Deadly Coincidence (Brantley Walker Off the Books #4) - Nicole Edwards Page 0,57

words churning with emotion.

He peered over at her, noticed the blood on her clothes.

“I swear to God I didn’t do this.”

Brantley looked at Baz, saw the man’s concern laced with fear.

Baz stood tall, motioned toward the bedroom. “There’s blood in there, too. Like I said, we haven’t moved from here. Figured we’d let you decide how to handle this.”

How to handle this? The question was, what the hell was this? They had a severed finger, far too much blood, all in JJ’s house, which appeared to have been tossed.

“Who would do this?” JJ inhaled sharply, her words rushed, panicked. “Why? They made it look like I did it. I don’t understand.”

Brantley wasn’t so sure that was the intention, but he could see where she was coming from. On the other hand, it looked more like a temper tantrum had been thrown during the crime.

At least, that was his initial take on it.

“Who’s they?” Reese inquired, stepping over to JJ. “Are you sayin’ it was more than one person?”

She shrugged, looking so small, so scared. “The only thing I know is that Dante was here last night. He was scared. He called me, said to meet him here. He was hidin’ on the side of the house when I got home, practically shoved me inside and … and I don’t remember much after that. I was makin’ coffee. Someone hit me. I woke up in bed, covered in blood. Dante’s gone and there’s…” JJ took a deep breath, her hand waving in the direction of the finger.

“There’s a knife in her bed,” Baz informed him.

JJ’s eyes went wide. “Oh, my God. I didn’t… Brantley, you have to believe me.”

Stepping over to her, Brantley cupped her face firmly, stared into her eyes. “I know you didn’t. But I need you to stay calm so we can figure this out.”

He took a deep breath, moved away from her. As much as he wanted to comfort JJ, to give her all the assurances he could, Brantley knew they had to figure out what the hell happened. And most importantly, where Dante Greenwood was.

“I don’t wanna go to jail.”

Brantley glanced at Baz.

“Honey, you’re not gonna go to jail,” Baz assured her.

Sighing, Brantley took stock of the house, the scene. As much as he wanted to make the same assurance, he didn’t. Right now, it looked bad for JJ. Based on the amount of blood, if it all came from one person, they would be looking for a dead body, not a nine-fingered man wandering around.

“JJ said Dante was actin’ paranoid when he came in. Then someone knocked her out. Do you think Dante did this? Lured her here then hit her?” Reese said from beside him.

“Anything’s possible,” he replied. “But why would he?”

That was what Brantley didn’t understand. Dante was a lot of things—many of them not at all admirable—but he wasn’t the type to set JJ up for … for whatever the hell was going on here.

“I’m inclined to think the same thing,” Reese agreed. “But that would mean someone else was in the house.”

“He called me for help,” JJ explained, her words still rushed. “Why would he do that just to hit me and leave me here? That … that doesn’t make sense at all.”

“She has a point,” Baz said.

Yeah. She did. Brantley didn’t understand it either. Dante would have nothing to gain. From what he knew of the man, he got his kicks from leading JJ on, dating her, cheating on her, dumping her, coming back for more only so no one else could have her. Sure, he’d laid hands on her, but JJ had explained the one time that had happened, she’d been the one who had been hitting him. Dante had simply tried to stop her and ended up accidentally hitting JJ in the process.

No, he didn’t think Dante would hit JJ. Not with the intention of seriously hurting her.

However, he did believe Dante was capable of setting something like this in motion. The man was a spoiled brat, and he would go to great lengths to get what he wanted. The question would be: what the hell could he possibly want that would warrant all this?

Brantley glanced back down at the opened book, the finger.

Granted, Dante was also a vain idiot. Brantley seriously doubted the guy would hack off his own finger to make a point.

“I have a hunch that belongs to Dante,” Baz said quietly.

Yeah. That was what Brantley feared as well. Which meant this was just getting