Audrey shrugged lightly. “I may not be able to prove you’re Tim Raymer, but you might start finding it a lot more difficult to be Rich Bridges.”
Finished, she held his gaze and waited to see how he would respond.
At first he didn’t, simply studying her steadily through those foreign blue eyes.
Julia finally stepped forward into the silence. “This is ridiculous,” she said. “I’m getting security.”
“Don’t,” Tim said before Audrey or Jason could. His shoulders sagged as though bearing the weight of the world. “What do you want?” he asked them.
“I told you,” Jason said. “I want some assurance that you and your people will stop trying to kill us.”
“And I told you I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“You also told Ms. Ellison that what she’s saying is ridiculous and you’re not Tim Raymer, and I think we’ve moved beyond that. Why don’t we stop wasting time and be straight with each other?”
“I’m telling you the truth,” Tim said impatiently, raking a hand through his perfect hair. “I most certainly have not been trying to kill anybody. I would never do something like that.”
Audrey wouldn’t have thought it possible, but she believed him. He really had no idea what they were talking about. She stared at him, stunned. But if not him…
She glanced at Julia, who appeared equally bewildered. Then that left…
“What about Dick Bridges?” Audrey asked.
Tim narrowed his eyes on her face. “What about him?”
“Is it something he would do?”
He shook his head. “No, of course n—” He cut off, his defense of Dick coming to an abrupt end, uncertainty flashing across his features.
“Obviously, Dick Bridges must have been involved from the beginning for this to have happened,” Audrey pointed out. “Did you and he conspire to kill Rich so you could take his place?”
“Don’t be ridiculous. Nobody killed Rich Bridges. He killed himself.”
Audrey exhaled sharply. “Oh, come on.”
“It’s true,” Julia said, a quiver in her voice. “I was there when Dick showed him the body.”
“He hanged himself in the barn,” Tim said. “Dick called me at home and asked me to come right away. Julie was with me, though he didn’t know that. I told her to stay in the car, but she didn’t. Dick showed me Rich’s body. He’d already cut it down. Dick said they’d argued about Rich’s future. Rich didn’t want to go college, he didn’t want to do any of the things Dick wanted him to. Apparently, Dick was pretty rough on him, threatened to cut him off unless Rich did exactly what he wanted to. Rich ended up storming out. Dick didn’t hear him drive off, so when Rich didn’t come back within a few hours, Dick went looking for him. That’s when he found him like that in the barn. He was already dead. He must have snapped, finally had enough of all the pressure. That’s when Dick called me.”
“He wanted you to help him cover it up?”
“And to make me an offer.”
“To take Rich’s place,” Audrey concluded.
“I thought he was crazy. I’m sure it still sounds that way. He said Rich was his legacy, and he couldn’t bear the thought of his legacy dying like that. Rich and I were roughly the same height, the same age. He knew I was smart, ambitious, a hard worker. So he laid out this plan whereby we’d burn the body in my car and make it seem like I had died. Meanwhile, he would send me to Switzerland, to a clinic he knew with the best, most discreet plastic surgeons in the world. They would give me a new face, turn me into Rich Bridges.” He shook his head. “I really didn’t think they would be able to pull it off, but they did.”
“Why would you agree to go along with that?” she asked.
He looked at her in disbelief. “Why wouldn’t I? I had a miserable life. My only family was an uncle who couldn’t stand me any more than I could him. I was going to have to work my tail off to pay for college. Dick was offering me everything. A new life, a top education, a name that means something in this world. He was opening every door I never would have had a chance to approach. I could do things as Rich Bridges. I
have
done things. Do you think Tim Raymer would be standing here today? Would anyone in this town, let alone this country, be so eager to vote for Tim Raymer for president?”
“What about Rich Bridges? Did he deserve to have his identity stolen, his life forgotten so easily?”
“Why should I worry about his life, when he thought so little of it? He killed himself. The spoiled brat had every advantage in the world, every opportunity handed to him, and he didn’t even appreciate it. He just threw it all away.”
“No, he didn’t,” Audrey said firmly. “Rich Bridges wouldn’t have killed himself. There’s no way.”
“I’m telling you he did.”
