Page 16 of I’ll Be Watching You

She nodded. “Margo, please be careful.”

“I will.” Then I realized her voice was shaky and she was genuinely scared. “Do you want me to stay here tonight?”

“No, that’s not necessary.” She paused, then said, “If they thought I knew anything, they would have already killed me.”

That she said it so calmly, so matter-of-factly, jolted me. For the first time, I wondered if I should close the door on this investigation, just let it go. Just forget that an innocent man I loved would be in prison for many years to come.

Then I pictured Josh Swanson’s brother running across the lawn, his face twisted in grief and disbelief.

I pictured the two boys who had covered Liz Swanson’s social media pages; they were now orphans.

Guilt washed over me. I had opened Pandora’s box by asking questions. I had to see it through.

Chapter Five

Ava Angelhart

After Margo left, Ava poured a second glass of wine. She took a sip then immediately put it down and stared out into the backyard without seeing anything. Uncertain, lost. She needed to talk to someone, figure out what she was going to do.

She reached into her purse and pulled out her cell phone, ready to call her sister Rita . . . but stopped. She couldn’t talk to Rita about this, not over the phone. She would come over and ask questions Ava wasn’t yet ready to answer.

Questions Ava couldn’t answer.

Rita had never asked for details. She’d just negotiated the best plea deal for Cooper possible. They were lucky to get fifteen years.

Fifteen years for a murder he hadn’t committed. But Rita said she didn’t want to know, that she loved and trusted Ava and Cooper and that was that.

Rafe likely knew, because Cooper must have told him in the sanctity of the confessional.

Ava didn’t know the whole truth, because Cooper only told her about the threats.

Threats against their family.

Ava had been so angry with Margo—angry and terrified—when Margo insisted on investigating Devin’s murder. She feared for her daughter’s life. Margo was tenacious and driven, much like Ava had been when she was a young prosecutor.

But nothing was black-and-white, not when human beings were involved.

So Margo went out on her own. Ava knew she hadn’t gotten very far in her investigation, partly because Ava quietly thwarted her. Margo also had to work and would never have asked for financial help.

And for three years, Ava thought Margo had finally put it aside. Ava had hated that they were estranged, but she would rather be estranged from her daughter than mourning her daughter.

Until Margo found Georgia Rollins in Tucson. Georgia didn’t know what happened any more than Ava did, but Georgia had worked for Devin, and Margo was good at ferreting out information. Ava had deliberately not asked questions because she didn’t want the answers; if she knew who killed Devin she didn’t know if she could live with herself for remaining silent.

Georgia had assured Ava that she’d sent Margo on a wild-goose chase. That Margo’s questions had been focused on people who had a grudge against Devin, people who might have a motive to kill him.

Then Georgia asked, “Don’t you want to know the truth? Because there were some really unusual things going on at the VA those last few months, and Dr. Klein was preoccupied.”

“No,” Ava had told her firmly. “Don’t ask questions. Do you want a target on your back as well?”

Ava had succeeded in scaring her. But why had Georgia talked to Liz Swanson? What did she tell her? Why give the nurse Margo’s name? To spite Ava? Did she know something she hadn’t shared?

Ava called Georgia.

She didn’t answer.

Dammit!

Even though it was after hours, Ava called the research hospital in San Diego where Georgia worked in the lab. The young woman was single and dedicated to her job and likely still there. It took ten minutes, but Ava finally got through to her office.