Total pages in book: 125
Estimated words: 122074 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 610(@200wpm)___ 488(@250wpm)___ 407(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 122074 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 610(@200wpm)___ 488(@250wpm)___ 407(@300wpm)
I snapped at my dad. “How did you get ahold of her diary?”
He grinned at me, taking another bite of his donut. “There she is, so spunky. I love you, Mollykins.” He leaned around me as if to talk to Ashton. “You know she’s got this thing called a switch—”
“Dad!”
He swallowed before taking a sip of coffee. “Right. Right. I broke into her place and holed up.”
I was dumbfounded. “You what?”
“I needed a place to stay, and I’d been asking around to find out who killed Justin. Paulie over on Fifth said the shot happened at the hospital, that’s the word on the street, so that’s where I headed over. Asked around and saw the doctor acting weird around me. So”—he shrugged—“I broke into her place. Course I thought she’d be heading home that night, so I was quick, looking around, and then she came home, but she didn’t even notice. I ransacked her place, and she only rushed in, packed a bag, and was gone. Heard her on the phone with that one, I’m guessing. She was saying a guy with my description was asking questions about who killed Justin Worthing. After that, I got comfortable, but she never came home, so I took my time snooping.”
I wanted to hit him in the forehead. “You’ve been at the doctor’s apartment the whole time?”
He nodded, then cocked his head to the side. “Mostly. She came back one other time, but it was the same thing. Rummaged around looking for something and went crazy when she couldn’t find it.” He grinned. “Good thing I’d already found it. Her laptop and diary. Got it all there. She changed her password, logging in from somewhere else, but I already had access to all her accounts.”
“When did you find all that out?”
Another one of those shivers went down my spine at Ashton’s tone.
My dad noticed, too, going still and looking a little more wary. “It might’ve been a bit ago.”
“How long ago?!” Ashton barked.
My dad’s face went slack. “A few weeks.”
A few weeks . . . I surged forward. “How long?!”
His eyebrows dipped low, and he began edging backward. “I don’t know. Why’s it matter?”
“Why’s it matter?” I taunted him, still going at him but going slowly. “Oh, I don’t know, because maybe an entire war might not have happened? Maybe that’s why it might’ve mattered. How long?”
“I don’t know. A while, okay?” he shouted back at me, before tossing the last of his donut on the desk. “I came through! That’s all that matters. I came through.” He held up his coffee. “For you.”
“You said you couldn’t find who killed Justin. That’s a lie.”
“I didn’t lie. She never said in those diaries that she was the one who pulled the trigger. Just went on saying how Nicolai called her and there was an incident, but I know you. You wouldn’t want to know unless there was foolproof evidence. I didn’t have that, so I waited until I had enough to bring you all of it. Just got into the last diary today. She put it all there, a full confession. I have no clue why. That’s when I called the upstanding police officer himself, Detective Worthing. And we came right here.”
“You left a tracker here?” Ashton asked Jake.
Jake barely reacted, but I caught a glimmer of amusement in his gaze. “You’re not the only one who knows how to do things.”
“Right.” Ashton’s tone was dry, but he sighed.
I tugged his hands down in front of me, linking our fingers.
Jake arrested Sloane. “I brought him here so you could hear straight from him what happened.” He was putting handcuffs on Sloane as he said to Jess, “So you know, too, who killed Kelly. Felt it was the right thing to do, bringing him in person.”
She nodded, her face stoic until Trace pulled her back into his arms. Then she turned her back to everyone else, and buried her face into his chest. He held her like that the rest of the time.
Jake studied her a moment, a flicker of sympathy showing before his own face went stoic. He glanced in Ashton’s direction. “I have enough wherewithal to know when a battle went down, but I’m expecting that when I leave, I won’t be seeing any bodies lying around?”
Ashton’s voice sounded behind my ear. “What bodies? What are you talking about?”
Jake smirked, a faint one, before he dipped his head forward again. “I’ll be charging her, and I’ll be taking that one with me as well.” He nodded in my father’s direction.
“Wha—huh?!”
“We’ll be downloading the online journal, too, for evidence.” He gave Ashton a significant look before moving Sloane forward. “But first, I’ll put this one in the car.”
As soon as he was out of the room, Ashton was across the room and in front of my dad. “Let’s go.”