“I saw it myself,” Julia said.
“No,” Audrey repeated. “You saw a dead body. And you,” she said to Raymer, “told me Dick showed you the body. Neither of you saw Rich kill himself. From the sound of it, you didn’t even see him hanging. You said Dick had already cut the body down. Except, I would be surprised if it was ever hanging in the first place. If it was, it only would have been for show, to make sure the bruising on the neck was convincing. Because if you didn’t help Dick Bridges kill his son—and I believe you didn’t—then Dick must have done it himself. It’s the only explanation.”
“That’s ridiculous. Why would Dick kill his own son?”
Audrey had no trouble picturing what had happened, what Dick’s reaction must have been when Rich had told him he didn’t intend to start college that fall. “Like you said, he didn’t appreciate what he had. He wanted to walk away from it all, everything Dick wanted him to do. And when Dick realized that this time he wasn’t going to be able to force Rich to obey, he must have lashed out. The only question is whether it was in the heat of the moment or deliberate.”
“You have no way of knowing that.”
“Yes, I do.”
“That’s enough.”
The voice came from the opening to the tunnel behind them. Audrey recognized it as soon as she heard it. She jerked her head to the speaker.
Dick Bridges stepped into the room, the opening to his own room visible behind him. He was staring at her, hatred burning in his eyes. Audrey barely noticed, her attention focused on the object he held in his right hand.
It was a gun equipped with a silencer.
And it was pointed right at her.
Chapter Thirteen
Jason took one look at the gun in Dick Bridges’s hand and it was all he could do not to dive in front of Audrey. Only the sight of Bridges’s finger on the trigger and the knowledge that any sudden movement might set the man off held him in place.
“What are you doing?” Tim Raymer said, finally breaking the silence that had fallen over the room in the wake of Dick Bridges’s sudden appearance.
Dick didn’t so much as glance in his direction, never taking his eyes off Audrey. “Dealing with a situation.”
With the bastard’s attention off him, Jason slowly started to shift in her direction. If he could just move in front of her and block her with his body…
“It was you all along,” Audrey said bluntly. “You had my uncle killed. You had that man try to kill us, too.”
“You’re just full of answers today, aren’t you, Ms. Ellison?” Dick said dispassionately. “Don’t move, Mr. Stone. One more inch and I won’t hesitate to shoot.”
Dick didn’t even glance at him as he said it. Jason forced himself to stop when it was the last thing he wanted to do. “Let’s all calm down, sir. There’s no reason why anyone has to be shot.”
“I believe Ms. Ellison spent the past several minutes eloquently laying out the reasons you both need to be shot.”
“You can’t be saying this is true,” Tim said, his tone incredulous. “You’ve been trying to kill them? You killed Rich?”
“It’s like you said, he didn’t appreciate who he was, the opportunities I’d provided him. He wanted to throw it all away.”
“Did he tell you why?” Audrey asked.
“He said he was going to live his own life,” Dick scoffed. “The life he wanted. He was going to be
happy
.”
So that was it, the reason people as politically savvy as the Bridgeses were willing to launch a presidential campaign despite a secret as explosive as an abandoned illegitimate child out there like a time bomb. Because none of them knew. Rich hadn’t told his father about Marybeth and the baby. Was it because he hadn’t had a chance, or because he’d been trying to protect them from Dick Bridges’s rage, the same rage the man must have directed at him? Even now, just recalling the moment, Dick’s anger was palpable.
“So you killed him,” Tim concluded, his voice still ringing with disbelief.
“It was an accident,” Dick said with no discernable emotion. “We argued. He tried to walk away from me. I grabbed his arm and we struggled. He fell, hit his head. I tried to wake him up, but it was clear he was dead.”
“And you immediately came up with a backup plan to preserve your legacy,” Audrey said.
“I wasn’t going to let Rich ruin everything I’d planned for his life.” He looked at Tim. “I’d been watching you for a long time. I knew how smart you were, how driven, what a hard worker you were. I knew you were more worthy of my name than he was. And then came the moment when I knew I could make that the case.”
If Tim was at all flattered by the man’s words, he gave no indication.
