her hand: Shayleen Harris, Maggie Donovan, and Jennifer Hallowell. “What all do you know about Maggie Donovan and Jennifer Hallowell?” Jason asked Galen.
“Maggie Donovan is a good friend of my wife. She’s expecting twins in a couple of months and wanted Bristol to design their nurseries.”
Jason and I looked at each other, and the more I wanted to deny it, I couldn’t. That left only Jennifer Hallowell, Bristol’s friend. “What about Jennifer Hallowell?” Jason questioned, glancing back and forth at them both.
Galen shrugged. “I don’t know who she is.”
Rebecca raised a hand. “I’ve seen her before. She’s come in several times to see Ms. Thomas.”
“Do you know what she looks like?” I asked her.
“Oh yes,” she said with a nod. “She’s tall, with bright blond hair and a tattoo on the back of her neck.”
Eyes wide, I stared at her as if I’d seen a ghost. “A tattoo? Of what?” I could only pray I was being paranoid and that it wasn’t who I thought it was.
Rebecca’s eyes narrowed in concentration. “I couldn’t really tell, but to me it looked like a flower.”
The blood rushed from my face and I felt sick. It was Sadie; there was no doubt about it. She had been playing Bristol the entire time. “Could you identify her if you saw a picture?”
She looked at me and nodded. When I turned to Jason, his concern was clear. “You’re not thinking this chick is Sadie, are you?”
“That’s exactly what I’m thinking. Do you have a picture of her?” He opened the file in his hands and pulled out a paper with Sadie’s face on it.
Rebecca’s eyes widened when she looked at it. “That’s her. That’s Jennifer Hallowell.”
Jason sighed. “On the contrary…her name is Sadie Mitchell.”
And we had no fucking clue about how to find her.
Chapter 28
Bristol
My head throbbed so hard it felt like I was going to throw up. From the hit I took, I no doubt had a concussion. My mouth was dry but when I tried to move, I was stuck in place. My arms were pulled behind me, my wrists bound together with a rope so tight I couldn’t feel my fingers. Everything on my body was numb except for my head.
“Wakey, wakey,” Jennifer sneered, smacking me across the cheek. My vision was blurry, but there was no mistaking the soulless eyes that stared back at me. All I could see was red and if I weren’t tied to a chair, I would have beaten the shit out of her. Not only had my brother taught me self-defense moves, but I’d learned a thing or two on my own over the years.
“Jennifer, why are you doing this?” I growled. When my eyesight cleared, I glanced around the room, my throat burning like acid. “Oh my God.” There were candles all around and there, lounging on the bed, was Jennifer in red, lacy lingerie. We weren’t in a secluded place where no one could find us; we were in Jaxon’s very own bedroom.
“That’s the thing, sweetheart,” she said sweetly, “my name’s not Jennifer…it’s Sadie.”
After she shot Corbin, there was a place in the back of my mind that knew, but I had to make sure. My thoughts drifted to him and I prayed he was okay. The last thing I remembered seeing was him lying on the floor, bleeding from his chest.
“How could you?” I said. “There’s something wrong with you.”
She lay on Jaxon’s bed as if she owned it, but her smile faded. I didn’t realize she had the gun on the bed until she reached for it, pointing it straight at my head. “You’re what’s wrong with me!” she shouted. “Jaxon never would’ve left me if it wasn’t for you. But now all that’s going to change. I’m going to make him see that I’m the one for him.”
I scoffed incredulously. “You’ve literally lost your mind.”
She shook her head. “Not exactly. By now Jaxon knows what I’m capable of. If he doesn’t do everything I ask, I’ll put a bullet right through your pretty little head.”
Judging by what she did to Corbin, I had no doubt she’d shoot me the first chance she got. She was probably going to do it no matter what Jaxon did. “What do you want him to do?” I asked.
An evil leer spread across her face. “You’ll see. And kudos, by the way, for fixing this place back up. I was hoping to get rid of you the easy way, but you’re just too damn hardheaded. If you’d just stayed away, we could’ve been friends.”
“And now you’re ready to kill me because Jaxon has sense enough to stay as far away from you as possible. I’ll bet a million dollars you’re the one who killed Nate Bryson and his wife. There were witnesses who described a woman like you as being Nate’s mistress.”
Her jaw tensed and her eyes flashed like fire. “You need to shut the hell up, now,” she hissed low.
“Why? Can’t face your sins? Why would you kill the man you loved?”