It Wasn't Me - Lani Lynn Vale Page 0,68

get a shot off—and actually hit me.

I strained my ears to listen for Piper and Sam as they drove up the back side of the house, but heard nothing. I was also hoping that the headlights wouldn’t shine through the trees and tip her off.

Then again, maybe the distraction of them pulling up would give me enough of a chance to reach for my weapon.

On the other hand, maybe she’d just shoot me, then she’d go for my wife.

My pregnant wife.

“Ma’am,” I said. “I honestly don’t know what you’re talking about.”

And I really, really didn’t like having that gun pointed at my chest.

“I used to own this land,” she repeated.

I highly doubted that seeing as the man that I’d bought the land from was a man in his mid-sixties, early seventies, and this woman wasn’t a day over forty.

“I purchased this land from an old man,” I said, sounding just as confused as I felt.

“Yes, my husband,” she hissed. “Without my permission, might I add.”

I vaguely remembered hearing that the man was going through a divorce, but this woman looked too young—even by my standards—to be dating, let alone be married, to that man. I mean, Piper and I had a decade in between us, yet this woman and that man? There wasn’t a decade. There had to be at least twenty-five years, if not more.

Also, I was fairly certain, about a month after closing, the old man had died of a heart attack.

“I’m sorry,” I admitted. “But I’m not sure why that should matter to me.”

She shook the gun in my direction, then switched it to her other hand when it got too heavy for her.

Fuck.

It would be just my luck that she shot me because she was too tired to hold the weapon correctly.

“Obviously it was just dumb luck that saved you from dying that day.” She shook her head. “You and that old man, refusing to stay down when it’s in everyone’s best interest.”

I really was confused about what she was talking about. It was as if she was having half of the conversation in her head, and the other half aloud with me.

“I’m sorry.” I shook my head. “I really don’t…”

“You really don’t know what I’m talking about,” she mocked. “Let me put it into simple terms for you to understand. I tried to take you out a couple of weeks ago. But that put me in some hot water, and I had to do way more work than I wanted to, so the next time I did it, I made sure to remain anonymous.”

I would’ve said something more, but then she continued as if she was telling me a funny story, not the recounting of my almost-murder.

“I tried to get some information on what you were talking about with the guy that owns a motorcycle shop, and at first I wasn’t sure that you’d spoken with him, but the day that I sent a letter offering you twice what this place was worth, you drove straight to that man’s house. And I know that he gets information for people.”

I blinked.

But she continued to talk, and the more I learned, the more I was sure of a few things.

“Then you go to freakin’ Germany, where his daughter is, and I know that you’ve found something.” She tapped her lip with her fingernail. “So I tried to take the old biker out, and that failed spectacularly.” She shook her head. “To make matters worse, you come home with his daughter of all people. Then you married her!”

How long had she been watching me?

Seriously.

“Are you saying that you purposefully targeted me and my father-in-law because of your ex-husband selling your land?” I asked.

God, I was confused. She was all over the place, and I really couldn’t catch up.

“Well, my sister and I. Yes. My car was in the shop.” She shrugged. “She hit you. I took out the old biker. Obviously, you can see that I did better than she did.”

I blinked.

Her car was in the shop, so she had to have her sister do it. She had to have her sister pull out in front of me in my cruiser to get what she wanted—which was me dead.

It hadn’t worked out well, and the woman had fought it tooth and nail ever since.

Hell, she was still fighting it. Last I heard, she was trying to sue the city for negligence.

“Why my father-in-law?” I asked. “I never even knew him that well before I met his daughter.”

She switched