“Just like you weren’t going to let my uncle ruin everything when he found out too much about the supposed death of Tim Raymer,” Audrey said.
“He didn’t know the whole truth.” Dick sniffed. “But he certainly knew far more than he had any business knowing. Just like you do.”
With that, Dick refocused the gun directly on Audrey’s chest, the sight sending Jason’s adrenaline surging. He didn’t have the slightest doubt the man intended to pull the trigger. He just didn’t know if he had a chance of getting in front of her in time.
“No,” Tim said, stepping forward. “You’re not shooting anyone.”
“Don’t be absurd,” Dick scoffed. “They’ll ruin everything!”
“There’s nothing to ruin.” Tim raised his chin, cold resolve settling over his features. “I’m going out there and announcing that I’ve decided I’m not running for president after all.”
Dick stared at him, his expression rapidly turning to horror. “What are you saying?”
“I’m not doing this. I’ve been thinking a great deal over the past few days about everything we’ve done, and having doubts about whether I can actually go through with trying to convince the American people to make me their president while lying to them about who I am. Can you imagine what would happen if I did win, and then the truth came out, the way it would shake this country? Not to mention my children. And that was before I knew everything you’d done. My God, you killed your own son!”
“It was an accident!”
“Having Hal Talmadge killed wasn’t! Trying to have Mr. Stone and Ms. Ellison killed wasn’t!”
“These were necessary measures. They’ve involved themselves in something that is none of their business.”
“This is politics. Having someone killed is never a ‘necessary measure.’ I can’t be a party to that. I won’t.”
Jason listened to what he was saying with a sense of awe. Raymer’s words sounded just as passionate as any speech he’d ever given as Rich Bridges. It suddenly struck him that his instinct about this man hadn’t been wrong, nor had any of the people who would have voted for him.
He really was a good man, even if he wasn’t the man everyone thought he was.
Jason glanced over at Julia Bridges to see how she was reacting. It was her ambitions he was throwing away as well.
To his surprise, her eyes brimmed with tears, an expression of unmistakable pride on her face. And he knew that, however their marriage had come to be, this woman really did love her husband.
“You can’t do this!” Dick said. “Not after everything I’ve done for you!”
“Don’t pretend your actions were some great act of charity. Everything you’ve done was for yourself.”
“I gave you my name!”
“The name you denied me in the first place!”
A stunned silence hung over the room in the wake of Raymer’s outburst. Dick glared at the man, his jaw clenched tightly. And there it was—one last piece of the puzzle. Dick Bridges was Tim Raymer’s unnamed father. It made a certain amount of sense—why Dick had thought of him to replace Rich, how they’d been able to pull off the masquerade. Plastic surgery alone couldn’t make someone look exactly like someone else. But someone who was related, a half brother with similar bone structure—perhaps? That would make it a lot easier.
Dick abruptly swung the gun toward Raymer and aimed it at the younger man’s chest. “I wouldn’t let Rich throw everything away. I’ll be damned if I’ll let you do it, either!”
The surprise that briefly flared across Tim’s face quickly faded. He lifted his chin slightly and met Dick’s eyes, his expression composed, as though completely unfazed by the gun pointed at him. “What are you going to do, Dick? Shoot me? Do you really think you’ll get away with that? How will you explain it?”
“An assassination.” He jerked his head toward Jason and Audrey. “These two broke in and killed you. I managed to catch them in the act and killed them, but it was too late to save you. Maybe I’ll run in your stead. I’m sure people will be much more sympathetic to a grieving father.”
An eerie calm fell over Jason. It was a crazy plan, but Dick Bridges had already pulled off one crazy plan in the replacement of his son. Was there a chance in hell he could get away with this, too?
He couldn’t begin to calculate the likelihood and probabilities. Because a heartbeat later, Dick swung the gun and aimed it directly at him.
Jason froze, his mind going blank. As he stared down the barrel of the gun, the implications truly hit him for the first time, the knowledge that they could all be about to die.
And in a flash of insight so definite there was no doubting it, he knew.
He wasn’t ready to die.
The need pounded through him, rushing through his veins, filling his head, a primal instinct that was undeniable.
He wanted to live.
Jason glanced at Audrey. She stared at Dick, her head held high, no fear in her eyes.
