Trust Me (Last Stand #1)(84)
Author: Brenda Novak

The mess made him uneasy. What had she been looking for? And what had she found?

He didn’t have time to wonder. Returning to the bedroom, he reached behind the headboard, where he’d stashed his notebook.

It wasn’t there.

Oliver’s blood ran cold. She’d never paid much attention to his notebooks before. He wrote enough regular stuff in them, about job opportunities, investment opportunities, plans for a new house, car or pool, that it shouldn’t give her any cause for alarm.

Unless she’d cracked his code.

Surely she hadn’t managed that….

But just in case she hadn’t already turned it over to the cops, he had to get to Kate before she did. Kate might be the only thing for which she’d be willing to trade that notebook. Oliver didn’t think that what he’d written would be enough to incriminate him on its own. He hadn’t recorded details. But he couldn’t take that risk. Even if she hadn’t cracked his code—and she probably hadn’t—the police had people and computers that could.

Noah was at the Burkes’ when Jane arrived. The sight of his truck in the drive made her chest ache with longing. But she steeled herself against the pain. He didn’t want her. They couldn’t have each other, even if he did.

She had to think about Kate. Only Kate.

Checking the street one last time, she got out of the car. Driving down Sunrise, she hadn’t seen any sign of Oliver. It was easier to watch for him once she’d turned onto Zinfandel because there was less traffic, but as far as she could tell, he wasn’t following her.

Thank God.

Jogging up to the house, she rang the doorbell. Normally, she would’ve knocked, then walked inside. But after her recent exchange with Noah, she felt estranged somehow. Without physical proof, she knew Betty and Maurice wouldn’t believe her about Oliver’s rough treatment, any more than Noah had. And losing faith had put her in a different camp altogether—the enemy camp.

Betty answered the door. “Is it true?” she said without a greeting.

Jane didn’t know how to respond. Red rimmed her mother-in-law’s eyes as if she’d been crying, and there were tears in her voice.

“Is—is what true?” Jane stammered. Noah had warned her not to tell his folks what she’d told him. He hadn’t driven over here and volunteered the information himself. Or had he?

“Don’t play stupid. Not now.” Betty’s voice cracked. “Have you been sleeping with Noah?”

Jane’s heart nearly seized in her chest. “N-no,” she said. It was an exclamation of dismay, not a denial of the truth, but Betty didn’t interpret it that way.

“That isn’t what they say.” She stepped aside and pointed at the people behind her.

Jane’s eyes cut to the living room. Wendy was there with Noah. They sat side by side on the couch, holding hands. Maurice was there, too, in his recliner. Initially, she’d seen only his legs, but now he leaned forward to get a look at her face.

“Why would Noah confess if it isn’t true?” he demanded. Gone was the friendly smile he usually reserved for her.

Jane could barely speak above the rushing of blood in her ears. “I—I didn’t mean to,” she said softly.

“How do you not mean to have an affair with someone else’s husband?” Wendy wanted to know. Her eyes, usually so kind and forgiving, watched Jane with such disappointment it was almost more than Jane could bear. She loved these people. They’d been her family; she had no one else.

But whatever they’d been to each other was over. She had to worry about Oliver, had to get Kate and go away. “Where’s my daughter?” she asked.

“She’s in the back, coloring. Do you think I’d want her to hear this?” Betty responded.

Jane licked dry lips. “Will you get her for me, please?”

“Are you kidding?” Betty shook her head. “You don’t deserve her. Oliver’s been through hell—do you hear me? Hell! And for you to do this to him in addition to everything else he’s endured….”

Despite her heartbreak, a spark of anger came to Jane’s rescue. “You don’t get to decide whether or not I deserve my own daughter.”

“Yes, I do. Oliver just called. He said you’re leaving him. He said not to let you take Kate, that you must be on something, you’re acting so crazy. And Noah agrees with him.”

First, Noah had betrayed her to Wendy, then to his parents, and now he was siding with Oliver. It was the lowest blow yet. “Crazy,” she repeated in amazement, staring at him.

“You need help.” Noah had difficulty meeting her eyes, but that was little comfort in the wake of what he’d done. Now she had no credibility whatsoever. The elder Burkes didn’t even want to let her take Kate.

“Kate’s my daughter, too. You have no right to keep her from me,” Jane said.

Noah spoke up. “You’re not stable.”

He believed it, she realized. He knew her better than any of them, and yet he fully believed what he’d just said.

“We’ll release her to her father,” Maurice added.

Jane rounded on her father-in-law, struggling to keep the hysteria from her voice as she started to laugh, but it was impossible. “You think her father’s stable? Her father is a murderer!”

“You—you don’t know that,” Betty stammered.

Jane confronted her mother-in-law with defiance for probably the first time. “Yes, I do.”

Betty’s face fell, as if part of her feared it was true, but Jane knew Oliver’s mother would never stand up against the others in the room. Leaning to one side in order to look past her, Jane addressed Noah. “I’m pretty sure he bought another knife this week. I think he was tempted to use it on me last night. If you don’t do something fast, he’s going to hurt someone. Do you want to live with that on your conscience? If having sex with me made you feel guilty, try that on for size.”

Maurice got to his feet, his ruddy face even redder than usual. “You’re talking about Kate’s father.”

“You think I don’t know that?” Jane shouted. “That’s caused me more pain than you can imagine. But his connection to Kate isn’t what’s bothering you. It’s his connection to you. He’s your son. If he’s a killer, you have to ask yourself, ‘Where did I go wrong? How did I miss it?’”

Noah released Wendy’s hand and stood, too. “Stop it, Jane! They’ve been through enough without you making things worse.”