Killer Heat (Dept 6 Hired Guns 3) - Page 69/104

“That’s true.”

“How did things get out of control? Why? What part did you play in sleeping with my boyfriend? Did you two care about each other? Was I keeping you apart? Did you give him up for my sake? What?”

Adriana stared at their joined hands but didn’t speak.

“Are you going to tell me?” Francesca prodded.

When Adriana lifted her eyes again, they were filled with misery. “He never cared about me. You were everything to him—”

Francesca let go of her hand. “Don’t you dare do this again!”

“What?”

“Say he loved me just because it’s what you think I want to hear!”

“I wish that’s what I was doing, but…you’re giving me too much credit.”

Because her best friend had always been such a Goody Two-shoes, Francesca had assumed Jonah must have been the aggressor, but… “What are you saying?”

“I’m saying it’s true. He loved you.”

She struggled to accept that. “Then why’d he do it?”

“Who knows? He never responded to me before.”

Francesca caught her breath. “What do you mean by ‘before’?”

Adriana’s shoulders rose in a weak shrug.

“Addy?”

Tears rolled unheeded down Adriana’s cheeks. “I don’t have all the answers. What he was going through. Whether or not he was as drunk as he seemed. I believed what I wanted to believe, okay?”

“Which was…”

She jumped off the bed. “Do I have to spell it out? There’s only one thing that could make me betray you, Fran.”

The truth hit with surprising clarity. “You were in love with him. It wasn’t an ‘accident.’ It was an opportunity.”

She managed a pitiful smile. “In a way, I’m still in love with him.”

All the excuses she’d received—the apologies, too—passed through Francesca’s mind. None of it was sincere? And now Adriana claimed she still had feelings for him? “You’re married! You have kids!”

Adriana closed her eyes. “Have you ever read The Bridges of Madison County?”

Francesca hadn’t read it, but she’d heard enough about it from her mother to know that the story revolved around a woman, married to a good man, who unexpectedly met a photographer traveling through the area while her family was away. The photographer was far more exciting than her plodding, dependable husband, and she fell in love with him. They had a torrid affair, but knowing her husband would soon be back, the woman chose to tell the photographer goodbye and stay with her family. Her brief relationship with this man was a secret she kept hidden until she died and the truth came out via a journal and some clippings found by her children.

Adriana identified with this character? She saw Jonah as the photographer and herself as the tragic figure who chose to sacrifice her true love to stay with her family?

Dropping her head in her hands, Francesca laughed bitterly. “Get out,” she said, and thankfully, when she looked up, Adriana was gone.

25

Due to the fallout from his confrontation with Dean, Butch had changed his plans. Instead of driving to Chandler, he’d spent the better part of the afternoon and early evening at the Pour House. He’d had a shitload of soda water and only two beers, which wasn’t enough, but he didn’t dare drink more. As distasteful as it was, he had a job to do.

Sitting in his truck, he let the engine idle while searching, one more time, for a viable alternative. But he couldn’t see one. If Francesca took those panties, she hadn’t given them to the sheriff’s office or Hunsacker would’ve mentioned it when he called earlier. Instead, the investigator had said that Francesca Moretti had been kicked off the case and Jonah Young had been fired at the same time. That was good, overall. Butch was damn sick of them and their constant scrutiny. But it didn’t mean he could relax. What if Francesca went ahead and did some more digging? Found out who Julia was and that she’d gone missing? It wouldn’t be hard. She’d lived with them for several months. Been seen. And what if Francesca had those panties analyzed? If the lab managed to get a DNA sample and the police were able to match it, via relatives or whatever, to Julia, they’d have grounds to get a search warrant. Then they’d come into the salvage yard and discover her body in the freezer….

No matter how many ways he looked at the problem, he always came up with the same solution.

“Quit wasting time, you dumb bastard,” he grumbled to himself. Then he shifted into Reverse, backed out of the parking space and headed for the highway.

Francesca sat in her living room, staring at the TV. She’d just watched the news, which showed footage from the grave site at Dead Mule Canyon while a voice-over stated that seven bodies had been found “in this remote location near the ranching community of Skull Valley.” Next, a correspondent interviewed Dr. Price, “the forensic anthropologist who’s working day and night at a makeshift lab in the community center to gather as much information from the remains as possible.” The same reporter then spoke with Investigator Finch, who was on hand with a smarmy smile to assure the public that the Yavapai County Sheriff’s Office was forming a task force to look into these murders and would do everything they could to keep the community safe.

“I feel better already.” Rolling her eyes, she turned off the TV and shut Investigator Finch out of her house. She needed to get some rest, but there was no way she could sleep. She kept wondering if she should’ve listened to Jonah when he tried to apologize all those years ago, if, with enough forgiveness, they could’ve made their relationship work in spite of his betrayal. What was his side of the story? What was the real reason behind what he’d done? He hadn’t blamed Adriana for his infidelity. She knew that much. He’d taken full responsibility. But maybe Francesca’s own lack of trust—of men, of love, of the happiness she felt whenever she was with Jonah—had tainted her willingness to understand, as well as her ability to overcome.

Both Adriana and Jonah were to blame. It took two to make love. And yet…certain nuances affected her understanding of the situation, the full impact of which she hadn’t realized until now. All the time they were growing up, Adriana had been such a good person, so kind and supportive, that Francesca had been far more willing to give her rather than Jonah the benefit of the doubt.

Or was she more generous with Adriana because she’d always felt guilty about the way her best friend was so often overlooked or pushed into the background when it came to men? Adriana had seemed content to let Francesca have the spotlight. It wasn’t as if Francesca had ever tried to upstage her. The response they got was the response they got. But what if Adriana secretly resented her? What if, deep inside, she’d wanted Jonah for herself all along?