Bound to the Past (Starville Series Book 1) (35 page)

“If you hadnʼt returned, I would never have met you, and Iʼd have spent the rest of my life as a sexually frustrated old maid.”

Her words earned her a faint smile. “You always know how to put things into perspective, don’t you?”

“Iʼm serious. Donʼt think like that. Itʼs not your fault if thereʼs a crazy killer around here. In fact, had you not returned, we wouldnʼt even have known about it.”

“But Charlene and Carrie would be alive.”

“Maybe,” Sara shrugged. “Or maybe not. There is no way to know what might have happened, but you canʼt torture yourself about it. Whoever the killer is, itʼs obvious to me that he feels threatened by your return. And the fact that he got to the point of killing two people in such a short time might mean that youʼre getting closer and closer to the truth. All you can do at this point is keep going and not let anything deter you, Jack. Now more than ever.”

Rubbing his face with his hands, he let out a weary breath. “Iʼm so damn tired, Sara.” He leaned his head against the couch, his eyes closed. “I still havenʼt remembered a thing about my past, and Iʼm starting to think I never will. My mind is completely blank, and no matter what I do, I feel like Iʼm only tilting at windmills! I feel like a cursed creature. Itʼs like whoever gets close to me is doomed to a horrible, dreadful fate.” His blood ran cold at the thought. What if something happened to Sara, too?

No!
He would find the bastard responsible for all that mess. He would kill him with his own hands if he had to―but he would never,
ever
let anything happen to Sara.

Sara looked at him quietly, wishing there were anything she could say or do to make him feel better. But there wasnʼt. She sighed. “Honey, please, do not let this get the better of you.”

“Iʼm afraid it might be a little too late.”

Her brows furrowed. “What is that supposed to mean?”

“What happened tonight… The police wonʼt think twice about holding me accountable for it, sweetheart. You know that, donʼt you?” He snapped his eyes open and gave her a wary look. “I had an appointment with Carrie at the same time she was murdered. The whole hotel saw me run around like a nut after she died, and my fingerprints are all around her room.”

Saraʼs heart sank. She could feel the color leaching from her cheeks as she gaped at him in dismay. Luckily she was sitting, because the way the room started swaying around her, she would have certainly collapsed onto the floor. “But-but Brent knows youʼre innocent. He was with you tonight, for Godʼs sake. You guys entered Carrieʼs room together. You were together when you found her body.”

“All he knows is that I called him to tell him that Carrie wasnʼt answering the door and that I couldnʼt find her anywhere around the hotel. When he got there, we searched her room together, then looked out the balcony and found her body,” Jack pointed out with excruciating logic. “As far as he knows, I could have had all the time to break into Carrieʼs room from that very balcony, kill her, and go back to the reception area to call him as if nothing had happened.”

A long shiver ran down her spine. She shook her head hard. “Brent would never think that.”

“He already does, Sara. I read it in his eyes the instant we found Carrieʼs body and he ordered me out of her room. And believe me, if that was Brentʼs reaction, Lacrod will send me to the electric chair before I have time to say my name.”

Sara pressed her fingers against her eyes and took a deep breath in an attempt to calm down. Her entire body was quivering, and her heart felt as if it were about to shatter in a million pieces. It was surreal to think that only half an hour ago she’d been writing peacefully, waiting for her love to come back home, then suddenly everything had turned into such a horrific nightmare. Jack couldnʼt go back to jail, she thought desperately. Not again. Not like this!

She took another long breath, desperate to keep her feet on the ground. “Would you tell me what reasons you couldʼve had to get rid of Carrie? Why would the police suspect you, besides the fact that you had an appointment with her around the same time she might have been killed?”

“Theyʼll find all the reasons they want, Sara. For one, Brent knows about the file, since he was with us at the restaurant when we talked about it. Heʼll probably think I didnʼt want Carrie to show it to him tomorrow or something.”

“But it makes no sense!” Panic rang in her own ears as she clung to his arm. “Had this just been about that darn file, why would you have waited until the night of the appointment to steal it?”

Jack didnʼt answer, but his eyes went softer as he raised a hand and stroked her cheek with his knuckles.

“No!” she protested, pushing his hand away. “Donʼt distract me, Iʼm trying to think. First, we need to call Brent. We have to explain―”

He pressed his fingers to her lips. “Itʼs too late, babe. No matter what you can and want to do tonight, nothingʼs going to change what happened. Thereʼs nothing we can do right now, not until I get my memory back and have a better understanding of this whole mess.”

