Confessing to the Cowboy - By Carla Cassidy Page 0,52
could be a Grady Gulch native with motives they had yet to discern?
There was no guarantee that Jason was behind everything that had happened here in Grady Gulch. The anniversary card hadn’t been signed and might have had something to do with the café, not with her. The stuffed frog could have been from any one of Matt’s many friends. Maybe she’d overreacted to both because of her own guilty conscience.
Jason could simply be a red herring that would deflect law enforcement’s attention from the real killer and the real motives for the murders.
The only thing that soothed her aching head was thoughts of the moments she’d spent in Cameron’s arms that morning. He had been passionate and yet with an innate tenderness that had soothed many of the ragged edges of her soul, tattered remains she hadn’t even known had been left behind by her marriage.
Cameron had given her hope again, a hope she believed she’d never feel again. He’d made her believe in all kinds of possibilities. She could find happiness again, she could find the kind of love she deserved with a special man, a man who could be a loving stepfather to Matt.
That night after the café closed, as always Mary checked on her son and found him still awake. “Can’t sleep?” she asked as she sat down next to him on his bed.
“I’m trying, but I’m really not very sleepy.”
She reached out and stroked a strand of his blond hair off his forehead and realized it was time he knew the truth about her past...about his father.
“I need to talk to you about something that’s not going to be very pleasant,” she said.
Matt sat up and rubbed his eyes, his gaze curious in the light shining in from the living room. “Talk about what?”
Mary stared at his sweet little face and her heart felt heavier than she could remember in a long time. She’d somehow always expected this moment to come, but she’d never realized how difficult it would be.
She not only had to tell her son that she’d lied about the car accident that had supposedly taken his father’s life, but she also had to tell him that his father was a monster.
“I’ve lied to you.”
Her words made Matt’s eyes widen in shock. “You lied to me? About what?”
Slowly, haltingly, she told him everything, about the abuse, about the night she’d taken him and fled and that it was possible his father might be doing bad things now to punish her.
Matt took it all surprisingly well, with few questions and the comment that if the man who was his father had beaten Mary, then he was glad that man wasn’t in their lives. “If he’s a killer then I hope Sheriff Evans catches him and puts him in jail forever.”
They hugged, and Matt settled in to sleep, but Mary had a feeling there would be more questions from him as he processed the information she’d told him.
She took a quick shower and then changed into her nightshirt. With a cup of freshly brewed plum tea in hand she walked to the windows that faced the small cabins in the distance.
It had been in one of those cabins that the whole madness had begun, with Candy Bailey’s murder. Of the four cabins only one was occupied now by Rusty. A faint light spilled from the front window of his tiny cabin.
The other three cabins were illuminated faintly by the light of the big, fat moon overhead. The cabins had always been a safe place for people, particularly women in need. When she’d first come to Grady Gulch broke and with a two-year-old, the owner had allowed her and Matt to live in one of those cabins.
Over the years since Mary had taken over, she’d often had a down-and-out waitress living there, wanting to pay forward the kindness she’d received when she’d first come to town.
Now those cabins only signified isolation and death. She would never forget Candy’s lifeless body and she didn’t think she’d ever allow a vulnerable woman alone to stay in one of them again.
A small gasp escaped her as she thought she saw a figure move between two of the cabins. She froze, her heart crashing against her ribs as a frantic terror rose up the back of her throat.
Was it him? The killer? Was it Jason coming to finally make her pay for what she’d done to him? But he didn’t appear to be moving toward the café.