Retribution Read online

  He stared at his hands. “She also said someone serious about not hurting you would run from you if you pulled a gun on them. If they came at you and you shot them, it was their fault, and to give it to them. She was quite emphatic about that. Using Cole’s own logic about his sexual attacks, that makes it justified, no?”

  Nevvie couldn’t help the bark of laughter that escaped her. “That sounds like Mom, all right. So…Colin lied for you? He’s in on this, too?”

  A wan smile curved his lips. “No. He truly believes I was there all night. I left my phone at Colin’s, streaming a movie from Netflix. I conveniently forgot to log into his wi-fi router when I arrived, so my phone streamed from my data. I wanted it completely trackable. And I left my walking tracker program running, GPS on, from our earlier walk. It constantly pinged my phone. If they used K9s to track my scent from the crime scene back to Colin’s, I could simply show them our walking history, with previous times and dates, of having been in the area. That’s how I knew where to take Cole once I’d coaxed him out of his house. Colin and I have walked along that road before, several times, and in the woods behind Cole’s house. Including that evening. I wanted to know where the house was for certain.”

  “Wow. Uh, how were you going to have Cole call the detective?”

  He walked over to his dresser, pulled an older cell phone out of his top drawer, and showed it to her.

  “I let Chloe play with it when I take her shopping or to an appointment after she once accidentally purchased an app on my phone that cost nearly fifty dollars. It’s a pre-paid phone and only has a few basic games on it.” His expression grew sad. “It was the phone Peggy bought for me when we first…” He forced a smile. “Before I was living here permanently and bought one. I never had the heart to get rid of it. Now it’s come in handy.”

  Now she remembered seeing it before. “Holy shit,” she whispered. “You really did have this planned out.”

  “In a manner of speaking. Lucky for me, they assumed whoever did it arrived by car. Once I knew Cole was dead, I returned to Colin’s via the same route we’d taken earlier on our walk, so I’d have a ready explanation in case they did manage to track me. Lots of people walk and jog along that path. I hid the gun in the bottom of my overnight bag and brought it back here the next day, cleaned it, stowed it in its hideaway…and realized I had no clue what to do next except wait and see what happened and pray none of you were named as suspects. Actually, I hoped they didn’t name anyone as a suspect, because I didn’t want to have to confess for real to spare an innocent person jail time. Hence why I never set foot in his house, marched him a ways through the woods, and I was quite careful to collect the shell casings.”

  “Then they cleared us of being suspects, until they realized Tyler had a nine millimeter. Then it was game motherfucking on again.”

  “And you did exactly what I’d hoped you would do.”

  Realization dawned. “You knew we’d all claim we shot him when they accused Zoey of doing it.”

  “Of course I did. I knew whoever was accused by the police would immediately trigger a protective action by at least you, Thomas, and Tyler, depending on who they pointed a finger at. I was surprised and humbled to see Willow and Mikey jump in, though. Which was why I piled on last, and why I was able to completely muddy the waters once they questioned me.

  “They never considered me a serious suspect, but they also knew they couldn’t take the case to trial with me refusing to recant and insisting I shot him only once when there were six holes in his chest. And the nonsense, of course, of me pretending the fake gun they gave me looked exactly like what I’d used. I had a hard time not laughing then, I can tell you. That was when I came closest to almost losing it and making a right cock-up of my fake confession.”

  “What if they’d believed you, though?”

  He snorted. “A loving grandfather? Perhaps a dotty old man? A kindly old widower? Whom, as far as anyone knew, had never even fired a gun in his life? The gun range Peggy and I went to burned down about seven years ago, and they moved to a new location when they reopened. There was no one besides Peggy who would know for sure that I’d handled a weapon before. When they could eliminate everyone in our family from the suspect list except my confession, which didn’t fit their facts or preconceived notions, they had to move on. They knew they couldn’t make charges stick against me. All the evidence would have cleared me, I made sure of that.”