Respect welled up inside him. God, she was amazing. Next to dying, the last thing he wanted to do was let her go.
“And what about Julia?” Tim asked Dick with deadly calm. “Are you going to kill her, too?”
Dick shot a glare at the woman, his hatred obvious. “I should have done it a long time ago, the minute she blackmailed you into marrying her. If I’d known she was there that night, that she’d overheard everything, it would have been done then.”
“It’ll never work, Dick. You only have one gun. Even if it’s not registered in your name, do you really think anyone will believe they killed the two of us, then you managed to come in and get the gun away from them and kill them?”
Jason could see the man thinking quickly, but he didn’t say a word, obviously not having a response to that.
Tim simply shook his head. “It’s over, Dick.”
The older man’s face darkened with rage. “I’m not going to stand by and watch you throw away everything I’ve worked for!”
Tim eyed him coolly. “I’m afraid you don’t have a choice.”
Dick stared at him for a long moment. Then his gaze suddenly went cold, the corners of his mouth lifting in a faint smile. “I would have thought you’d have learned a long time ago. We all have choices.”
Jason’s pulse leaped in alarm. Bridges was going to do something. Jason braced himself, ready to launch himself in front of Audrey at the slightest indication the gun was going to move back toward her.
He didn’t get the chance.
Before anyone could react, Dick raised the gun to his temple and pulled the trigger.
Jason saw it unfold in vivid detail. The explosion of blood. The way Dick’s body jerked. The life snuffing out of his eyes. And the slow collapse of his body as it crumpled to the floor.
At first, Jason could only stare at the body in shock. He finally managed to raise his eyes and look at Audrey. She appeared just as stunned, her eyes dazed as she peered down at the man.
The silence stretched on, no one moving, until Raymer finally lifted his head and looked at Audrey.
He cleared his throat softly. “I know I have no right to ask this of you, but for the sake of my wife and children, I’m going to do it anyway,” he said sadly. “I would be grateful if you wouldn’t reveal what was discussed here to anyone. I’m very sorry for what happened to your uncle and for everything you’ve gone through. But no good can come of the truth being revealed. Dick’s been punished, and I meant what I said. I’m going to announce I’m not running after all, and that I’ll be retiring from the senate. I’m sure everyone will believe Dick’s suicide was a result of my telling him that. I don’t really care what happens to me, but my wife and children are innocent in this. They don’t deserve to be hurt by this.”
At first Jason could only stare in disbelief. To think that they would be a part to covering up the truth after everything that had been done…
But of course, Raymer hadn’t done any of this, Jason acknowledged. Neither had his wife or children. Yet they would be the ones hurt if the whole truth was revealed. Remembering how Audrey hadn’t wanted to reveal the truth about Will Kent’s paternity to prevent him and his mother from being hurt, he knew what her answer would be before she gave it.
She glanced at him, a question in her eyes. Jason gave one small nod, agreeing with what he already knew she’d decided.
Audrey turned her attention back to Raymer. “We won’t tell.”
The man exhaled deeply. “Thank you.”
“But if anything happens to us, you can be assured we’ll leave arrangements for the truth to come out,” Jason said.
Raymer simply nodded at him. “I understand. No one connected with me will pose a threat to you, and I will make sure anyone else Dick may have hired to do his dirty work is called off.”
Jason studied him, finally deciding he believed him. “All right.”
“Good,” Raymer said. “Please leave the same way you came. I don’t know how to explain your presence here, and I’d rather not have to try.”
Jason nodded tightly and turned to Audrey. She was already in motion, starting for the still-open door. They didn’t speak, quickly moving to the passage. When they reached it, he guided Audrey into the opening first, then glanced back before following.
Tim Raymer stood staring down at Dick Bridges’s body. Julia moved to her husband’s side and gently placed her hand on his arm. After a moment, he reached up and placed his hand over hers.
The sight of them there, standing together, struck a chord within him. Everything they’d worked for was in tatters, but somehow he knew they would be okay. They still had each other. They would move on.
Sometimes, it was all a person could do.
Lowering his eyes, Jason finally followed Audrey into the passageway and pulled the door shut behind them.