Forbidden With Me - Leigh Lennon Page 0,76
right after all.
“I know you,” I say, the phone is focused at first with the gun on Vanessa’s head, then the phone turns to me.
“Yeah, you sure do, and I’d still take you and blondie and even the redhead, though she’s a raging bitch.”
He moves the camera to Georgia, bending down when he touches her face, all the while, my skin breaks out in a sweat. She’s a loose cannon on a good day. What will she do to escalate the situation now?
“Take that, you son of a bitch!” she screams as she spits in his face, and he’s quick when he backhands her.
The man I know as Victor turns to the guy with his gun trained on Vanessa. “If we take out a bitch, let it be this one.”
My stomach tightens in knots, and a text comes through immediately. “Ah, you all are saved by the bell.”
He’s been communicating with Wells, or it’s what they tell us. But how can you trust a psychopath to be truthful?
“Wait, I know you, too!” I shout, my eyes focusing on the oldest of the three, the one with the gun.
He’d been eighteen at the time, but he still looks the same, with a few lines marking his face. “You’re a Wayne boy, the oldest—Tim?”
“You finally get it now. See, the thing about us Wayne brothers is we stick together.”
My mind is still foggy. He was not the one who grabbed me and shoved me in the van. It was the guy walking around with the computer. “He’s getting close. How do you want to work it?” the computer man asks, and I think he may be the middle of the brothers.
“Tell him the address, and that you’re tracking his incoming calls.”
“Yeah, he pulled up his email. That is how he figured us out, but he’s not sent anything, and his radio has stayed mute.”
They are tracking Wells. He won’t hesitate to come here, to save me, to save everyone without any regard for himself. It’s where he shines. It’s what makes him—him, but what if I lose him after finally being able to call him mine?
“Did you kill my family?” I ask, my mind racing with the logistics of how three people could be involved.
“Little girl, you can’t handle the truth from me.”
I’m trying to buy time. I don’t know why, but every television show I’ve watched tells me this is what I should do.
“I think I deserve to know.” All five remain silent, except for Georgia.
“Yeah, assholes, I think she deserves to know the truth.” The one I know as Victor stalks toward Georgia, and winds back his hand, when he only rotates, slapping Greenlyn so hard across the face, she whimpers and begins to lose consciousness.
“Greenlyn!” I scream, “Greenlyn.” I attempt to garner her attention as she closes her eyes.
“Greenlyn.” Stewart's words pull her out of her daze. “Keep those eyes open.” He’s been the calm in the storm as Vanessa and Smith continue to stay quiet.
“Now, you mouth off again, Red, and I’ll hurt someone else.” Her face falls because Georgia’s tough, but even she knows she’s beat.
“Greenlyn, are you okay?” Georgia asks, and when she doesn’t answer, Stewart answers for her.
“Keep your fucking mouth shut.” Georgia mouths, “I’m sorry,” and I can only fully see her, Stewart, and Greenlyn. If I rotate my head, I’m able to watch Vanessa. I’ve not been able to look upon Smith since they placed me in the middle.
“I loved Annie,” Smith begins, and maybe he’s seen the same cop shows and wants to stall, whatever we’re stalling for. “She’d been my best friend since kindergarten. I miss her, but all this time, the cops have been trying to pin the murders on me. I think I have the right to know since I’ve been looked at as a murderer for years.”
“Ah, I forgot about our patsy,” the eldest stalks over to him, but I can’t see. “You know me, right, Mr. Turner?”
“Yeah, now I do,” Smith begins, and though I can’t see him, I hear him clearly. “I remember now, after all these years, it was you Annie got in the car with on the day of the murders. I always told the police she left with someone before going home, and it was you.” Smith takes a deep breath. “She told me she couldn’t be friends anymore because her boyfriend was jealous. Did you murder her because of that?”
Aunt Mally told me for years that this had been Smith’s claim. She