  He waggled a finger at her. “Luck was on your side, my dear, that you remembered to set your security system that night.”

  She sighed. “I know.” She stared at him. “So Colin did lie for you, then. If he was actually asleep.”

  Andrew’s face reddened a little. “He loves me, Nev,” he softly said. “He knew by speaking out and insisting I never left his side all night that he was permanently alienating himself from his family by publicly admitting our relationship. He didn’t lie, however, because he honestly believed it.” He sighed. “I might have let it slip to him on our way to the station that morning that I would rather lie to the police to protect my family than have any of them go to prison.”

  “You also knew that his neighbors’ security cameras would pick up if your car left or not, and who the hell thinks an eighty-year-old man is going to go traipsing through the woods, at night, alone, in the dark?”

  His eyes crinkled in amusement. “You’re catching on, love. I wasn’t sure who had cameras, or where they were positioned, but it was a lucky stroke the one across the street caught my car perfectly, as well as Colin’s home. And that Colin thought to tell the detectives to talk to his neighbors about it. They thought because they could see either side of the house, that I couldn’t have left through the back door. Especially after the nonsense about climbing through a window. I simply walked far enough into the woods I couldn’t be seen.”

  He sat next to her, patting her on the thigh. “Do you hate me?”

  She tipped her head onto his shoulder and took a deep breath, covering his hand with hers. “No, Dad. I love you. I could never hate you. Especially now.”

  He kissed the top of her head. “I know what happened to Zoey triggered you terribly over what you went through. I’m truly sorry.”

  “I never should have let them go to that party.”

  “It would have happened eventually. Zoey had a crush on him. He would have struck at the slightest opportunity. He was a truly ruthless psychopath. A predator. At least Augustine has a conscience and doesn’t prey on the innocent. That boy literally had no conscience. He would have ruined countless more lives. Who knows if he might have progressed to killing? While I’m sorry I was forced to kill him, my conscience is clean.”

  She squeezed his hand. “We never speak of this again. Ever. This did not happen.”

  “What didn’t happen, love?”

  She laughed when she looked and saw his mischievous smile. “Exactly. Is Colin okay?”

  “He’s…grieving. He’d always hoped he could reconcile with his family. He’s going to put his house on the market once the court case is settled, but we can finish moving him in now, over the next few weeks. He’ll put the money from the sale into savings, since he wants to pay Steven’s college tuition.”

  “Well, he’s got a whole new family to get to know.”

  “I might have warned him of that.”

  “We gotta throw you guys a wedding.”

  “I don’t know, love. Perhaps I should try living in sin for a while. Murder, mayhem, pre-marital sex. The bad-boy image suits me, no? I’m thinking about getting an ear piercing or a tattoo next.” He smirked, making her laugh.

  “You ain’t getting any younger, Dad.”

  “I’m teasing. Of course we wish to get married. Eventually.”

  She palmed his cheek. “So once again, I find us acting as conspirators.”

  “Didn’t know life would be so interesting with me around, did you now?”

  She hugged him, hard. “Love you, Dad.”
r />   A contented sigh escaped him. “I love you, too, Nevvie, darling. So blasted much. I truly do. Thank you for making my son so happy, and thank you for finding me. You brought my children back to me, and I had a dozen blissful years with Peggy. I can never repay you for the happiness I’ve known.”

  “You already did, Dad,” she mumbled against his shoulder. “You already did.”

  Chapter Ten

  Saturday morning, Nevvie was still trying to process her talk with Andrew the day before. Not even unexpectedly having Adam home for the weekend could draw her out of her funk, and he noticed.

  They were alone downstairs in the kitchen, the first awake and waiting for the coffee to finish brewing. He leaned against the counter and crossed his arms over his chest and it nearly broke her heart how much he looked like Tyler.

  And Andrew.

  “Are you okay, Mom?”

  “Stress.” They’d caught him up with the latest events once Zoey and Willow had gone to bed the night before. “A lot of stress. So why did you come home this weekend? Not that I mind, because it’s good to have you home. Just wasn’t expecting it.”

