Page 133 of Indigo Ridge (The Edens 1)

Frank had mastered secrets and deception, somehow convincing the women to keep their trysts a secret. He was a charismatic man. Good-looking. I didn’t fault those girls for falling for his act. I only wished one of them had left a bread crumb. Or that the former chief had pushed harder to find one.

Now that we knew where to look, evidence was pouring in.

Frank would meet each of the women at hotels in neighboring towns. Credit card receipts showed that he’d paid for their nights together. They’d communicated by paper notes, never signed, but his handwriting had been easily matched. Lily Green had kept a few of the notes. Melina had found them when she’d finally worked up the courage to clean her daughter’s room. The notes had been hidden beneath Lily’s mattress.

Maybe if I’d pushed her to look sooner, I would have recognized Frank’s handwriting.

He’d drop those notes to Lily at his trips to the bank. Harmony Hardt had worked at a restaurant in town and he’d admitted to leaving her messages on the backs of his receipts.

There was more to uncover, but the gist of it was all over town. Frank would sneak his affairs, fooling everyone but Rain. And when she’d finally snap, there would be a death.

Rain’s first victim had died of an overdose. She’d lived alone and it was believed that Rain had broken in and forced her to take the pills—Frank hadn’t known the specifics and Rain wasn’t alive to ask. Apparently the overdose hadn’t been enough of a punishment for Frank, so Rain had switched her tactics.

“I still can’t believe it.” Melina shook her head. “Rain used to volunteer at the nursing home. She’d come in and do painting classes with the residents. She always seemed like such a sweet woman.”

“You weren’t the only one who was fooled.” She’d fooled me my entire life. Pops too.

He’d taken this hard. Pops had loved Frank and Rain. Truly. He’d believed they were family and this betrayal had hit him so hard that he’d decided to move.

After decades of living in the house that had been my grandmother’s, that had been my father’s, Pops was moving. He couldn’t bear to live next door to the Nigel house.

So he was taking mine.

Griffin had gone over yesterday to collect the rest of my things. Most of the furniture I’d bought was going to charity. There were a few families in the area who’d fallen on hard times, and if my furniture could give them a pick-me-up, then I was happy to give it away. It wasn’t like I needed it at Griff’s house—our house.

Melina’s jaw clenched. “What will happen to Frank?”

“He’s being charged as an accessory to murder. His lawyer might encourage him to plead not guilty, but he will go to prison.”

His confession was going to work against him. He’d likely say that it had been coerced or was given under duress. There was nothing to do but wait and let it play out in court. But I had confidence in my officers.

Mitch had been the one to respond to the call that horrible night. Pops had stayed with Frank to ensure the bastard hadn’t tried to skip town. Meanwhile, Griffin had taken a gamble and raced to Indigo Ridge, calling Briggs along the way.

If not for them both, I would have suffered Rain’s fate.

“I think I hate him more than I hate her,” Melina said. “Maybe that’s a strange way to see it. But he knew. He knew she’d killed and he kept having his affairs.”

“It’s not strange.” Because I felt the same way.

“I’m glad she’s dead.” Melina’s eyes widened when she realized what she’d said. “Sorry.”

“Don’t be,” Griffin said. “You’re not the only one.”

He hadn’t said much about Rain since that night. He’d told me that her body had been found on the side of the mountain, her neck broken from the fall. Otherwise, he’d stayed quiet.

Too quiet.

There was fury in his gaze. A flame so hot it burned the same shade as those stunning blue irises. The rage had surfaced a few times in the past two weeks, mostly when I’d been in pain.

He’d clench his jaw. He’d ball his fists. He’d keep it in check until I was feeling better. Then he’d call his mom or one of his sisters to come and hang out with me while he went for a hard ride on Jupiter.

Thank God for that horse. He’d helped get Griff through the past two weeks. But sooner or later we’d have to talk about what had happened.

“Have you spoken to the other parents?” Melina asked.

“Not yet. You’re my first visit.” The others I’d go see once I was back to work at the station, but I had another two weeks of rest at home. The surgery to repair the stab wounds had gone well, but combined with the concussion, my body had been through a major ordeal.

The doctors had needed to restart my heart on the operating table.