videos, she told the detective that she thought Clint would stick to habit and what worked and eventually he’d come back here.
She hated being right.
“He wanted to tie up loose ends. I have a feeling he was planning on leaving before the shit really hit the fan.”
“Officers are at his home. They confirm he had his bags packed and a plane ticket to Mexico.”
“Where his money would go further and he’d be out of your reach.”
Detective Valdez nodded. “Probably.”
She raked her fingers through her hair and held it away from her face. Elbows on knees, head down, she ran through the events with the detective who’d been just a few seconds too late to see the ending Liz hadn’t seen coming.
“Kelly worked for Clint. She was his assistant. It seems she knew everything going on in his life. She was one of his victims. Used. Abused. Manipulated. She’d endured a lot. He ordered her to take me.”
“Videos,” the detective guessed, scribbling notes on his notepad.
She nodded. “I didn’t know she had a gun. I went with her because I wanted to get Trinity back.”
“She rode in the ambulance with Tate to get the cut on her head checked out where Clint pistol-whipped her. She needs stitches and probably has a mild concussion. Nothing as severe as Tate’s.”
Her stomach pitched as the replay of Tate tumbling over Clint’s rental car replayed.
Silver lining. Trinity was all right. For a little while there, Liz thought Clint had killed her when he said he “got rid of her.”
“At first, I thought Kelly was helping Clint, but when she spoke about getting Trinity back, I wondered if she really wanted to help me.” Liz got it now.
Kelly watched Clint fall for one woman after the next, using Kelly, but never treating her the way she deserved. When all those women came forward, Aubrey died, and Clint wanted Kelly to clean up after him by dry-cleaning the shirt, then bring Liz out here to end her, too, Kelly snapped. Deep down, she had to know Clint was just using her again, and this time Kelly would pay for what Clint had done.
“He thought he could get away with everything. Rent a car. No one ties it to him for the hit-and-run attempted murder. Sweet-talk and use Kelly to take me. She kidnapped me, he didn’t. I die just like Aubrey, he blames that on Kelly, too. He kills Kelly by throwing her off the bridge. Suicide. The jealous lover kills the woman who took away the man she loved and herself.”
“But Kelly didn’t play his game.”
“He’d pushed her too far. Used her for the last time.” Liz wanted to thank her for stopping Clint from hurting her or anyone ever again. She didn’t want to understand why Kelly took her own life, but she’d seen the pain and misery in her eyes and couldn’t deny that Kelly simply couldn’t face the consequences of what Clint put her through. I’m so stupid. I fell for it every damn time. Kelly didn’t want to feel that way or be Clint’s victim anymore.
Liz would have to live with the fact she couldn’t save her. She’d tried. And right now, it felt like the biggest, worst failure of her life.
“Kelly kept the bloodstained shirt Clint wore when he killed Aubrey. It’s probably at her house.”
“I’ll send someone to check her place and their office.” Detective Valdez waved an officer over and whispered the orders before he gave Liz his attention again.
Exhausted, talked out, and too worried about Tate to care about any of this, she kept it short. “You can see the rest on the video.” She looked up at the dark sky. “If he’d waited a little longer, it’d be too dark out here for the video to capture anything.” She waved that away and tried to focus. “Kelly shot him to protect herself. And me. Then something snapped inside her. It’s like she couldn’t kill him enough.”
Liz raised her head and let it fall back against the railing post.
Drake put his hand on her head and rubbed his fingers through her hair. “You couldn’t have held on any longer. She nearly dragged you over with her.”
She appreciated the comfort Drake offered even if she couldn’t feel it right now.
“Tate saved me.” Broken ribs, a massive concussion, excruciating pain, none of that stopped him from holding on to her and pulling her back to safety. Back into his arms.
“Kelly fought her way to be free.” Liz couldn’t think of