  There was something on his mind—she could see that. But she knew from experience he wouldn’t tell her what it was until he was ready.

  Just like Tyler.

  “I missed you guys. And I was worried about Zoey.”

  “You’re a good kid.” She hugged him. “I love you.”

  “Love you, too, Mom. So nothing new on the security system upgrades, huh?”

  “No. How crazy is it that now I’m hoping someone does show up so I can call the cops?”

  “Weird how they stopped coming around after it was discovered.”

  “I know. I was telling Crystal the same thing.” He frowned. “What?”

  He shook his head. “Nothing.”

  “Honey, it’s okay. Say it.”

  “I…I mean, I know she works for Elliot, but I’m kinda like Dad. I don’t like people I don’t know well getting close to me. I’ve already figured that out at school. I have to be careful of people when they find out who Dad is.”

  She started to say this was different and realized that’d be discounting his feelings, and she refused to do that. “She’s supposed to be over this morning to do some work. I can ask her not to come.”

  “What does she do, anyway?”

  Nevvie explained the social media campaigns they’d been implementing, and the immediate results she’d seen on Tyler’s author rankings on Amazon. “And if it means anything, she refuses to call your father Tyler. She insists on calling him Mr. Paulson. She said she doesn’t want there to be any improprieties.”

  “Does she call you Mrs. Kinsey-Paulson?”

  “I told her to call me Nevvie.”

  “And Poppa?”

  She fought her growing irritation. “What’s your point, honey?”

  “My point is that…” He stared at the floor. “I guess I don’t have one. Sorry.”

  The mental door had slammed shut. She spotted his body language, just like Tyler. Pulling in, withdrawing.

  He didn’t feel comfortable voicing his thoughts, whatever they were.

  “I can call her and tell her not to come. We were going to do some work and then go out for lunch later. She’s going back to New York next week.”

  He wouldn’t look at her. “Why’s she still here, anyway?”

  “Well, when everything happened, she was working with Bob. She has been helpful. She’s taught me a lot of stuff about social media campaigns to boost Dad’s sales.”

  He shrugged. “Don’t change your plans for me. It’s okay.”

  But…it wasn’t okay. The tone of his voice told her that, too.

  He poured his coffee and headed back upstairs. A moment later, she heard the shower start in the bathroom the boys shared.

  She was about to call Crystal and cancel their day when her phone rang.

  Crystal.

  Waffling, Nevvie finally answered. “Hey.”

  “Good morning, Nevvie. I wanted to make sure you were up before I came over.”

  “About that, Adam came home unexpectedly last night, and—”

  “Oh! That’s even better! We can run some demographic studies past him for the Facebook ad campaign.”

  Nevvie stood on a precipice, with Adam on one side and Crystal on the other. The results were there, in black and white—Crystal’s methods had definitely helped Tyler’s stats on Facebook, and his Amazon author rankings had shot through the roof, as had his backlist title rankings. Meaning sales.

  That was empirical evidence. She could tie the spikes in the books’ rankings to everything they’d been implementing on social media lately.

  Am I a horrible mom to want to work and have a friend?

  She loved helping Tyler. Of course he was the Evil Genius. But it was a solo job, what she did.

  It was nice having a friend, and it was nice finally seeing a tangible positive impact on what she did for Tyler. Like she was really contributing.

  Adam was twenty. He wasn’t a baby. She’d been a work-at-home mom for her children’s entire lives.

  What about me?

  Losing Peggy hadn’t been just losing a mom, it’d also meant losing a trusted confidant, someone she knew she could turn to for valuable advice and no-bullshit honesty.

  Yes, Crystal was younger than her, but couldn’t she still be a friend, too?

  “What time are you going to be here?” Nevvie asked. “I’m looking forward to it.”

  * * * *

  Tom rolled over in bed and realized Nevvie had left without him waking up.

  Damn.

