Page 76 of Christmas Homecoming Secrets
“Well, I do! It’s my life we’re talking about here. And Frank’s! And the kids’! What if Mia had been home when you set my house on fire?”
“I figured she’d stay with your parents. She always does these days.”
“But what if she hadn’t? You could have killed her.”
“Well, she’s not dead, so drop it!” Heather’s eyes flashed desperation, and that scared Jade almost as much as having the gun aimed at her. “Wait a minute. How did you get the bombs in there and then disappear so quickly? There was no car, nothing, but I know I saw you out near the barn.”
Heather shuddered. “That was a close one.”
“So, I did see you!”
“I thought for sure you’d find me.”
“But where—” She broke off. “Our secret place in the loft,” she whispered. “That’s how you were coming and going without anyone noticing you.”
“It was a simple thing to grab a horse from the pasture and bareback it up to the barn. No car necessary. No sounds to alert anyone.”
“And you know my family’s schedule so you could plan around it.” So stupid. She and Bryce had talked about the secret place and she hadn’t evenlooked. Because no one had known about it and it was almost impossible to find unless one knew it was there. Like Heather did.
“Check on Tom,” Heather said. “Is he sitting in the car or outside of it?”
Jade went to the window and peered out, wishing there was some way she could signal the man she needed help. But he wasn’t watching the house. He was sitting in his car, talking on his phone. “Inside.”
“Call him in here.”
“What? Why?”
“He brought you here. I can’t exactly explain why he’s not taking you anywhere.”
She planned to kill him and Jade—and probably anybody who tried to stop her. “Is that what you did to Frank? Call him over here and when he walked in, shot him?”
“Yes! I mean, no! Argh!” Heather drew in a deep breath. “Yes, I asked him to come over. We talked and he wouldn’t listen to reason. He said he was calling off the wedding and that was that. I couldn’t let him do that. Don’t you understand? I couldn’t let him!”
“So you shot him.” Jade could picture it playing out. “And then…what? How’d you get him into your car?”
“He was still alive,” she whispered. “I was going to take him to the hospital. He got up on his feet and I got him in the car and he died.”
“And you had to hide the evidence.” And no one would have searched Heather’s car.
“I drove his car home, got a shirt to put on him because there was so much blood. I couldn’t drive him around like that. Then I walked back here, changed his shirt and drove him to the mill. I buried him right where they found him, but I still had to do something with his bloody jersey.”
“And you were burying it when I showed up.”
“Yeah,” she said softly.
“Why didn’t you just bury it with him?”
“Because I just…didn’t. I’d left it in the car and only found it when I went to leave. I was almost finished when you showed up.” Her eyes clouded. “To ruin things once again.”
“Heather, I—”
“Enough. Get Tom in here.”
Jade’s mind spun and she tried to think and plan. “No. I won’t put him in danger.”
“It’s too late, Jade.” She blinked away tears. “If only you hadn’t come back. You should have stayed away. Get him in here!”
Arguing with her wouldn’t do any good. Jade took note of the layout of the kitchen and den area once again. Jade still had her weapon in her holster and her phone in her pocket. A testament to Heather’s state of mind that she hadn’t had Jade toss them out to her.
