It took him a moment to find his breath.
He shoved the picture and the sonogram inside the box, tucked it under his arm, and headed downstairs. As he approached the landing, the front door opened, and Tracy walked in. His mom was right behind her. She quickly shut the door and said, “I hope they didn’t see you.”
Tracy was staring at the box under his arm. “Have you been going through my things?”
“Were you in love with Dirk Taylor?”
Tracy did her best to look horrified. “No!”
“I saw the sonogram. You were pregnant with his baby.”
His mom paled. “What’s going on, Jason? What are you talking about?”
“Remember the key witness and the attorney I told you about? The two people who were bribed?”
“He’s insane, Mom. Don’t listen to him.”
His mom went to Jason’s side, confusion in her eyes. “I don’t understand.”
“Both the lawyer and the key witness at my trial told me that they never met the person who paid them off. Whoever was trying to frame me used a voice synthesizer.”
Mom shook her head. “I don’t know what that is.”
“It’s a voice changer like the one I found in Tracy’s room.” He handed her the box.
She looked inside, but pulled out the picture and the sonogram instead.
“I also found my bank statements in the box of mail you left for me. Millions of dollars are missing and the account was closed. Tracy’s name was on the account.”
“But how?” Mom asked. “I never pulled out any money.”
“I gave Tracy power of attorney to sell my condo. She must have used it to get access to my account.” He looked at Tracy.
“Is that what you did?” Mom asked. “Did you steal your brother’s money?” Her eyes widened. “That’s how you and Benjamin were able to buy that big house in Granite Bay.”
Tracy stiffened. “Why would you listen to a convicted killer, Mom? He’s a fugitive. He’s putting us all in danger by being here.”
“Why did you kill him?” Jason asked Tracy.
Tracy whipped about and rushed toward the stairs.
“If you’re going for your gun, don’t bother.”
She looked over her shoulder, saw the gun in his hand, then sank down onto the step and buried her face in her hands. “He told me he loved me,” Tracy finally managed. “He said that we would be together forever. I didn’t care about the other women because I thought he would eventually come to his senses. But then I found out I was pregnant with his baby.”
Mom stared at her daughter in horror.
“Don’t look at me like that. The bastard wanted me to have an abortion! He wanted me to kill your grandbaby. I refused, but in the end, I lost the baby anyhow.”
A phone inside Tracy’s purse began to ring.
Behind Tracy, Angela stood at the top of the stairs, holding the cell phone he’d taken from the man who had tried to kill him after he’d met with his sister.
Everything was beginning to make sense. He’d always written off his sister’s aggressive behavior as just the way she was. His friends had always considered his sister to be peculiar. Jason put a hand to his temple. “It wasn’t good enough that I spent eight years in prison. You wanted me dead, too. Why?”
Mom inhaled an unsteady breath.
Tracy came to the bottom of the stairs and set an accusing gaze on Jason, her chin lifted high in defiance. “Dirk was the best thing that ever happened to me. He understood me. He said I wasn’t the oddball everyone else made me out to be. He told me he loved me.”
Jason’s insides were in turmoil. Of all the scenarios he’d thought up over the years, this was one he’d never imagined. “So you killed him?”
The wild look in her eyes caused a chill to work its way through his body.
“Didn’t you hear a word I just told you? He wanted me to kill our baby! He said he loved me, but it was a lie. I started following him, and watched him having a great time with a perky little blonde. I wanted to kill her, but in the end I decided to kill Dirk instead.”
“And pin the murder on me, your own brother?”
“What was I supposed to do? I was at your house. You had just set the knife on the kitchen counter, and that’s when my idea began to take on a life of its own. So I figured you’d go to jail.” She sneered. “Mom and Dad’s perfect little boy. In jail!”
Mom pointed a trembling finger at Tracy. “Your father and I loved you both the same. You were always so, so…hard to please, though.” She put a hand over her heart. “I should have kept a better eye on things. How could I have been so blind to it all?”
“It’s not your fault,” Jason said as he slipped his arm around his mother, worried as she fought to catch her breath.
“Please tell me you didn’t hire anyone to kill your brother.”
Tracy looked at her mom then, her face a maze of angry lines. “You pushed me to this. You all did.”
Mom turned around, walked to the front door, and opened it wide. “It’s time for you to turn yourself in.”
Chapter Seventeen
Six Months Later
Montpelier, Vermont