Page 28 of Survive the Night
“Jules.” Theo cupped her face in his hands, speaking directly to her, as if no one else was in the room. “No matter what you did, I’m on your side—yours and the kids. Are they here?” He glanced toward the hall, as if expecting Jules’s siblings to be listening in.
“They’re still at Steve’s. Dee and the twins are friends with his kids.”
“Good,” Theo said. “Tell us what happened. I’m pretty sure I’ve figured out most of it, anyway.”
Curling her fingers around Theo’s wrists, Jules leaned in to kiss him lightly. “I love you.”
“Okay, okay, okay.” Hugh broke into the tender moment. “You both love each other and complete each other and would climb every mountain for each other. We get it. Enough with the kissy-kissy. Tell us what happened.”
Jules looked a little startled, as if she’d also forgotten about the spectators to her and Theo’s tender scene. “Oh. Okay. Um…my stepmother is a horrible person, and my dad has early-onset Alzheimer’s. I’ve been trying to get custody of my siblings, but I lost my CPA license after being questioned by the FBI, so I had no way to pay for attorney fees. I went to Mr. Es—uh, a slightly shady contact of mine and asked for a reference so I could work as an accountant for the Jovanovics or Blanchetts—”
There was a collective, audible inhale from everyone in the kitchen, and Jules put up a hand. “I know, I know. It was stupid, but I was desperate, and no one legitimate would hire me after the FBI thing. The contact wouldn’t give me the reference, but he gave me money and the name of someone who would set up new identities for me and the kids. So…I kidnapped them and drove from Florida to Colorado.”
There was a pause before Hugh repeated, “Kidnapped them?”
“Sam, Tio, Ty, and Dee. They wanted to be kidnapped, though, so that made it less evil than it sounds.” Jules kept her gaze focused on an expressionless Theo. Otto recognized his partner’s “thinking” face, the one he got when he was processing information.
“Why wasn’t there a huge police response?” Hugh asked. “Four kids—including twins—are pretty distinctive, and I don’t remember an Amber Alert.”
“Mr.…the slightly shady contact has evidence of the worst of my stepmother’s abuse.” Jules’s mouth pulled tight, and her eyes were glossy as she wrapped her arms around her middle. “He told her that he’d release it to the police if she reported the kidnapping. I’m sure she has private investigators working on it, though.”
Theo reached out and gently tugged Jules toward him. As she rested her head against his chest, he wrapped his arms around her.
“Do you hate me?” she asked in a small voice.
Theo cupped the back of her head with his hand. “I could never hate you, especially not for this.”
“I’m a felon.”
“You’re a good sister.” Her body jerked with a single sob, and her hands clutched the sides of his shirt as Theo kissed the top of her head. “We’ll figure this out, Jules. Together.”
“I love you.” The words were clear, despite her tears.
“I love you, too.”
“Why not just turn in the evidence immediately?” Hugh asked, interrupting their sweet moment. “She’d be arrested, and you’d get custody. Problem solved.”
“Sam was her main victim.” Jules turned her head so that her voice wasn’t muffled against Theo’s chest. There were tears streaming down her cheeks. “He doesn’t want anyone to know. He’s so ashamed. I tell him over and over it wasn’t his fault, but he doesn’t believe that. If he had to testify…” She trailed off, her mouth drawing down at the corners. “He wouldn’t be able to do it. If he tried, for us, her lawyers would tear him to pieces. It would destroy him.”
Otto realized that he was torturing the twisted spoon again, and he set it carefully on the table. He’d known that Sam had been abused. The signs were all there—his stutter, his wariness, his whole demeanor. It was still hard to hear it confirmed.
“Now that we’re finally all sharing, how did you end up here?” Hugh asked Grace. Before she could answer, he spoke again. “I know that you were dating Jovanovic—”
“Barely dating,” Grace interrupted to clarify. “Noah and I had been on, like, three dates.”
“You were dating Noah Jovanovic?” Sarah asked in a hushed voice. “He completely freaks me out—his uncle Martin, too.”
“Until Grace met me,” Hugh said with pretend pompousness, “her taste in men was…well, a little sad.”
Grace pinched Hugh’s thigh, making him yelp. “I’ll have you know, I’m still questioning my judgment.” She gave him a teasing, sideways glance when he protested. “Yes, all the Jovanovics turned out to be scary. At least Noah and Martin and some of their other top guys are in jail now.”
“I wish Logan was,” Sarah said.
Theo looked at her with a frown. “Sorry we didn’t get him. Viggy tracked him through the trees, and then his trail ended. We’re assuming he ran to where he’d parked a car earlier. There’s a nationwide BOLO out for him. He’ll be picked up soon.”
“Why did you both come here, though?” Hugh repeated, returning to the earlier conversation. “Why were you—and then Sarah—sent to Jules?”
The three women exchanged a glance that told Otto he and the other cops were not going to get that information. “He asked for a favor,” Jules finally non-answered.
