Which meant that Cade and René could be walking right into a trap. Of course, if there were ever two men she'd go out of her way to avoid a fight with, it was those two. She'd never seen Cade truly angry, but she'd felt the power in his body, seen the battle scars. And René—well, she'd never met a wolf more willing to throw himself into the middle of a knife fight and consider it clean, harmless fun. He might not be insane, per se, but that gene was definitely in his system.
She climbed the fence and jumped down into the small gap between the fence and the motel's back wall. In several of the rooms to her right she could hear conversation and running water, but Cade's room was at the other end, out of the direct line of sight of the main office and the road. Undoubtedly, Kel had booked those rooms so they wouldn't hear as much traffic, but right now, with a killer intent on bloody revenge, it was inconvenient. If she could get in without being seen, so could others.
A chill ran across her skin. She rubbed her arms and tried not to think about her earlier certainty that something bad would happen today. Something bad had happened—Candy had torn apart too many lives. Surely fate wouldn't dump anything else on them.
Another chill ran up her spine. Fate might not, but maybe Anni would.
She grimaced. She'd driven past her apartment on the way here, and the flower shop was still closed. Very unusual, to say the least. Had Anni somehow gotten wind of the fact that they suspected her? Or was it merely a coincidence she'd gone missing on the same day they'd discovered who she really was?
She didn't know. There was too damn much they just didn't know, and people were dying because of it. It had to stop. And somehow, she had to stop it. Easier said than done, right now. Frowning, she made her way down to the end of the building. After a quick look around the corner to ensure there was no one close by, she got the room key from her pocket and walked around to the front. Still no one near. She quickly opened the door and stepped inside.
Though the bathroom door was open, the little bit of light filtering in from the bathroom's windows failed to lift the gloom in the main room. She let her eyes adjust, smiling a little as she noted the clothes strewn across the bed. Cade, it seemed, was as untidy as her when he wasn't in his IIS mode. She shoved away the temptation to check out his personal stuff and learn more about the man she loved. Instead, she walked across to the laptop, which sat on the luggage rack.
She moved the mouse to snap the screen back to life and typed in the access code. Several screens popped up. She clicked the one marked Rosehall and pulled up a chair and started reading.
It was heavy stuff.
Even though she knew what had happened, she'd never known all the details. Now that she did, she could never again think of Jontee as a gentle man. How could she? A gentle soul would never have been able to do what he did to those people.
She read on through the trial notes but didn't find any mention of Jina or Anni or anyone vaguely connected to the current case. Yet instinct said there had to be something, somewhere.
She leaned back in the chair and crossed her arms as she stared at the screen. What had happened to Nelle? Cade had been so certain that she'd been involved, yet there had been no mention of her in the trial. Not by the IIS, and not by Jontee.
She could understand Jontee staying mute to protect Nelle, as the two of them had almost been inseparable, but why hadn't the IIS followed up on her?
She glanced at the time and saw with some shock that four hours had passed. She glanced at the curtained windows. Even though they were closed, it was obvious dusk was setting in. And Cade hadn't contacted her. Worry surged anew, but she firmly thrust it away. No one had actually contacted her, which obviously meant there wasn't a problem. If there was, someone would have called.
After rising and stretching, she used the bathroom and then grabbed a bottle of water and a chocolate bar from the room's mini bar fridge. As she was walking back to the laptop, a dog-eared notebook sitting by the bed caught her attention.
Personal case notes?
She plopped down on the bed and discovered Cade was right. The mattress was harder than bricks. Not that she'd actually mind bricks if great sex was on offer—and with Cade, great sex was definitely guaranteed. Grinning slightly, she picked up the notebook and began to read through it.
It wasn't until the final page that something caught her attention. It was little more than a follow-up side note about a woman raising a ruckus and swearing revenge on everyone when the guilty verdict was announced. He'd noted that the woman might need to be watched. Whether that had happened or not was anyone's guess. But she'd bet that the woman who'd made the threat was Jina Hawkins, the woman she knew as Anni.
She went back to the laptop, connected to the Net, and did an article search for the date of the guilty verdict. And as expected, found Anni. A picture showed her being hustled from the court, her mouth open, as if still screaming abuse.
The really interesting snippet came at the end of the article—Jina Hawkins had assaulted several of the officers escorting her from the court and then run. A warrant had been issued for her arrest, but a search revealed that no follow up article had been printed—meaning, perhaps, that Jina Hawkins had never been caught.
Savannah looked through the other court pictures, and in the background of one saw someone else she knew. It had been taken from the court steps, looking out over the lines of placard-holding protesters. Not protesters who wanted him released but who wanted the death penalty applied. They'd certainly gotten their wish.
The woman standing under the “death for murderers, not life sentences” placard was none other than Lana Lee. What the old dear had been doing in a protest like that, Savannah had no idea, but that was obviously how'd she known that the Anni who ran her shop was the woman known as Jina, a woman who had threatened to kill everyone involved in convicting Jontee. It also explained the subtle threat in the request-for-rent letter Cade had found in Anni's shop.
Lana had known who Anni really was and had died because of it. Maybe Lana's threat was the cause. Maybe Anni was simply cleaning up possible loose ends. Either way, it was another death she would have to pay for.
Savannah scrubbed a hand across her eyes and clicked off the Net. Night was settling in, and she was getting hungry for something more substantial than chocolate. She glanced at her watch again, frowning when she saw it was nearly six. Still no word from Cade or anyone else. Worry returned, and this time it refused to budge.
She rose and took her cell phone from her pocket. No messages. She pressed the call button, but before she could dial the station, someone in the room next door hit something and cursed loudly.
A cold sensation ran through her. The room next door was the one shared by Anton and Trista, but that voice hadn't belonged to either of them.
Meaning there was a stranger in their room.
Someone other than the two people who looked after the motel, or the woman they employed to clean it, all of whom she knew.
And that strange someone sounded an awful lot like the woman whose arm she'd ripped in her effort to grab the crossbow. Candy's sister—Lonny.
* * * *