  “What’s wrong, love?” Tyler looked delightfully rumpled and half asleep, his voice sounding low and throaty in that sexy way that always hardened Tom’s cock.

  Except this morning. “She escaped.”

  Tyler slid over to snuggle with him. “You have me.”

  “No offense, buddy, but I kinda wanted her this morning.” He sighed, his disappointed cock no longer in the mood.

  “I believe I heard her and Adam talking downstairs. You know how she is when he’s home. She wants to spend as much time with him as possible.”

  “Well, I guess that’s that, then.” He groaned as he sat up.

  Tyler watched him. “Really, love?”

  He glanced back at him. “Buddy, I love you, but think back. She hasn’t shown an interest in anything since everything happened. Not even cuddling. I was hoping to spend a little time with her this morning.”

  Tyler sat up, not exactly storm clouds in his eyes, but definitely not sunny skies shining there. “Brilliant. Thank you. Not like she’s in a mood to be a sexpot, right? After what happened? Can you honestly blame her?”

  Tom wasn’t so dense or half-asleep he didn’t feel this already derailing under him. “Didn’t even mean it like that, Ty. I wanted to cuddle with her and talk. Alone. Well, and you. Without Crystal around.”

  He forced himself up and out of bed and headed to the bathroom.

  Tyler followed. “What’s wrong with Crystal, then? I thought you liked her.”

  “I do like her but I liked her a lot more when it hasn’t been, what, two frickin’ weeks she’s practically been up our asses every time we turn around.” He turned. “Can I pee in peace, please?”

  “Sorry.” Tyler stepped outside the toilet alcove. “So what are you planning to do today, then?”

  “Goin’ over to Clay’s earlier than I thought I was, I guess. He asked for help puttin’ up that pole barn. Maybe Adam and Mikey will want to go.”

  “I thought we agreed no ladders, love.”

  “Not me on the ladder. Just my advice and my experience.” He flushed and emerged. “I’m still allowed to use my brain, ain’t I?” He shoved past Tyler to wash his hands.

  * * * *

  Tyler felt lost and confused, like he was missing something…vital. “What’s going on?”

  Tom wouldn’t look at him. “I’m tired,
I want our life and home back, I want Susan to leave Dad and Colin the fuck alone—I’m tired.”

  Tom turned. “I want to know who that fucker was on the security camera, and where the hell they are now, and where the fuck that gun is. I knew I should have renewed my concealed carry permit instead of lettin’ it expire, and now I need to reapply for it all over again.”

  He headed back to the bedroom and started getting dressed.

  “Are you really leaving?”

  “Yes, Tyler, I’m leaving. I’m going to call and see if Steven wants to come, and I’m going to get out of this damn house for a while.”

  Tom stopped and backed up, pulled him in for a kiss, and took a long moment to stare into his eyes. “I’m not upset with you, buddy. I’m sorry. I…I guess I just had it in my mind how today was going to go, without fucking Dunn showing up to try to put any of us in jail, again, or without Crystal hanging off every fuckin’ word we say, and it started with me being able to at least talk to Nevvie for a little while and check in with her, and…”

  He tried to step away, but Tyler wouldn’t release him. “And?”

  Tom seemed to fight himself to put the answer into words. “I want our family back. I want Zoey to smile again. And I don’t want to have to watch what I say around whoever’s here. I can’t do that with Crystal here. I’m sorry, nothing against her, but she’s not family, and she never will be family, not even if she becomes a friend. Now, I know that sounds harsh, but after what we’ve been through, that’s the way I feel.”

  Tyler knew he should be working today. He really should.

  This was more important.

  They were more important.

  “Can I come with you, then?”

  “Really?”

  “Really. I mean, I know I’m no bloody good with my hands, but I…I can be there, right?” He tried to lighten the mood. “Someone needs to make sure you don’t climb a ladder, you silly sod.”

  The sweet summer’s afternoon returned to Tom’s eyes, and the furrows in his brow eased a bit. “Let’s ask the girls if they’d like to come with us. And Steven.”