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“To killing Julia,” Finch replied. “He admits it was her remains in that freezer.”
“Did he also confess to the other murders?” Jonah wanted to know.
Finch checked with Hunsacker again. “Not yet. But we’ll get him on those, too. We have plenty of time. I’ll talk to you tomorrow,” he said, and hung up.
Francesca watched Jonah hit the end button and toss his phone on the desk. “They have letters, a bloody freezer, human remains. They even have a confession.”
“Then it must be Dean.”
He nodded. “Has to be.”
So why couldn’t she accept that? Why did she feel so apprehensive?
Because she was a skeptic. And she’d always had a hard time admitting she was wrong. “So we can relax, let Finch and Hunsacker finish up.”
Jonah framed her face with his hands. “Why not? Last I heard we were kicked off the case. And I have the only woman I’ve ever really loved right here.”
She smiled at his statement but, just in case they were doing Jill and Vince a disservice, she had to voice her concerns. “He could’ve figured out a way to move April’s body. He might be mentally ill, but that doesn’t mean he can’t overcome obstacles.”
Tilting up her chin, he kissed her lightly on the lips. “I can’t argue with you there.”
“It’s interesting that Butch is the one who turned him in, though.”
Another kiss, this one deeper, told her he preferred to be distracted. “According to Finch, he didn’t believe his brother-in-law was guilty until they found the blood.”
That made sense, but… She put her hands on his chest to stop him so she could think clearly. “What about that line, the one that was repeated so often in Dean’s letters?”
Jonah hadn’t read the letters, but she’d told him about them while they were on the phone. “‘I wish I could’ve protected you from Butch’?”
She could feel the beat of his heart through his shirt and relished the freedom to touch him again. Although she and Jonah hadn’t discussed the future, she knew he’d be part of hers, that what had happened here would change their lives. The details would be difficult to share with Adriana. But she didn’t want to think about the moment when she’d have to come face-to-face with the reason they’d been apart. She had Jonah with her now. That was all that mattered. “You remember it word for word, which means you think it’s significant, too.”
“We talked about this, remember?” Removing her hands, he bent forward to kiss her again. “You said yourself that he might blame Butch for inciting him.”
When Jonah cupped her breasts, she wanted to experience everything he could make her feel, but her doubts made her resist. Why did Butch drive to the Schultzes’ cabin? Knowing what she did of him, Francesca couldn’t believe he’d done it to help Dean, or even to assist the police in capturing him. What Jonah’s security guard had seen was a loose thread….
She opened her mouth to say this, but Jonah held a finger to her lips. “They have a confession, Fran.”
Her arousal made her feel tipsy. “Maybe Dean’s confused and Butch is taking advantage of that.”
“Stop,” he whispered, and his lips moved across her cheek to her ear and then her neck. “We have better things to do than poke holes in Finch’s case. Let’s go home.”
The way Jonah touched her was the perfect balance between familiarity and exploration, and she loved how he kissed. Why not let go, as he suggested, and simply enjoy the physical expression of what they felt? Perhaps the investigators would reveal more damning evidence in the morning, evidence that would support Dean’s confession and eliminate their doubts.
With that hope in mind, she allowed Jonah to lead her out to their cars. But as she got behind the wheel and he followed her home, she considered what Dean had said when he was standing in her bedroom last night. He’d talked about his mother. Elaine’s connection to anything that had happened still wasn’t clear. And he’d pointed a finger at his brother-in-law. I’m not going to kill you. Whether you die is up to Butch. He’s the murderer.
Had he been passing the buck—or telling the truth?
CHAPTER 31
The second time they made love was far less reverent and far more passionate than the first. It was almost as if they were trying to make up for every fear, every hurt, every longing. The past faded, and so did the details of the case. Only Jonah existed in this new universe, yet Francesca felt that everything was finally as it should be.
“I missed you,” he murmured, pulling her close as they were about to fall asleep. “God, how I missed you.”
She touched his face, traced his lips with her finger. “Then I take it you’re the one who put every picture I have of Roland Perenski facedown?”
He chuckled. “You saw that?”
“We weren’t home ten minutes before those pictures disappeared.”