Sara swallowed hard. “I wonʼt let you go back to jail, Jack. I just wonʼt.”

Desperation broke her voice, and he gave her another long, silent look. Then he sighed. “Letʼs go to bed. Itʼs late, Iʼm exhausted, and I donʼt want to think about this anymore.”

“But—”

“All I want to think about right now is us.”

“But Jack—”

He cupped her face with both hands and tilted her head back to brush her lips with his. “Please. I donʼt want to think about it anymore. Not tonight.”

Sara stared into his pleading eyes and knew she was lost. “Fine,” she conceded—and knew that it was the right decision when Jack rewarded her with that sexy, dimpled smile of his.

“Thatʼs my girl,” he whispered, leaning into her.

***

It was almost noon when the Starville police cruiser pulled up Saraʼs driveway. Brent and Nicky were the first ones to get out. From their dark faces, Sara realized that what Jack had been trying to tell her the night before was true: they had really come to take him away.

A gasp of dismay broke from her lips. This couldnʼt be happening!

Jack gave her hand a silent squeeze before he walked down the porch steps to meet the officers. Brent and Nicky didnʼt even have time to utter a sound before the sheriff moved forward and stopped right in front of him.

“Jack Turner, youʼre under arrest for the murder of Caroline Ward,” he announced with unconcealed satisfaction. “Turn around and put both hands on the car.”

Without a word, Jack slowly obeyed and leaned against the police vehicle. Brent clenched his fists impotently as Lacrod patted him with sure, smooth movements. Saraʼs incredulous gaze kept shifting from Jack to him and Nicky, staring at them as if they were the most horrible creatures sheʼd ever seen.

Nicky ran up the porch and stopped beside her. “Honey,” she muttered―but she took a step backward. An instant later, the metal click of the handcuffs resounded like a bomb in the quiet driveway.

“You have the right to remain silent,” Max started, but his words sounded muffled in Saraʼs ears, drowned out by the deafening pounding of her heart.

As desperate as she felt to say or do something, she found herself unable to move or speak as she stared at Jack. He stood quiet and rigid against the police car, and her breath choked in her throat when he slowly turned his head to look at her. Gosh, sheʼd never seen him like this before. His eyes were so cold, so distant, so emotionless.

Her head started spinning. Her knees buckled, and she had to hold on to the porch railing for support.

“You have the right to speak to an attorney. If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be appointed for you,” the sheriff finished reciting. “Do you understand these rights as they have been read to you?”

Jack nodded. “I do.”

“Good.” Lacrodʼs satisfied grin widened. “Take him away, Hayden.”

Brent and Nicky reluctantly left Saraʼs side to go back to the cruiser. Nicky hated leaving Sara like this, looking totally dazed and shocked. She wished there was anything she could tell her to reassure her and help her cope with what was happening…but there wasnʼt. She wasnʼt even sure that Sara would appreciate it, anyway—not when she seemed to hate her.

With a deep sigh, she followed Brent back to the cruiser.

“Letʼs go, buddy,” she heard him say as he helped Jack inside the car.

Without a word, Sara turned around and walked back into the house as they drove off.

Chapter 25

Nicky walked early into the sheriffʼs office and headed straight toward the office she shared with Brent. “Hey.” Evidently focused on the papers in front of him, he jumped and snapped his head up. Nicky gasped as his bloodshot-red eyes met hers. “Crap, Hayden, you look awful.”

“Thanks.”

“Did you not go home last night?”

He shook his head. “I didnʼt feel like leaving Jack alone,” he admitted with a weary sigh, taking a sip from the coffee mug on his desk.

Nicky couldnʼt blame him. “Did you talk to Sara?”

“I never managed to get ahold of her.”

“Me neither. I tried to call her until midnight, but she never picked up. When I drove to her house, the lights were off and her car wasnʼt in the driveway. Maybe she got tired of getting phone calls like we did and decided to spend the night somewhere else.”

Brent nodded unconvincingly. “Weʼll try again in an hour or so.”

“Howʼs Jack?”

“Heʼs with Lacrod right now. He wanted to ask him a few questions.”

Nickyʼs mouth fell open. “You left Lacrod alone with Jack? Brent, how could you―”

“What was I supposed to do?” He set the mug down with a hard thud and rubbed his face with both hands. “Heʼs the sheriff, for Godʼs sake! I canʼt stop him from talking to the suspects.”

She let out a sigh. “How long has he been in there?”

“Almost three hours.”

“Is there a lawyer with them, at least?”

“Yeah, the one Jack was appointed by the department. Some pipsqueak terrified by both Lacrod and Jack himself,” he said with disgust, glancing at his watch. Then he jumped to his feet. “All right, thatʼs it. I canʼt wait any longer. Iʼm going to make sure everythingʼs fine,” he blurted.

Nicky nodded dully as he dashed out of the office.

***

“For the millionth time, I do
not
remember what happened last night, but I did
not
kill Carrie Ward. And keeping me here is not going to help you catch the real murderer.”

“Do you think Iʼm an idiot, Turner? You can fool your friends, but not me. And if you expect me to believe in your
oh-so-convenient
memory loss, then you’re fooling yourself, too.”

Jack inhaled sharply, trying to contain the rage that had been building up in the pit of his stomach for the past…what, two hours? Three? “I don’t give a damn whether you believe me or not. I don’t remember anything, and that’s it.”

The sheriff abruptly stopped his nervous pacing back and forth through the small room to give him a dark, wild stare. “From the very first time I saw you, I knew youʼd be trouble, and I was right. But I wonʼt let you destroy the peace Starville has finally achieved. I wonʼt let you ruin everything again.”

The handcuffs around Jackʼs wrists clanked as he leaned back against the metal chair, his gaze searching the older manʼs face with curiosity. “Why do you hate me so much, Max? What did I ever do to you?”

“You should never have come back here.” Fury, along with something else—something not quite decipherable—flashed in the sheriffʼs eyes. “You should have stayed away. If that little slut hadnʼt rescued you…” His stopped mid-sentence as Jack shoved back from the table, jumping to his feet so abruptly that his chair toppled over behind him with a loud bang. In an instant, he was towering over Max, his face mere inches from the other manʼs. “Say that again and youʼll be sorry.”

The sheriff held his gaze but swallowed hard. “Sit down.” As Jack didnʼt flinch, he fumbled in his waistband and pulled a semi-automatic. “I said, sit down.”

“Really, Max?” Jack cocked a brow, a sarcastic smile rising to the corner of his lips. “Need a gun to face a handcuffed man?”

“Sit. Down. Now.”

“Go on, pull that trigger—we both know youʼre dying to.”

“Donʼt tempt me.”

Jack stepped forward until his chest pressed against the metal barrel. “Just do it, Max. Finish what you started on that road.”

“
Son of a bitch!
”

Jack was half expecting the blow that followed, yet he did not see it coming the way it did. When the sheriff abruptly raised his arm and hit him across his head with his gun, all he could do was stagger backward until his back crashed against the wall behind him. Dazed, he blinked as his vision blurred, then blacked out all together. He hardly felt himself sliding down to the ground, nor did he hear Maxʼs curse as the door flew open and Brent burst inside the room.

“What the hell is going on here?” he shouted in horror at the sight of Max holding his gun and Jack half sitting on the floor. His head hung low, but he could see that his eyes were closed. A deep cut slashed diagonally from the outside corner of his right eye to his ear…and there was no sign of the damn lawyer!

“What the f— Max, have you lost your mind?” Brent asked the sheriff, crouching down beside Jack. “What the hell did you do?”

“He provoked me!”

“I donʼt give a shit what he did. Heʼs handcuffed, for Godʼs sake! Get out of here right now!”

Lacrodʼs gaze turned to ice. “Donʼt you talk to me like this, young man. I donʼt take orders from you.”

“Save the bullshit, Max,” Brent cut him off coldly, staring right into his eyes. “I donʼt need to remind you that I could press charges against you for this―and no, I donʼt give a damn that youʼre the sheriff. Now, Iʼll give you five seconds to reconsider leaving this cell before I make a call to Judge Hatkins.”

The sheriff held his steady gaze for a few seconds, his tension only given away by his hands, fisted into hard balls at his sides. Finally, he shot both Brent and Jack one last murderous look and ran out of the cell, slamming the door hard behind him. The loud noise seemed to startle Jack, who let out a groan.